Interviews and Photos by Mandy Thompson
This week we asked persons at the Amerindian Heritage Month exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Sophia their thoughts about the exhibition, what can be improved next year and what have they seen on display that is interesting. Their views follow:
Edward Adrian, student – ‘I think it’s a good thing for people on the coast to know about what goes on in the interior and also those from the interior who have come to contribute and have been doing a good job here… I think it allows people on the coast, who are not aware of things in the interior to come here and see what people normally eat and drink in the interior. I think the cultural presentations are interesting but I also need to see the roads and the bridges of the exhibition site as well as the washroom facility improve.’
Dianne Tlenkian, regional councillor– ‘I think so far the exhibition is going fine; only the sales are slow. I think they need to have more security in the night because someone was robbed of their cellular phone and money. I also think they need to be selling things like cards for cellular phones because persons in here have to go out especially in the nights when it’s not safe to buy cards. The food on display caught my attention. There is a need for more garbage bins at the exhibition because persons are throwing things around and they should have had the toilet more far and not so close to the food area.’
Donrad Dorreia, bamboo teacher – ‘The expo needs some more development in the sense that we need a place to have these stuff on exhibit all the time, because like is only one time a year you coming out with these stuff. We need a standard place for persons to showcase their products. Last year exhibitors were at a different location as compared to this year. The only thing I see interesting is my bamboo creations because it’s the only thing that people would come and talk about.’
Troy Plant, hunter – ‘The things nice yes and its hard work to create these things but I think they should continue to do this because the things that are made with the hands are beautiful. I now come in and looking around… I think they need more customers here to buy from these people and let them make money and go back and bring more. I think they have not advertised this thing well yet. But when the sun goes down, we will know how well they advertise it.’
Seon De Santos, DJ – ‘So far they have some nice things and the piwari taste good. I think it’s a good thing for Amerindians to celebrate. I really like the games they have on display. That is what is fascinating to me. I think they can have some sports competition for the youths like football or whatever game the Amerindians know they can bring it here next year.’
Kathleen David, Housewife- ‘I think it makes sense because you are learning things that you never saw before. I saw the things they make with leaves and heard about corn wine and I thought, What! Amerindian people can really make things because I never heard about corn wine before. You know what caught my attention, is the Amerindian children and how they can dance. Other children cannot do this you know, because they are afraid to go on the stage so it was really nice. I think they can keep the place cleaner they should not throw away their food boxes and paper all over and let everything be clean.’
Dennis David, student – ‘Well it was my first time here and it was really good. I really can’t explain how, but everything I saw caught my attention and everything was outstanding and unique. One thing I did not too appreciate was the music because I did not see a booth with music and I was looking forward to seeing various Amerindian artistes’ music. I think next year they should have a booth with that cause it’s part of our culture. I was also hoping to see the Tacuma worm that lives and feeds on the palm tree on display. It’s a really sweet worm. If you eat it you would want to eat it again. But I did not see it this year. The food was good and I enjoyed everything especially the craft. I really saw the uniqueness in it.’
Bermadan Ambrose, culture group leader- ‘I came with the culture group from our region—Region 9—to perform here. Every year we are here and last year they had a lot of booths. But this year I did not see a crowd; they are missing lots of booths. I think from my experience it’s the weather and transportation, owing to the situation in Linden, that is the reason for the poor turnout. I was checking around this afternoon and I saw a lot of different things and different people from different places. I also saw a lot of improvement in the area of craft but I did not see anything from our region.’
Kenneth Nelson, craftsman- ‘It’s always good to come out to these cultural activities because there is always something to learn. It’s good to get to know your own people and see what is on offer in another culture. I think people should carry away souvenirs from the activity, because there is a variety of things like food or craft – so you can say that you have been to the activity and you support it. We have a multicultural society so you see all kinds of people passing through here and you got to love other peoples’ culture. What I think can be improved is a better standard in a sense that you have more variety and our people to support because these people come from different regions.’
Brian Bacchus- ‘Personally I like what I see because it informs me about the skills we have here locally. It’s just that the American influence is somehow raising our culture consciousness from our roots. One of the things that affect me is the Chinese things that come in here, because this is we thing. The North American influence now is like we don’t realize we have a culture. Because if we bring an artiste now, the crowd that would go there, it would take about 20 years of exhibition to get that. We don’t even recognize our skills. When I come here and see some of these things I ask these guys if they are mad people. I can’t understand how they could conceptualize and go into a piece of wood and bring out these things. Number one we have to erase something to install something. We need to really have some security because the other day my brothers had something on Main Street and their things got lost. Ministry of Culture did not secure their things, but they will secure the artistes they bringing in and give them the biggest concessions.’
