Carifesta IX to feature Caribbean indigenous people
Members of the Carifesta IX coordinating team who will be representing Guyana
Georgetown , GINA, September 11, 2006
The indigenous people of Guyana will join their counterparts from the Caribbean and the Americas to honour their history, achievements and contribution to the development of the region.
Their gathering will be part of several activities to be held in Trinidad and Tobago at the hosting of Carifesta IX, a ten-day event held under the theme ‘Celebrating our People: Contesting the World Stage’.
Over 20 countries from the Caribbean will be converging on the twin island republic to showcase the splendours of their cultures and traditions.
The festival will promote events that serve both the commercial and artistic interests of artists and entrepreneurs. These will include cultural industries, trade and book fairs, film, community and visual arts exhibitions, symposia, super concerts, performing and culinary arts, youth and children’s events.
Performers from the National School of Dance, the Amerindian Dance Troupe and the Dharmic Nritya Sangh of Guyana will be represented at the grand celebration.
An Amerindian Dance Troupe from Region Seven will be performing a series of traditional dances at the festival. This group will also be presenting some of their best craft pieces during other events.
As part of the celebrations, the Santa Rosa Carib Community in Trinidad will be hosting a conference for indigenous people and presentations will be made by representatives from different indigenous communities within the Caribbean including newly appointed Minister within the Ministry of Education Dr. Desrey Fox, herself an Amerindian.
It is anticipated that all indigenous groups living in the Caribbean will participate in the conference.
Dr. Fox, will also be present at the ceremonial handing over of the Caribbean Organisation of Indigenous People (COIP) in Arima a small Carib community in Trinidad known for its perpetuation of the Carib tradition. Chief Carib and Deputy Mayor in Arima, Richardo Bharrat will assume chairmanship of COIP which is at present located in Guyana.
COIP originated in 1987 following a conference of Indigenous people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Member countries of COIP are Dominica, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.
The ceremony will be the first major celebration of Indigenous People in Carifesta IX, and will foster the continued cohesiveness of member countries.
Arima, the Larry Gomes Enclosure and the Princess Royal Park, are the selected venues/communities where indigenous groups from around the Caribbean will be displaying their cultural varieties.
The Indigenous group of Guyana will lend some of their talents to the many other events that Guyana will be participating in during Carifesta IX. These include the culinary arts, in which a variety of Guyanese cuisines will be on display and the Guyana Nite Festival, where performances will be done by the Amerindian dance troupe, the National School of Dance and the Dharmic Nritya Sangh.
Organisers of the Guyana Nite Festival will stage a preview of the show at the National Cultural Centre on Sunday September 17.
Carifesta IX was launched on Friday September 1, in 13 administrative districts of Trinidad and two in Tobago. Carifesta is coordinated by the Interim Festival Directorate (IFD) the regional advisory body to CARICOM.
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Care planning Workshop for vulnerable children starts tomorrow
Georgetown, GINA, September 11, 2006
The Ministries of Human Services and Social Security and Health in collaboration with Global Fund will be holding a three-day training session for officers from both Ministries starting tomorrow at the Hotel Tower.
The training for the officers would be in the area of assessment and care planning for vulnerable children. A Child Care Unit will be created to look after the interest of children at the end of the training.
Chief Training Officer Ms. Ann Greene would be the main facilitator at the training session.
This training session is all a part of the build up to Child Protection Awareness Week which will be observed from September 25-29. The theme this year is “Working together to protect our children.”
In 2004 the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security formally launched the Child Protection Awareness Week.
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Parika gearing for township - several major projects ongoing
Georgetown, GINA, September 11, 2006.
Government’s programme to transform Parika, Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) into a secondary town is well underway with the execution of several developmental projects.
At present, major repairs to the stelling, construction of community roads, bridges and culverts and extension of the roadway from the new Hydronie market to the stelling are progressing.
Parika is one of four areas targeted under a US$16M Community Services Enhancement Project (CSEP), which was designed to develop the areas to secondary status. The other areas are Charity and Supenaam in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and Bartica in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
The programme has four components - infrastructural works, institutional strengthening, project management and a solid waste disposal project. The infrastructural component is being carried out in various sub-projects ranging from Package A to Package F.
Repairs to the Parika stelling is one of the projects being done under the CSEP at a cost of $126.2M. These works started last March and are included in Package B of the CSEP.
Thirteen community roads are being constructed along with five bridges and 10 culverts at a cost of more than $463.9M. This is being done under Package D, which started last February and is expected to be completed within one year.
Additionally, $226.4M is being spent to undertake various works in the targeted areas including construction of the Charity, Supenaam and Bartica markets. It also includes construction of offices at Charity, Supenaam, Parika and Bartica to house the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) within the respective areas.
Apart from the CSEP, government has undertaken several other projects that complement the overall improvement of Parika. Some of these projects have been completed while others are ongoing.
Extension of the roadway from the market to the stelling is ongoing under a $383.9M project. These works include widening of approximately one kilometre of road into four lanes and repairing it with an asphalt concrete surface, construction of pedestrian sidewalks on either side and installation of traffic lights.
Government also funded construction of a new market at Hydronie at a cost of $58M under the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP).
Meanwhile, the building of a $200 packaging house and concrete wharf at Parika will commence before year-end. This project is a major development in the country’s agricultural sector which will promote Regions Two and Three as sources of non-traditional crops, primarily for export.
The project is being done under the Poor Rural Communities Services Support Project (PRCSSP) which was designed to alleviate poverty in Regions Two and Three by enhancing productivity and capacity of farmers and rural entrepreneurs.
At the packaging house fruits will be washed, cleaned, waxed (where relevant) and cool-stored before being exported to the Caribbean. It will cater for produce of all kinds but, special emphasis will be placed on pumpkins, peppers, plantains, pineapples and watermelons.
The concrete wharf would accommodate large vessels with a capacity of about 2,000 tonnes to transport produce from the packaging house directly to the countries where markets are available but with a focus on the Caribbean.
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