(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) So there were awkward moments and instances of frustration too, much gestures, gesticulations and the occasional ‘unknown tongue,’ as the team of CARICOM youth delegates knocked minds, heads, hands and hearts with their Haitian counterparts to stage the piece de resistance– a theatrical production that was to be the fitting climax or rather the diaman of a four-day Caribbean Youth Exchange programme, which ended in Haiti on Sunday.
The Programme was funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) with support from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, Haiti. Lights, camera, costume, scripting, staging, props, directing and action were all controlled by these talented youth delegates. With just a gentle push in the right direction from Dr Hilary Brown, CARICOM Secretariat’s Programme Manager for Culture and Community Development and two animators provided by Haiti’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, they set to work on their masterpiece.
Simply titled Unity or Unité, the Production featured all 40 participants of the youth exchange programme, and through, dance, drama, music and speech highlighted themes of regional integration, youth related issues such as risky behaviours, life style management, education, Caribbean cultural identity and of course, unity, the dramatic chord which bound all together.
However, the most powerful message which resonated from this Production was simply captured in the haunting melodies of the French Creole song: Jou a Jou a Jou a; Jou a comment c’est; Problem pam ka problem pou; Problem pou problem pam, which fittingly affirmed that “the day has come when we share our problem. My problem is your problem; your problem is my problem.”
It was a resounding message to Haiti from the rest of the youth representing the Caribbean. It was a message that was being relayed from the start of the Exchange Programme on Thursday 9 July: from the opening ceremony; to the business sessions, to culture night; during the community intervention; at the Worship Service at the Missionary Baptist Church; at the tree planting exercise at Croix de Bouquet and of course, from the officials who gave remarks at the closing ceremony.
For Dr. Edward Greene, CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, the CARICOM Youth Exchange Programme underscored the importance of working together toward the common goal of making the integration movement work. He also viewed it as a mechanism for youth growth and development as well as a platform for strengthening and sustaining bonds of friendship.
“Haiti’s development was pivotal to the development of the Community and as such, we should do all that lies within our power as young people to ensure that Haiti prosper and assert its rightful place in the Community,” Dr Greene added.
He also charged the youth to continue to use the tools of culture and communication to advocate change.
It was the same message of unity and inter-dependence that characterized the speech of Haiti’s Director of Youth, Mr Witchner Orméus, who felt that it was “high time” for Haiti to transcend the perception of isolation and sustain the new ties that had been so effectively forged. And to the other Caribbean youth, he charged them to be the ‘voice’ of what was positive in Haiti to those who had only heard the negatives.
“Let them know that Haiti is ready to play its role…in the Caribbean Community,” he concluded.
And for Trinidad and Tobago’s youth delegate, Darrel Bodkin, it was a learning experience which had obliterated pre-conceived notions of Haiti and one that had challenged him to go forward to contribute even more to regional development.
Not to be out done, Haiti’s Alexis Venia added the dessert to this cultural menu when she noted that the success of the Exchange Programme lay in her colleagues’ ability to get past the language barrier in order to learn from one another. She also committed to ensuring that the benefits of such an exchange redound to her fellow Haitian youth.
And yet, the evening would not have been completed without that one language that reverberates throughout every Caribbean country: from Dutch speaking Suriname to Spanish speaking Belize to French Speaking Haiti – everybody knew it. It was the language of Music – the Music of the late Robert Nesta Marley – the Music of “One Love.”
Could anyone else have found a more fitting note on which to end?
Although the end product of all that knocking of heads together was an impressive and unforgettable cultural bon apetit, with a slice from every Caribbean Island dished up into it, the wonder of it all was still in the fact that within three days, these young people were able to bridge the linguistic divide and work together to create such a scintillating product which ultimately illustrated what regional integration is all about – one people in a Community for All.
