The concept behind the establishment of Yurumei house is to create a physical presence in St. Vincent and the Grenadines which will serve as a welcoming place for Garifuna persons from the Diaspora and other persons interested in the Garifuna Culture to meet and exchange ideas and get information. All our Public Education, Training, Advocacy and Public Awareness programmes are delivered under the umbrella of our Yurumei House Programme which serves as our main outreach Programme in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Public Education/ Training & Public Awareness
The general objective of the programme is too ensure to provide information and training on the Garifuna Heritage and Culture.
TGHF is concerned that in all countries where significant numbers of Garifuna people reside, important elements of the Garifuna Heritage and Culture becomes more widely known and accepted as a significant component of the National Heritage. We view the issue of mainstreaming the Garifuna Heritage and Culture as a critical aspect of our work. In some countries the Garifuna Heritage and culture is viewed as one which is only pertinent to limited geographic regions of the country and only to sections of the population known or identified with the culture. This idea has borne fruit and has allowed our programmes to develop more coherence.
The types of Activities we have implemented in the past and will continue to do in the future include the following:
- Summer Camp Programmes on Garifuna Language & Dance:
Our Organization has already made a significant impact in its Public Education and training Programme in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. To date we have held five Heritage Summer Camps for children between the ages of 5-16 years in the rural communities of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which focused for the first time on teaching the Garifuna language in a structured way. The National Garifuna Council (NGC) of Belize participated by identifying a facilitator . Other summer camps held in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of St. Vincent and the Grenadines enabled a Garifuna Dance Trainer and choreographer, Ms. Rosita Baltazar,to come from Belize to teach children the various forms of Garifuna Dance.
Click here to see Photos of our past Summer Camp
We will be implementing these Summer programmes from our new location at Yurumei House. Bookmark this page for Future Announcements.
- Garifuna Language Radio Programmes & Newspaper spots :
A series of daily Half hour radio programmes introducing basic Garifuna words was aired on radio over a three week period . Information has been developed for several Newspaper Articles and spots. This programme will be developed further as part of our Public Education Programme.
- Symposia, Workshops & Consultations on the Garifuna Heritage:
TGHF in 2002 organized and hosted the first ever Regional Consultation of Indigenous people to be held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The week long Conference entitled “ Caribbean Consultation of Indigenous Craft and Culture” was organized in collaboration with UNESCO, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. It was attended by participants from Belize, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Guyana. We also held consultations with traditional Garifuna Communities to assess their needs as Indigenous people.
In 2004 – 2006 two training workshops were held for primary and secondary school teachers in the teaching of Garifuna Heritage and culture in schools. The workshops reviewed their issues related to support materials for the teaching of the Garifuna Heritage in Social Science and History Programmes.
A highlight of our Public Education Programme was the visit to St. Vincent of the well-known Belizean/Garifuna Artist, Delvin Pen Cayetano . He brought a selection of his paintings and exhibited them in Kingstown and other communities . He also delivered several exciting Drumming Workshops to secondary school students.
Photo Gallery for Highlights of Pen Cayetano’s visit – Coming Soon
- Exchange Visits for Youth & Hosting of Artists in St. Vincent and the Grenadines:
In 2005 TGHF successfully hosted a contingent ofsixteen members of the Garifuna Ballet Folkloric Group of Honduras headed by internationally acclaimed choreographer and Director Armando Crisanto. This Group delivered several stunning performances both to the school children at a special Schools Rally which we organized as well as gave public shows at the Peace Memorial Hall were very successful.
We also hosted Ms. Andrea Leland, producer of the very well known documentary “The Garifuna Journey” to visit St. Vincent and the Grenadines. During her visit she was able to screen the documentary in many communities across St. Vincent. Ms. Leland is expected to return in March 2012 to screen a new documentary she is working on based on footage taken while in St. Vincent .
- Annual Garifuna Exhibition:
The Annual Garifuna Exhibition held in March, an event which we started in 2009 , has become one of the highlights of the National Heritage Month Calendar in St.Vincent and the Grenadines. The three day event, which involves the display of many types of exhibits such as photographs, Garifuna artifacts, books, food items, paintings and clothing is well attended. It also includes multimedia presentations and the distribution of printed material on the Garifuna Heritage and culture.
ANNUAL EVENT:
This Exhibition is now an annual event. We take this opportunity to invite all persons with an interest in participating in this activity either as exhibitors, sponsors or as collaborating partners to contact us. We feel that there are many other artefacts and other material still to be sourced locally as well as outside of St. Vincent and the Grenadines .
(Ref. Link to pdf file Feb 25, 2012 Annual Garifuna Exhibition):
Photo Gallery for Highlights of past Exhibitions – Coming Soon
Our next Exhibition will be held as part of the upcoming International Garifuna Conference to be held in March 2012. Visit this site for further information, photos and other info.
Language Training Programme: Many persons have expressed a strong interest in learning the Garifuna language. We are in the process of designing a Garifuna Language Training Programme for adults and young people. Keep checking back on this page for further information.
The International Garifuna Conference, Art Exhibition , Film Series and Cultural Marketplace of March 2012 is part of this Programme. We are expecting visits from Garifuna Artists, Garifuna cultural practitioners , scholars and other persons to visit attend the event. The Conference documents as well as the video documentation will provide important material for our work in education and training. As part of our Yurumei House Programme , we will continue organizing such Events in the near future.
Click Here to View Pictures of the 2012 Conference
Our new Website & Facebook Page
One of the most exciting developments of our Public Education and Training Programme is the launch of our present website. This will allow us to provide information and educational resource materials online, suggest links to important websites and generally embrace all the positive features of the virtual world. We invite you to partner with us in this venture, if you encounter sites you consider to be of educational value to our type of work, please contact us by email at tghfoundationsvg@yahoo.com
We also can be found on facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/GarifunaHeritageFoundation
Seremein!
Thank you!
The Yurumei House Team.
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