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Palé
Kwéyòl, Dominica
Who's
involved:
Project leader: Jahisiah Jeremiah Benoit
Main partner: Youth
Culture and Heritage Movement
Other organisations:
- The Goodwill Secondary School SIV club
- Grammar School adventure club
- Youth Culture and Heritage Movement, as well
as cultural groups from across the island of Dominica
- The National Youth Council, Youth Division and
the Cultural Division
Timeframe:
August 2005 - February 2006
Theme:
Life and Love in Islands; Island lifestyles and
Culture.
Background:
Our very
treasured island, Dominica, is known to most as
the Nature Island of the Caribbean. An essential
part of our heritage is the Kwéyòl culture at
the heart of which is the Kwéyòl language.
Just as many
other aspects of our Kwéyòl culture, the Kwéyòl
language seems to be secretly slipping away,
out of the minds of our youths.
This is why
with the help of a few motivated individuals and
organizations, we were able to design a pulsating,
vigorous and effective way of preserving the culture,
especially the language, hence the name Palé Kwéyòl.
This project is a follow up activity to the Mauritius
Youth Summit held in January 2005. Due credit
must be given to UNESCO for organizing this event
which inspired the development of the project.
The task force for the project consists of members
of the Youth Culture and Heritage Movement, a
group that must be commended for taking on such
a large-scale project.
The project
was as diverse as it was exciting and activities
included a seven week training course in conversational
Kwéyòl offered free of charge to young persons,
and a Kwéyòl march through the capital city in
the national wear - 250 students participated
in this event. Also in the program were the Kwéyòl
Arts & Cuisine Festival and the first ever Kwéyòl
Spelling Bee.
We all have
a part to play in the preservation of the love
of culture in our majestic jewel. In addition,
we must recognize that the youth are responsible
for the preservation of our nation and its culture.
We are committed to do this project to ensure
that our culture lives on and it will be forever
etched in our memories.
Objectives:
- At least seventy (70) young individuals will
be able to speak conversational Creole.
- At least five students
will become tutors when the program is repeated
hence doubling the amount of students that can
attend the Creole classes.
- Young individuals island
wide will speak the Creole language more frequently.
- Youth will be given an
incentive to show an appreciation of their Creole
Culture.
- Create at least two (2)
opportunities for young individuals and professionals
to show case their Creole talent.
- To get parents of the youth
to teach them the language when assisting them
in our activities.
Activities:
- Conduct classes in conversational Creole for
70 young people, provide for the training of five
young tutors and at least two field trips to cultural
and heritage sites.
- Using a questionnaire evaluate
the success of the Creole classes among 20 of
the participants.
- Prepare one educational
Creole video and distribute copies to participating
schools.
- Organise at least two participatory
events where young people can showcase their Creole
talent.
- Undertake publicity and
promotional activities using radio, television
and print media.
- Provide photographs and
at least 60 minutes video footage of the various
events and activities.
Progress
Reports:
18 May 2006
The Cultural Division has agreed to fully
fund the project this September and ensure that
aspects such as the Spelling Bee and Kweyol March
become annual activities. In addition they have
agreed to reinstate a Kweyol Desk at the Divisions
headquarters; we are working on getting a member
of our group to be employed at this desk.
-Jahisiah
1
November 2005
I am also pleased to inform you that the project
is going very well thus far and the upcoming weeks
should be no different. Last week we held the
official opening ceremony as well as three
of our feature activities namely the Kweyol Extravaganza,
the Kweyol Marche and the Kweyol arts and Cuisine
festival. These proved to be very successful particularly
the Kweyol Marche where we had over 200 persons
participating. The general public has responded
positively to the project and we have had good
turn outs at our activities. We have been ensuring
that we get as much media coverage as possible
and thus far all of our activities have been featured
on the nightly news.
The radio program
has caught the attention of the wider public and
we have had callers from as far as Guadeloupe.
Even greater is the fact that based on the talent
displayed by the Pale Kweyol Tutors, Kairi FM
one of our top radio stations has requested that
we host a number of their live broadcasts including
the World Creole Music Festival, The National
Youth Rally and the Cultural Gallery. We have
also secured pictures and video footage of our
activities. However I have been having problems
attaching the pictures. We may have to mail you
a CD/ DVD with the footage.
There are still a few events
on the action plan to be implemented such the
Kweyol Spelling bee. Most of the schools across
our nation are scheduled to participate. Looking
to the future the Massacre Primary school as well
as Alliance François de la Dominique have approached
us to give classes at their respective institutions
next February. We are now beginning preparation
for these activities.
-Jahisiah
27 September 2005
We are working closely with the Minister of Education,
Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports as
well as the Chief Cultural Officer in implementing
the project.
With regard to the local
Assistance we have done very well; The radio program
has been sponsored for two months by the Scotia
Bank as well as Two newspapers, namely The Chronicle
and The Times have agreed to place our Kweyol
puzzles in their papers for free.
The Roseau Improvement Committee
(R.I.C) is fully sponsoring the Kweyol Marche
and the Cultural Division is making available
six (6) cash prizes for the Kweyol Marche.
Carribbean Star is sponsoring
what promices one of our most anticipated events
namely the Kweyol Arts/Cuisine Festival and have
made available a number of prizes including a
free trip.
The R.I.C, Youth Development
Division and ASC Schillingfords Supermarket is
Sponsoring the Kweyol Spelling B and we have just
been given the ok from the ministry to proceed
with the necessary work.
The National Youtth Council
of Dominica of which I am the Public Relations
Officer is sponsoring the Kweyol Extravaganza.
The Youth Culture and Heritage
has teamed up with the National Bank of Dominica
to hold the first Kweyol Apprentice show.
Today we successfully conducted
the Pale Kweyol orientation which was well received
by the participants. They are interested in much
more than the classes and events such as the Kweyol
marche, Kweyol Extravaganza and the Kweyol arts
and Cuisine festival are highly anticipated.
Classes officially commence
on the 3rd of October whilst the radio program
starts this Saturday at 9:00 am, both of the leading
radio stations are very interested and have asked
for a simulcast of the program. We are working
on accomplishing this.
-Jahisiah
Downloads:
Language
Class Unit
Workplan
Project
Proposal
Final
Report [.pdf 323Kb]
For more information:
Contact Jahisiah Jeremiah Benoit:
jahjben@hotmail.com
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