“A key part of having this sporting event is the engagement, camaraderie, and opportunity to connect between the athletes from the different campuses,” explains Julian Henry, Acting Director of UWI St Augustine’s Office of Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation and lead organiser of Culture Night.
The event, he says, was intended “to create a warm welcome for the delegations from our visiting campuses”.Both visitors to and natives of UWI St Augustine feel the warmth.
“I really enjoyed culture night,” says Shavar James, co-captain of The UWI Mona team and captain of their gold medal-winning men’s volleyball team. “We really wanted more of these culture nights but our packed schedules and limited time frames would not have allowed it.”
Shurona, a 22-year-old Computer Science and Management student from the St Augustine Campus agrees: “It was fun and very diverse, as it covered a wide range of aspects of Trinidad and Tobago’s culture. I think it was well organised and also well- attended.”
Trinidad and Tobago culture was the theme of the event— music, food, dance, and even traditional Carnival characters.
“We wanted to ensure that we had a flavour of T&T,” says Mr Henry.
This included local street (and beach) foods such as doubles, corn soup, bake and shark, and coconut water. It meant entertainment from performers of Indian dance, The UWI Arts African Drumming Ensemble, the T&T Defence Force Steel Orchestra, and artistes Timmy and Tevin Hartman.
“I got all the local foods I was looking forward to having,” says Bridgette Bellamy, captain of the Five Islands Campus team. A Trinidadian studying in Antigua and Barbuda, she was happy to enjoy the delicacies of her homeland.
However, you don’t have to be a Trini to indulge in the island’s eats. Abijan Anderson, co-captain of the Mona team says even though she took part in Culture Night, it was “not as long as I would have wanted”. “I was burnt out; but I went around and sampled some of the food.”
One of the most popular aspects of Culture Night was the Entrepreneurial Pop-Up Market featuring members of UWI St Augustine’s Entrepreneurship Society. Some 24 participants sold jewellery, craft items, skin creams, and food items.
“There was a whole range of entrepreneurial ideas and products on display and available for sale. These included souvenirs, keepsakes, and trinkets for the visiting athletes to purchase,” says Mr Henry. And then there was the karaoke. The students belted out their favourite tunes in a much more lighthearted contest than the games.
“I sang back-up for the Mona team,” says Shavar. Their track? “Too Experienced” by Barrington Levy.
Mr Henry and the event management team express their gratitude for the sponsors that supported Culture Night. These included Blue Waters and ACADO Foods (distributors of Gatorade), who were the major sponsors of The UWI Games. Subway, Starbucks, Sunshine Snacks and Sundays Ice Cream all had booths where they gave out free samples. The Subway booth “offered such fun activities and mini-games that it fit perfectly into the overall occasion”, says Henry.
Bermudez had a “Crix (their brand of popular local crackers) activation”, he adds.
“What could be more Trini than that?”
Although Culture Night highlighted T&T’s culture, it was a great experience for Trinis themselves.
“I wasn’t going because I said to myself, ‘I am a Trinidadian so what is there for me to see?’ says Global Campus netball player Pearl St John. “But when I went, I was blown away.”
Perhaps most importantly, Culture Night represented the aspect of The UWI Games that transcends competition. The games are also meant to strengthen the bonds between the university’s campuses and the islands of the Caribbean.
As Global Campus cricket team captain Javid Wilson says, the most important part of UWI Games for him was that “I got to experience Trinidad’s culture. The food, the music, the people, learning different words—it was a really awesome experience.”
