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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER, 2015
ENERGY
UWI GRADUATION CEREMONIES 2015
FAMILY MATTERS
They have fed and clothed hundreds
of UWI
graduates and officials for nearly 50 years, and it fills
them with as much pride as when it all began in 1969.
Mumtaz Mohammed and his wife, Jacinta, have
witnessed the growth of The UWI, St. Augustine
firsthand, watching the student population grow from
a mere handful to almost 19,000 in 2015. Mr. Mumtaz
and Mrs. Mumtaz, as they are fondly called, have
worked atThe UWI as food service attendants, a butler,
and a robing assistant for graduation ceremonies for
as long as most can remember.
When they first started, the graduation ceremony
was held at the main library, which was one-third of
the size of its current incarnation as the Alma Jordan
Library. Mumtaz recalls that the site of the massive
block of buildings housing the Engineering Faculty
was just a pond. He is happy to have seen this growth
and is pleased that many of the students from the early
seventies are running the university.
Indeed, he remembers ‘college’ versions of St.
Augustine Campus Principal Professor Clement
Sankat, Professor Brian Copeland, former Minister
Pamela Nicholson, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Kenny
Anthony, Professor Stephan Gift, Attorney Christo
Gift, and Chief Justice Ivor Archie. As an attendant
in the JFK cafeteria from 1969 to 1983, Mumtaz
feels these individuals developed under his care, as
he provided four hearty meals for them, and more,
every day.
Our job is like this, he says: If your last child had
dinner at eight and then said they wanted something
more later, you wouldn’t refuse them.
“If, even after hours they said they wanted
something, it was our responsibility to get it for them.”
In the seventies, the UWI offered meal plans to
all students living on the hall, which were paid for by
Caribbean governments as a part of a total package
including tuition and lodging. Meals cost TT$7 a day
(for four meals).
“Something better than Hilton,” says Mumtaz
with a chuckle. “Eggs, buljol, cornbeef, sardines – full
works.”
“For dinner,” says Jacinta, “beefsteak, whole big
legs of chicken, veggie soup, pumpkin soup.”
Students, however, wanted the freedom and
flexibility of having their money in hand. After
negotiations from 1980 to 1983, he said the cafeteria
unit was disbanded and meal services for the campus
were given over to private enterprises. He was the
only survivor.
Mumtaz recalls those early days clearly, smiling
as he remembers a student from India who was a
vegetarian. By the second year, he had tried a hard-
boiled egg, and by the third, before he left, he was
eating Trini-style baked chicken.
Loving hands
never grow old
B Y D A R A W I L K I N S O N B O B B
Mumtaz Mohammed and his wife, Jacinta, have witnessed
the growth of The UWI, St. Augustine firsthand, watching the student
population grow from a mere handful to almost 19,000 in 2015.
UWI Chancellor
Sir George Alleyne
with Mumtaz and
Jacinta Mohammed.
PHOTO: SOPHIA PERSAD
