Indian Heritage Foundation to mark 146th year of arrival

The SVG Indian Heritage Foundation has announced plans to celebrate the 146th Anniversary of the arrival of East Indians to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

During the March 26, 2007 parliamentary sitting, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines passed legislation to recognize June 1st as Indian Arrival Day.{{more}} A week of activities is planned to mark this historic occasion.

The activities begin on Sunday 27th May with a special church service at the St. John’s Roman Catholic Church at Mesopotamia. The service begins at 3:00 pm. On Monday, two teams will visit the Indian descendants in the Leeward and Windward villages to gather information and present food packages.

On Wednesday 30th, members of the SVG Indian Heritage Foundation will be featured on a radio discussion from 8:00 pm on Country Talk at Cross Country Radio to discuss the topic ‘The SVGIHF: Will It Create Division or Development’.

On Thursday 31st, the Foundation will host a national lecture at the UWI School of Continuing Studies from 7:00 pm. Dr. Arnold Thomas will present a paper on the theme: ‘Indian Influence on the Vincentian Society from 1861 to Today’.

Friday, June 1st, will be the high point of the activities when the Foundation will host a national rally at Heritage Square. The rally will feature remarks from Government and Opposition officials, greetings from fraternal organisations including the Trinidad Indian National Council.

The feature address at the rally will be presented by Indian High Commissioner to SVG based in Suriname, His Excellency Ashok Kumar Sharima.

The day’s proceedings will end with a celebration of dance, music and foods from India.

On Saturday 2nd, the Foundation will be featured at the Miss SVG show with presentations of Indian dancing.

The activities will culminate on Sunday June 3rd with a 20/20 cricket match between a Foundation Team and Selected Eleven from the Diaspora. Following the cricket match at Arnos Vale, the Foundation will host a fundraising cocktail at Indian Bay at Gisela Balcombe’s residence. Dr. Rudi Bailey will speak at the cocktail while a re-enactment of the Indian arrival by way of Indian Bay Beach will be done.

The theme for the celebration is ‘Our Heritage, Our Future-Linking the Indian Diaspora’.