Searchlight drone shot helping educate about Garifuna in VINLEC 2025 calendar

A drone shot taken on the island of Balliceaux by Searchlight’s Videographer and Journalist, Eldonté Samuel, is among the photos featured in the 2025 calendar of the St Vincent Electricity Services (VINLEC), which is themed ‘We are Garifuna; The Power of Preserving Our Past.’

The photo, placed on the October page, shows the main bay area of Balliceaux, where a few small boats were docked during the 2024 Pilgrimage to the uninhabited island where hundreds of Garifuna perished.

The 2025 calendar was launched on Friday, December 20, 2024 at VINLEC’s headquarters, and attended by persons from the Calendar Committee who reached out to local and regional groups and organisations for a collective effort toward the 2025 production.

The calendar has a spread of photos and art of Garifuna food, people, and heritage. New this year is a QR code that individuals can scan to read more about the Garifuna heritage on the website hosted by the local Garifuna Heritage Foundation (GHF).

Those who contributed to this year’s calendar were the President of the Foundation, David ‘Darkie’ Williams; Principal of the Fancy Government School, Wendy Child; and a Belizian who submitted photos of their Garifuna activities.

VINLEC’s Communications Officer, Bria King, making brief remarks at the launch, explained that there is a committee put in place to develop the yearly calendar.

At their first meeting, they spoke about the island’s culture, spanning the Garifuna heritage. However, they realised that there was much that was not known, and this served as an indication that more information was needed from persons who are more knowledgeable about the subject, so they reached out.

“We felt an obligation to ensure that our heritage was preserved and that accurate, authentic information is available for future generations. So we wanted to create a resource that captures a wealth of information in one place,” said King, who also related that the GHF was one of the committee’s closest partners on the project, responding to them with an immediate yes.

Williams was complimentary of the photographs and overall visuals of this year’s calendar.

He shared that VINLEC requested the Foundation’s assistance in making local, regional, and international connections who would be willing to speak on various aspects of the Garifuna culture.

The president noted that the job of the Foundation is to educate the public about the Garifuna heritage, which they were able to do through the 2025 VINLEC calendar, complementing their flagship programmes- the annual International Garifuna Conference, and the National Garifuna Folk Festival for schools.

Williams said he is proud of what they have achieved through the partnership with VINLEC, and this opens the doors to many other things the Foundation can do to educate more people about the Garifuna Heritage.

“Thank you for shaking up the Foundation; this is a shake-up. We have gained a very deep insight into how we could use other things to carry our work further, and this is a big contribution to the work that the Foundation does.”

Williams said the Garifuna story has gained lots of momentum over the last 20 years, which can be attributed to two main things- declaring Joseph Chatoyer as a National Hero in 2002; and declaring the month of March as Heritage Month.

Chair of the Board of VINLEC, Rene Baptiste, who delivered the feature address, said she welcomes future partnerships with other institutions to educate more about Garifuna heritage, noting that it is important for the next generation.

VINLEC’s CEO, Dr Vaughn Lewis, who also delivered brief remarks, noted that producing the 2025 calendar was a learning experience for him. He said his hope is for the Garifuna message to go much further than the Garifuna people, “and touch the hearts of Vincentians”.