CARICOM inter-tribal games

‘Traditional Games’ looking to become an indigenous centrepiece

On Saturday, Aug. 16, 2015 the second CARICOM inter-tribal games ended at the Pakuri Lokono-Arawak Territory(St Cuthberts’ Mission) in Guyana.

In terms of news reports, the event was quietly held; for the tribes from Guyana and Dominica who attended, it was a small but successful endeavour, and the notion revealed a potential for becoming a truly international experience.

Events for the first CARICOM inter-tribal games were held in 2012 when founder of the event, Barbadian Lokono-Arawak Damon Corrie, who hails his ancestry in Guyana, sponsored 90 per cent of all associated costs for holding the games.

Since that time he has brought Kalinago-Carib athletes from Dominica to Guyana so that there would be a minimum of two countries and three different indigenoustribes taking part. Prior to that, from 2007, he was already sponsoring a series of sporting events annually for the Lokono-Arawak people of Pakuri.

The idea of a regional inter-tribal sporting event began for Corrie after the 2012 London Olympics when, for the first time in history, a member of his Lokono-Arawak tribe in Guyana was present as a competitorat the occasion.

According to a report by the Pan-Tribal Confederacy of Indigenous Tribal Nations, Corrie declared,“I wanted to ride on the wave of sporting enthusiasm and goodwill that the 2012 London Olympics brought to my tribe and share it with other tribes, and at the same time bring tangible benefits (medals & prize money) to Amerindian athletes who competed in my games which would ALSO be the first CARICOM Inter-Tribal Games ever held in history – as a way to give the youth something positive to aspire to instead of the destructive bad habits of illegal drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity – which idle souls with no positive recreational outlet tend to gravitate towards… to the detriment of themselves and wider society in general.”

That year, Corrie had invited Amerindian athletes from five CARICOM countries outside Guyana with Amerindian populations to participate, but due to short notice and lack of sponsorship to assist them in covering the expense of return air fare to Guyana from their respective countries, only the Kalinago-Carib Tribal Nation (through sponsorship from the Touna Development Agency run by Kalinago ex-Chief Irvine Auguiste) of Dominica was able to send twoathletes.

Corrie is reported to have said that he dedicated the inaugural games, held Sept, 26-28, 2012, to his deceased first daughterAderi Corrie who lived for only three days: Sept. 26th-28, 1994.

This year, the sole athlete from the other CARICOM countries was Arkeyshar Valmond, of the Kalinago-Carib tribe of Dominica. The other athletes were from several different tribes in Guyana.

Valmond won a gold medal in archery and a bronze medal in the Ladies’ 3km distance race, the latter in which Guyana Lokono-Arawakathlete Roshelle Dundas received the gold.

Ziggy O’Selmo, a Guyana Lokono-Arawak athlete,earned his gold medal in the men’s archery.

In the Men’s nine-lap race, five Lokono-Arawaks, and two Makushi runners, all from Guyana, competed for the gold. The two Makushi runners earned gold and silver.

Sylvester ‘Balo’ Paulin – of the Makushi tribe of Guyana, and also a member of the Guyana Defence Force, took the gold at that event, successfully defending the title he won at the 2012 inaugural event.

Other events at the games, dubbed the “Traditional Games”, included traditional dancing around bonfires and drumming.

Pakuri Toshao, Lenox Shuman, told one news agency in an interview that while there is room for improvement,“we intend to use this [the games] as one of the primary building blocks in the community.”

“It is my hope and dream that my small scale efforts will catch the attention AND interest of the new government, and they will one day be able to hold a truly professional and large scale CARICOM Inter-Tribal Games somewhere in Guyana, perhaps even at the National Stadium…”founder Damon Corrie stated on his blogspot. (Photos from damongerardcorrie.blogspot.com)