By Lakhram Bhagirat
One of my favourite movie stars Denzel Washington famously said, “At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished…it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.”
For Ryan Lochan, he feels a particular affinity with the words of Denzel as he is in the giving back mode. He is giving back to a school that has given his two boys so much to make him a proud father. Ryan has been in the creative field for over 15 years now, but never took up the task to actually design costumes for a parade.
Being an avid masquerader for a number of years in the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, Ryan believes that he needs to do something to up the game of the Children’s Mashramani Costume and Float Parade. He was sitting around one day and just came up with the idea of bringing change to the parade since most of the costume styles are repetitive.
“I have been doing Carnival in Trinidad for a number of years and I have been watching the children jumping up and down in the Kiddies Carnival and was always amazed. I was sitting and came up with idea and told a friend of mine and we decided to approach Ketley Primary with some samples,” Ryan said. 
He chose Ketley because it is the school that gave his two boys the best education possible. He said that he felt that it was his way of giving back to the school because it has given him so much to be proud of. When he approached the school, his idea was readily accepted by the Head and staff there, since they had been unable to participate in the competition for the past two years.
However, the School’s administration already had a theme in mind as outlined by the Education Ministry which was the Lost City of El Dorado. They chose to focus on the Queen of El Dorado which meant that the carnival theme Ryan had in his mind had to be changed to fit the theme. He immediately got back to the drawing board and came up with unique pieces to fit that theme.
However, it was not without challenges as Ryan explained that he was venturing into uncharted territory so he needed to familiarise himself with what needed to be done. The School also did not have much funding which meant that resources were scarce but being a stickler for quality, Ryan decided to tap into his extensive clientele.
While the School provided funding, through contributions from the Parent-Teachers Association, with the help from his clients and from his pockets, Ryan completed the costumes. The costumes are spectacular and you would not believe from looking at them that it is the first time Ryan has done that.
Ryan is hoping to hone his newfound skill to make it something he does on a regular basis. He brings vast carnival knowledge and would have seen thousands of different costumes that all speak to different themes. Just imagine with that knowledge what he will bring to the local scene and how it can change, but for now he is focusing on making the children of Ketley Primary School the best in the parade. A task he successfully completed. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
