Tourism Ministry launches Mash camp

– with “Our Flora, Fauna, Culture – Our Pride” theme

Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Manniram Prashad and Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony stand proudly at the launch of the Tourism Ministry’s Mash camp with persons displaying some of the costumes

 

Joining the long list of organisations that have launched their Mash camps for Mashramani 2011, the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Ministry launched theirs, last Tuesday under the theme: “Our Flora, Fauna, Culture – Our Pride” in the auditorium of the National Exhibition Site at Sophia.

Subject Minister Manniram Prashad explained the significance of this year’s Mash theme.

“What we’re promoting this year is our flora, our fauna, our culture and our pride; that is our theme. We will be having over seventy-five persons in full costumes this year, and that is just a fraction; so our camp will be big”, he stated.

The ministry’s costume designs will be representing Guyana’s wildlife Amazon giants in the form of the giant anaconda, the vicious black caiman, jaguars, and the cock of the rock. 

Minister Prashad told the media that he is impressed by the private sector’s support shown this year for Mashramani celebrations.

“…most of the big companies are involved in this year’s Mash, because the whole idea is not for government agencies alone to be involved in Mash. It used to be like that years ago, but now it is open to all”, he emphasised.

Tourism Minister Prashad believes that this year’s Mashramani celebrations would be bigger and better than what obtained in previous years.

“This will attract more tourists and visitors to our country. Already, most of the airlines are booked, and we are trying now to get more flights into Guyana. 

So far, over one thousand Surinamese have indicated that they will be coming to Guyana for Mashramani”, he stated. The minister assured that, rain or shine, Mash 2011 will be a success.

Meanwhile, Guyana Times International spoke with two of the revellers, Danielle Loo and Rafina Kumar of the Tourism Ministry’s Mash camp, who stated that they are overly excited about this year’s celebrations.

They both believe that the ministry’s costumes are exceptional.

“I love the costumes, and I feel great in it; and as we all say, Mash gets bigger each year, so we can only expect the best again this year, and better things,” Loo stated.

“This is my first time taking part in a Mash camp and I think it’s perfect. The costumes are drop dead gorgeous,” Kumar said emphatically.  

Designer of the costumes, Rondel Best, disclosed that he and a team of thirteen started building and designing the costumes and floats three weeks ago, and they are expected to complete the task before the end of this week.

“The designs were created on the basis of the ministry’s theme; the costumes will be showcased in ten segments, seven of which will be representing the theme, and the remaining three will be for the cultural aspect,” Best noted.

Additionally, Culture Youth and Sport Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, a special invitee at the launching of the Mash camp, disclosed how impressed he was with the Tourism Ministry’s costume designs. 

“Well, I think they are doing quite a good job. The costumes I’m seeing here are quite innovative, and they did capture the idea of representing Guyana’s flora and fauna,”Minister Anthony said.

These young ladies proudly displayed the GT&T Mashramani costumes during the launching of the company’s Mash band on February 14

It is expected that there would be approximately twenty-five floats parading the streets of Georgetown come February 23, with just about one hundred persons participating in each band. Minister Anthony was quick to point out that there are going to be some bands with as many as one thousand participants.