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SHANGHAI REPORT
Celebration and Sadness
By Sharon Marshall
Information Officer
I grew up hearing my late aunt saying “Laugh and cry does live in the same house”. That saying took on new poignancy for me this past weekend at the Caribbean Community Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
Friday, October 29, was Creole Day in Dominica. Men, women and children on the island dress in distinctive madras plaid of the traditional creole wear, speak creole and sample creole dishes ad dace to the traditional music.
The Dominicans in Shanghai for the Expo did not miss out on the national celebration. The volunteers and members of staff stamping Expo passports at the Dominica booth were also sporting creole wear. The Dominica booth is where the party was on Friday in the CARICOM Pavilion.
There was a special guest for the celebrations. Dominica’s Minister of Trade, Industry, Consumer and Diaspora Affairs, Dr. The Hon. Colin McIntyre, was welcomed to the Pavilion by Director of the CARICOM, Ms. Leela Ramoutar.
Dr. McIntyre was able to witness the performances by Dominican students who are on scholarship in China, and he got the chance to meet with some of them to find out how they’re getting on in China. But it wasn’t only the Dominican students who were present. It seems that the word about the party got out to other Caribbean students here, and they came too.
There were performances of creole dances for an appreciative audience. Kevaughn Francis, a Psychology major at Huazhong Normal University, served as the Master of Ceremonies, engaging the audience with his Chinese language skills. Patsy Mills, whom I’d interviewed when I first arrived in Shanghai, was back from Beijing to take part in the celebrations. She was among those who danced and modelled variations of the Wob Dwiyet, Dominica’s national dress.
For the children, there was entertainment in the form of face painting and balloons, which added to the gaiety of the evening for them.
The mood was quite different at the diagonally opposite end of the CARICOM Pavilion.
There, there was a sombre reminder that the people of Barbados are mourning the death of Prime Minister David Thompson. A condolence book has been set up in an alcove of the Barbados booth for visitors to sign.
It just so happens that the alcove is located within the replica of the historic Barbados Parliament Buildings which is a prominent feature of the Barbados booth.