Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport said its recent ‘Day of Interaction’ was a success and it received overwhelming support at the Uitvlugt Community Centre Ground. 3
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, the ‘Day of Interaction’ is a new initiative the ministry has undertaken in order to encourage interaction between persons from different communities and different ethnic backgrounds. The groups meet in one location and participate in a number of games with the objective of building friendships and appreciation of each other.
Since it began in 2006, the ministry’s National Sports Commission and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development have collaborated on the venture, with support from UNICEF. To date it has been hosted in Lusignan, Linden, Mahaicony, Blairmont, Uitvlugt, Hope Town and Essequibo.
The most recent meet saw villagers from as far as Parika, Goed Fortuin, Pouderoyen, Farm, Vreed-en-Hoop, Crane, Ruby, Wales, Canal Number Two, Anna Catherina, Den Amstel and Leonora enjoying games such as cricket and volleyball. The day’s event was highly competitive as representatives from the different communities challenged each other to football, basketball, table tennis and dominoes.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony whose idea kicked-started the venture, attended the exercise along with Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Director of Sport Neil Kumar, UNICEF Resident Representative Johannes Wedenig, Chinese table tennis trainer Cheng Jainhua and Region Three Vice-Chairman Manpersaud.
According to GINA, competition was held at the junior and senior levels and lasted the entire day. At the close of the session, Wedenig and Anthony handed over trophies to first and second place winners. Anthony said although competitions end with winners and losers, “the willingness by many to participate and the support from the communities was commendable.” He said sport has many benefits including fitness, living positive healthy lifestyles and most importantly uniting communities and people. “This difference that sometimes we talk about and we think that we have, we are able to break down with sport. This is one of the most important messages that we want to bring to you when we engage in these days of interaction,” the minister said.
The minister said the work with the regional administration will be stepped up to better promote sport in the region and he urged the residents to make full use of community facilities so that the ‘day of interaction’ can be extended. “I think we can have a festival of sports in this region and if we start working in our community and planning I am sure it will be an easy thing to accomplish,” Anthony said. He also said that the ministry will be working with the Regional Administration to establish a sport committee to improve the level of sport in Region Three. Anthony said this is one way of decentralising sport and a sport organiser will be appointed for the region to assist in this process.
Meanwhile, the health minister said he supports the initiative as sport is fun and it promotes health and fitness. In this regard, he said, his ministry will collaborate with the culture ministry to create a sport agenda that will benefit the whole country. “One of our major plans for the Ministry of Health is behaviour change in our people, helping them to adopt positive lifestyles, eating well, physical activity and prevention of HIV,” Ramsammy said.
The Vice-Chairman said he supported the venture as it will assist in resolving problematic issues in the region. He also called for the activity to be held regularly. The next ‘Day of Interaction’ is scheduled for Essequibo.
