Haynesville parade ‘to kick off Kwanzaa’

The Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) and the Haynesville Youth Club open this year’s Kwanzaa celebrations with a spectacular cultural showcase on Boxing Day.

The young members of the Haynesville groups are expected to set the tone for the Kwanzaa celebrations with a parade scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., from the Desmond Haynes Complex, Holders Hill to the Police Outpost in Haynesville.

Speeches and a cultural presentation at the outpost are to follow the parade.

General Secretary of the Movement for Peace and Integration David Denny (right) engaging in a conversation with the President of the Haynesville Youth Club Peter Skeete in the Haynesville, St James community where the Kwanzaa 2019 celebration was launched.

General Secretary of the CMPI, pan-Africanist David Denny said the programme which was designed to bring Barbadians together and celebrate the seven principles of Kwanzaa, will recognise the children of the Haynesville Community, the Haitian Independence, the Cuban Revolution, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro “as the man of the year”, and support for We Gatherin’ Barbados 2020.

Denny also announced that MP Trevor Prescod would also be honoured for his contribution to the local pan African movement.

He said:”Kwanzaa is not a programme we consider to be against this Christmas celebrations. It is just a programme that we want to be able to reflect on the past and to create the conditions for us as a people to move forward. We will also discuss how we as pan Africanists can move forward in 2019.”

President of the Haynesville Youth Club, Youth Commissioner for St James South Peter Skeete said the cultural presentation on Boxing Day would also feature the Barbados Landship.

“Haynesville Youth Club is a community based organisation, and majority of its members are teenaged age so it means that the preservation of our culture is very well secured through their continued participation,” Skeete said.

The celebrations will end on New Year’s Day with a programme scheduled to start at 3 p.m. at the Embassy of Cuba, Edghill Heights, Phase 2, St Thomas.