Youth forge new ties with Africa in celebration of heritage, hope

A sea of vibrant colours and youthful energy at UWI Cave Hill signalled a bold new chapter in the cultural journey of more than 600 primary school students from across the island who joined the counterparts from several African nations for the National Youth Africa Day Extravaganza—an event that not only celebrated shared roots but also redefined what it means to be Barbadian.

The event, hosted by the National Library Service, brought together Barbadian students and their peers from Cameroon, Lesotho, and Ghana in a vibrant cultural exchange. Dressed in traditional African attire, the students engaged in animated online discussions, exploring one another’s cultures, school life, and heritage in real time.

“This is about education, it’s about empowerment, it’s about upliftment,” declared Jennifer Yarde, Director of the National Library Service, who delivered a powerful message of pride and purpose to Barbados TODAY.

“Our role is to empower our children—tell them about the African continent, where they came from, where they want to go. If you don’t know where you came from, then you don’t know where you’re going.”

The day’s festivities formed part of the Season of Emancipation and pulsed with energy beneath the campus tents. 

“There are 680 children a part of Africa Day celebration,” Yarde announced with pride. “They have a cultural exchange programme where they interact with children from Cameroon, Lesotho, Ghana, and Uganda, so they ask questions about the culture in these countries and they ask questions about us here. So it is very rich, it’s very entertaining, and there’s a lot of energy.”

The event was designed not only to educate but also to challenge long-held perceptions.

“When people talk about crime, and Black people this and Black people, no, that is not who we are and as the National Library Service; our role is to empower with knowledge, information, through books, through literature, encouraging people to read, encouraging them to be a part of a society that is going forward, as a society that is enriched in heritage. This is who we are in Barbados.”

Yard hopes these activities will challenge negative stereotypes: “We are descendants of the royalty of Africa—kings and queens—and our children are princes and princesses,” she said. “That is something we want to instil in them—the values of the African heritage . . . . This is our identity.”

Students had prepared for the day with background lessons about the countries they’d be engaging with.

“They would learn a little bit about the countries so that they could effectively engage,” Yarde explained. “They asked questions about the culture in those countries and the same thing in the exchange—they asked about our culture, schools, and so forth.”

Interactive booths lined the venue, offering everything from African folktales to food, to archival insights on Barbadian heritage. Students were also gifted memorabilia and books to encourage further exploration. “We have booths,” Yarde said. “They have African stories, the Archives Department telling them about the heritage . . . we’ll give them memorabilia . . . and talk to them about the importance of reading.”

The programme, which began in 2022 with just 150 children, has seen a phenomenal rise. “Then we got to 250… now this is 680,” Yarde noted. “We would like to see this as a national event where the entire country is a part of Africa Day.”

The success of this year’s celebration marks a major milestone in the initiative’s growth and signals a broader shift in how Barbados is embracing and elevating its African roots. The library service director said: “As a nation of Barbados, this is what we have to keep instilling in our people. This is who we are. This is where we are going. You are leaders, you are the future of the country, and we must carry on the traditions of the people that would have empowered us, and who would have built communities and built societies, and this is our true identity.” (LG)