Primary school children across Grand Cayman have been enjoying some traditional fun and games thanks to Cayman Traditional Arts’ roving group of dedicated instructors who have been travelling across the island sharing their knowledge with Cayman’s young people, creating special half day camps targeting primary school aged children. The camps will reach out to around 400 students in total and are Government-sponsored through the Heritage Arts Programme.

Just before the Easter long weekend, students at Prospect Primary School were one of the most recent groups to participate in an afternoon of fun and games, all with a traditional theme. Mr Phil Sciamonte was on hand to teach students the art of archery, while Blonde Uzzle had the students creating home-made kites and doing their best to fly them despite a lack of wind. Students also got to make tasty local delicacies such as fritters and coconut drops and had their faces painted as a special treat, had a tug-of-war with Silver Thatch rope, and enjoyed skipping rope, an egg and spoon race and a potato sack race.

One project that was a particular success was the construction of a calavan, traditionally used in the Cayman Islands to catch small birds. Students Diamond White, Aiydan Webb, Kiefer Rodriguez, Ryan Jackson and Edmund Miguel Pileta explained that creating this intricate item was pretty easy.

“It’s just like playing Jenga — you put one piece of wood on top of another!” they agreed.

Cayman Traditional Arts Director, Chris Christian, said the aim of the half day camps was to help immerse young people in some of Cayman’s important cultural elements that may otherwise go forgotten.

“At Cayman Traditional Arts we believe it’s essential that we pass down time-honoured traditions to our young people to ensure that our past is not forgotten,” he confirmed. “It’s too easy these days to become wrapped up in other cultures so we are doing our very best to keep Cayman’s culture alive. This can be done simply by teaching young people how to cook traditional favourites such as fritters and coconut drops, or how to construct and fly their own kite. But while these are relatively simple steps to take, it requires a consistent approach to ensure the message gets across to all our young people. That is why we all work so hard doing what we do, because we passionately believe in retaining Cayman’s cultural identity for the generations to come.”

Deputy Premier and Minister for District Administration, Tourism and Transport,

Moses Kirkconnell, said that Government was right behind the initiative:

“The Ministry of District Administration, Tourism and Transport is proud to be a partner with Cayman Traditional Arts by involving our youth in preserving our unique and time honoured Cayman Islands culture and heritage,” he said.

Cayman Traditional Arts will be taking its mobile camps to schools in North Side, East End and West Bay in the coming weeks ahead.