Pan-Caribbean meeting sheds light on East Indian Community in St. Vincent

St. Vincent in the Caribbean has a population of approximately 111,000 persons, consisting mainly of persons of African descent. There are small numbers of mixed persons of Carib and African origin, Europeans and East Indians (called Indians).

1. A Pan-Caribbean meeting was held in St. Vincent on the topic of the East Indian Community.
2. The President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Indian Heritage Foundation and Honorary Consul to India to SVG was one of the event speakers.
3. The overriding theme was that regional Indian organizations need to work closer together to attain greater synergies.

Indians form about 6,660 persons (or 6 percent) of the total population. Although Indians in St. Vincent are scattered in several villages, there are distinct areas where they are concentrated, namely Richland Park, Calder, and Rosebank as well as Akers, Georgetown, Park Hill, and Orange Hill.

Nine years ago, I led the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC), and others, in organizing the First Conference on The Indian Diaspora in St. Vincent. The conference was a landmark success.

An ICC zoom public meeting was held recently (February 21, 2021) on the topic “The East Indian Community in St Vincent.” The Pan-Caribbean meeting was hosted by the ICC. It was chaired by Sadhana Mohan of Suriname and moderated by Bindu Deokinath Maharaj of Trinidad.

The speakers were Junior Bacchus, President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Indian Heritage Foundation & Honorary Consul of India to SVG; Cheryl Gail Rodriguez, Producer of the MISS SVG and MISS CARIVAL beauty pageants for 20 years, and a Justice of the Peace; and D. Lenroy Thomas, Co-Founder of the SVG Indian Heritage Foundation & SVGIHF’s Facebook group and website administrator.

The following are excerpts of the meeting: