It's not every girl who wakes up one morning and decides to learn stick-walking. But something about the proud sight of tall moko jumbies striding across the landscape appealed to Stephanie Kanhai, even as a little child.
When her moko jumbie costume The Sweet Waters of Africa, designed by artist Alan Vaughan, was chosen this year as the Queen of Carnival, Stephanie Kanhai felt a bit stunned: "I was in pain (from a leg injury), but I was surprised, shocked even. It was exciting, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I was so full of joy. The intention wasn't to win, just to go and have fun."
"I grew up around a lot of boys," Kanhai said in a telephone interview recently. Now 21, Kanhai is the mother of two young children, a toddler of almost three years and a baby of six months; but she easily remembers her own childhood, and the fun she had growing up.
"I have 21 brothers. I was a bit of a tomboy. When I was little, I loved to play catch, climb mango tree, run down chicken, run down duck, play at gunfights, shooting...." Her independent spirit was a natural thing.
In awe of moko jumbies
"My step-mum used to carry us to Kiddies Carnival to watch and sometimes play mas. And I used to admire moko jumbies since I was five-years-old. I thought they were amazing! I never used to watch any other band," she remembers.
Kanhai grew up as a child in the Marabella Train Line area, an impoverished squatter neighbourhood sometimes affected by violent crime and the occasional shooting. She later moved with her family to a housing development when she was 14. She grew up in a large family, and attended Marabella Senior Secondary School up to Form Three, at which point, she says, her stepmother took her out of school.
For a young woman, Kanhai has already faced a few life challenges. After a falling out with a family member, she had to fend for herself at the age of 17 or 18. As a young mother, she's now living with her partner and her in-laws, who she says are "very supportive."
Kanhai has worked at several jobs over the past few years, including assisting at a variety store, working at a meat and poultry shop, waitressing, helping in a grocery, working at Carlton Centre, and even working as a security guard.
"It was hard," she says–especially with no paper qualifications. Right now, she's taking time off to be with her six-month-old baby, and is trying to focus on her education again–she wants to study welding at MIC (Metal Industries Company Ltd).
Becoming a Carnival Queen never figured in her dreams, it was just something that happened as a result of her childhood love for stilt-walking.
Learning to stiltwalk
When she became a teenager, she discovered that right in her own neighbourhood there was a young man who was learning to be a moko jumbie, he was a member of Kaisoca Moko Jumbies, learning his skills from Junior Bisnath at the San Fernando School of the Arts and Culture.
So Kanhai would go across and learn from this neighbourhood moko jumbie, watching and learning techniques from him.
"When I now start, at 16 years old, it was on one foot, and every two steps I make, I fall down. I might get grazed, but I got back up. Within a week I was on a three-foot stilt...You learn on short sticks first, and then move on to large ones," explained Kanhai.
She quickly developed the good balance, leg strength and stamina required to be a mokojumbie. "You have to be willing and wanting to do it," she said, "Do the training. Climbing hills. We practiced in the neighbourhood, about 20 stilt-walkers, when we now start. Youth from four years to 18 years would be practicing," she remembered.
She says it took a year before she could "walk confidently" on stilts.
She believes she is the first female moko jumbie walker to win Queen of Carnival, although there has already been a male mokojumbie King - Jawan Thomas, who played Fancy Sailor King as part of Brian McFarlane's 2006 mas Threads of Joy.
The Sweet Waters design
"The first time I saw the Sweet Waters of Africa costume, I didn't have the confidence to play it," admitted Kanhai. She saw the costume emerge through different stages of construction, and grew to know it intimately.
"The crown is a chandelier shape, made of dry fig leaf, cane, and even a piece of a wedding dress. After trying it out a couple times, I felt: OK, I was now sure I could play this," she said.
"Alan's costumes inspired me...and inspired a lot of other mokojumbies to consider costumes more. Before Alan, we just used to play in pyjama-type clothes...But when they saw the Crow � (Vaughan's 2012 mokojumbie king for the band TouchDSky), that inspired a lot of people. He's wonderful and talented. If it wasn't it for him, we would never have reached where we are now. He takes stilt-walking to a different level."
"The whole costume was fairly light," she said, admitting that on Carnival Tuesday, playing mas on the road, the breeze sometimes made it difficult for her to walk: "...The costume was rocking while breeze was blowing...But we helped each other, the four of us who played mokojumbies: Gatekeeper � Conjure Man, Black Indian, Fisher of Souls, and me."
Designer Alan Vaughan commented: "It was remarkable that Queen of Carnival came from such a tiny operation...The wind at the Savannah was so strong (on Carnival Tuesday) that wearing the backpacks and headpieces was too dangerous for all of the mokojumbies. The stage was extremely slippery due to the powder from sailors. It was very risky to cross it, let alone with a big costume and an injury. But...we did our best...And yes, Steffi was still in pain. A remarkable, brave young woman."
Vaughan added: "The win will mean we can afford a small truck next year to help the moko jumbies on the road. I think it is impossible for jumbies otherwise.
"A couple of groundwalkers came to the mas camp and wanted to play with the band because of its creativity, they ended up carrying things and showing the banner for us. People responded because they saw it as 'playing mas,' and I think that magic came through, especially as the Ella Andall song was an integral part of the mas."
"As the designer, I found her portrayal more than I could have hoped for, and in a strange way the difficulties and struggle she went through (and with the injury, the limitations on her movements and the danger that at any moment she might fall), and overcoming this with the help of the others, and creating such beauty, in the end was the theme of the mas.
"I am so pleased that the competition judges were open to supporting a very different kind of costume and presentation. I could not believe that we had won, but looking at the comments, to videos and images online, I think it has made many people very happy, and that is a wonderful thing."
Why does Stephanie Kanhai love moko jumbies so much?
It's hard to put into words, but she says: "It has you going. It doesn't matter if your foot hurting, or if the sun is extremely hot, once you're playing, you're enjoying it..."
It may be the start of a new family tradition–Kanhai plans to teach her three-year-old to stilt-walk, perhaps in time for Emancipation Day.