SAN­DRA L BLOOD

blood­san­dral@ya­hoo.com

On Sep­tem­ber 18, the T&T As­so­ci­a­tion of Ot­tawa (TTAO) will host a vir­tu­al cul­tur­al event to cel­e­brate T&T’s 45th Re­pub­lic Day.

TTAO pres­i­dent In­grid Bar­clay John-Bap­tiste said the event will be a true rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the di­ver­si­ty of T&T with guests treat­ed to flavours of tas­sa, Afro-Caribbean, ca­lyp­so, opera and steel­pan by Cana­da’s Pan Fan­ta­sy Steel­band and T&T’s bp Rene­gades Steel Or­ches­tra.

Den­nis Moses, T&T’s High Com­mis­sion­er to Cana­da, will de­liv­er greet­ings and the fea­ture ad­dress will be by T&T-born Dr Al­fre­do Walk­er, an em­i­nent Ot­tawa-based foren­sic pathol­o­gist.

The pre­sen­ta­tion of the an­nu­al TTAO schol­ar­ship awards will be a high point of the evening.

Bar­clay John-Bap­tiste ex­plained: “The shroud of COVID-19 meant that the TTAO has been un­able to host its nor­mal 2020-2021 fundrais­ing ac­tiv­i­ties, so there has been a heavy de­pen­dence on the do­na­tion mod­el.”

She said in spite of this, in 2020 the as­so­ci­a­tion was able to spear­head projects which ben­e­fit­ed stu­dents of the Mon Re­pos RC School, and the Ma­son Hall Gov­ern­ment School. In ad­di­tion, the Nazru Deen Schol­ar­ship was award­ed to a stu­dent of the Vista­bel­la Pri­ma­ry School.

“As you can tell from the ac­com­plish­ment of some of our projects men­tioned, de­spite the pan­dem­ic our en­thu­si­asm to give back to those in need has not wa­vered,” she said.

The TTAO is a com­mu­ni­ty-based or­gan­i­sa­tion, reg­is­tered and op­er­at­ing in Ot­tawa/Na­tion­al Cap­i­tal Re­gion, Cana­da since 1983. It en­gages in many ac­tiv­i­ties, in­clud­ing the show­cas­ing and pro­mot­ing of the cul­ture of our home­land, as well as the an­nu­al recog­ni­tion and cel­e­bra­tion of T&T’s In­de­pen­dence and Re­pub­lic Days.

Bar­clay John-Bap­tiste said the TTAO’s suc­cess is due to the ex­cel­lent team with which she works—the ex­ec­u­tive and the com­mit­tees.

Part pro­ceeds from the up­com­ing event will go to­wards Hait­ian Earth­quake Re­lief.