Yesterday should have been the 16th edition of the Chinatown fete at O2 Park in Chaguaramas, and it was guaranteed to be yet another sold out affair.
However, organiser Ryan “Chinee” Shing Hon, the event’s founder and chief organiser, in a decision that shocked many, decided to cancel a profitable post-pandemic payday and is now vowing to convert his activity into a non-profit charitable organisation.
Addressing the reason for the decision, the Red 96.7FM announcer said it was during the pandemic that he started to take stock of what was happening around him.
“Every morning I am having phone calls of despair, of anger, of people saying they can’t eat, they can’t send their children to school, I was hearing the pleas and cries of a nation,” Shing Hon told Guardian Media.
But the cathartic moment which has now led to the formation of the Chinatown Foundation came some days ago when he received a call during his radio show from a man named Sheldon.
“I am hearing this man crying and the rhetoric is that there’s nobody to help people like him and he felt like no one even cares. He said everyone living off of the land and living off of the people and that hit home for me and I was like I am one of those people, I just taking and building success from Trinidad and Tobago and I asked myself what was I giving back to the people and the country.”
Henceforth, the promoter now philanthropist will be asking the same people and corporations who invest in his parties to do so in the people.
“Simply put, Chinatown will not be making any money off Trinidad and Tobago and it will be giving back, so what I am asking now is the same persons who would have purchased tickets for $300, $350 and $400, imagine if we take $50 or $100 and put it together and we helped, imagine if corporate Trinidad who spending thousands of dollars behind an event, put that to good use.”
Shing Hon said there is no targeted group who will receive help from the foundation, as it will be open to assisting any and everyone.
“Everyone needs help, it doesn’t even have to be monetary help, it could be water, it could be groceries, it could be bricks, it could be cement, it could be you get the things and I pay for the men to come and build a wall for you.”
He admitted that he does not expect his fellow promoters to understand his decision.
“You want me to be honest? This business is a selfish one, I don’t expect my comrades to understand.”
And Shing Hon even called out his own supporters for their hypocrisy.
“It has people who can’t send their children to school and these are the same people who coming to support Chinatown, and you quarrelling that you can’t buy a shoe, so I am saying take back the money that you gave me and go and buy your shoes, go and buy your groceries.”
On a social media post on Instagram, Chinatown informed ticket holders that refunds will run from October 25 to November 1.