WITH Emancipation Day just days away, the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) presented a wide array of African wear, artifacts and other cultural items on display on Main Street Avenue on Tuesday.

Out for show were food items, clothing, bags, shoes, jewellery and sculptures neatly presented at booths for passersby to see and acquire.

Seamstress Claire Richards told the Guyana Chronicle that with her locally made clothing items, she wants more African-Guyanese to be proud to wear clothing of their culture and not just on August 1st but any day of the year.

“Every year I try to promote the African clothing as much as possible. I wear my African clothing every day and some people are like ‘where she going, it’s not Emancipation Day’. So I would ask them, ‘am I only black during emancipation time?’

“I’m black 24/7 so I wear my clothing every day, any day… I try to promote the African clothing for those who are interested and have accepted that they are black and not just one-day-Africans as we usually see,” she said.

Richards has been displaying her work for the past 18 years in collaboration with ACDA through her Kool Wrap Designs line.

Bringing a twist to it all, she put on display green tie-die skits and cloth bags which she said are in effort to promote Guyana’s Green State Agenda with the use of less plastic bags.

Also on the Main Street Avenue stretch was jewellery maker, Kenneth Nelson whose colourful necklaces and bracelets attracted several persons.

He told this newspaper that although his jewellery sells even more around Emancipation Day, because Guyana is so multi-cultural, all ethnic groups usually visit his booths.
“Because Guyana is so diverse, even indigenous people can come and pick this up. When we have Emancipation Day, people come and pick them up, same thing when we have Indian Arrival Day and same for the indigenous people,” he said.

Nelson sources the seeds, drills and polishes them, a process which takes about 15 to 20 minutes and one which he continues to do as he sells.

“Some of them we source them from right in Guyana, those that are local beads and seeds that you get in the jungle or about the place like buckbeeds…what I do is adjust them and create different things from them,” he said, explaining his craft.

Coming up on ACDA’s list of activities leading up to Emancipation Day will be an Emancipation Spiritual Tribute in collaboration with the House of Santeria which will be hosted at the Square of the Revolution from July 29-31.