By Indrawattie Natram

STORYTELLING is an ancient tradition that has been shared by many cultures over the centuries and serves as a means of passing on cultural practices, teaching lessons or just a mere form of entertainment.

However, in modern times, this tradition has become lost. Having recognised that children of today are not aware of the significance of storytelling, the VOICE Youth group which was recently formed in Queenstown Village in Region Two, has been reviving storytelling in the community.
The group recently held the “Elsie Marks Memorial Storytelling Competition” in the village which according to President/Co-Founder of VOICE, Deanna Walcott, attracted a large number of children in the village.

“The Elsie Marks Memorial Storytelling Competition is just the first of many public speaking opportunities open to not only the children of Queenstown, but to youths in the villages across our beautiful nation,” Walcott said.

The competition was named the Elsie Marks in memory of Marks who was a teacher at the Queenstown Primary for over 40 years. She died on January 21, 2015.

According to Walcott, the initiative aimed at becoming an annual competition to boost confidence and promote public speaking amongst Grade Five and Six students.

During the competition, which was held on August 11 at the Queenstown Primary School, 12-year-old Ahkeel Marks emerged as the winner. Marks shone among the other competitors and captivated the judges from the beginning with his confidence and sense of humour while telling his story.

The other students who participated Dekeera Harinandan, Aatifah Hubbard, Chimalsi Vaughn, Emani Duncan and Rumelia Martinborough. Hubbard and Martinborough placed second and third, respectively.

This year’s competition was held under the theme “School Days” and comprised two rounds. In the first round, the participants were required to present their original prepared piece. The second round tested the participants’ public-speaking skills and their creativity through an impromptu topic that required the students to tell a story in two to three minutes, of a strange and scary new teacher they encountered on the first day of school.

VOICE is made up of a group of youths who believe that everyone has a voice, and it is with this voice that they are able to communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings. It is their mission as a non-profit organisation to hone and develop the communication skills of youth, and to inspire and empower them to become engaged citizens and influential leaders in the Guyanese society. In the future, the group will be opening its membership to interested persons as it seeks to continue to create meaningful change.

VOICE’s main purpose is to assist schools, communities and other organisations in raising awareness about the life-changing benefits of speech and debate; to facilitate workshops, competitions and other activities designed to encourage continued exploration of approaches to speech and debating; to promote social awareness and interest in current affairs and to provide capacity building by teaching confidence, creating thinkers and moulding leaders.