Caribbean involvement in Melbourne

For all the Caribbean community in Melbourne/Victoria.
There aren't many organisations out there for the smaller cultures in Melbourne.
And for some cultures and nationalities, it's rare to see many people from the same area or country.

Tobago, where i'm from, and other smaller islands in the Caribbean are definitely some of them. I guess if you don't know where to look.

A few years ago when I was down at the park, I was just rollerblading around when I noticed two kids and a father playing hide and seek. And as black people do, we acknowledged each other. And he then asked me where I was from, and from there we talked for a while as he was also from the Caribbean. During this conversation he introduced me to something called 'Caribvic' which he told be to go look up when I get home.

He said to me, that I should come to the next event/meeting. But I never ended up going, as I completely forgot about it. However after remembering after so long, I have checked out the events coming up and have dated the days and times. 

There's an event in September and in November. I will be attending.

'CaribVic' is an organisation that holds events and promotions for Victoria's Caribbean community. It has things like, Steel pan festivals, picnics, lunches, etc. It seems to usually be on a Sunday, times varying depending on the event.

Anyone else who is interested should defiantly check it out on the Link below! Or just search 'CaribVic' in google or your alternative search engine.

 http://caribvic.com/ 

It's a really great chance to expand your knowledge of Caribbean culture in Melbourne/Victoria, so it would really be worth taking notice of, or simply supporting it.

People always askin' me where i'm from...

One of the most common questions I get asked is 'where are you from?'

I always give them the short version, 'my mums Australian and my dads from the West Indies'.
But then I always end up branching into the long version...
'Well actually my mum's mum is Cornish from Cornwall in England, and Spanish people migrated there before the Cornish people migrated here, which means i'm part Spanish. And my mum's dad is German. So then from that, I get, "oh... so your German, Spanish, and Indian?'. I answer the usual... 'No... the West Indies is the Caribbean'. Then I get 'oh where's that again?'. And this all makes me wonder, if this person doesn't know what and where the Caribbean is... what else don't they know? So I answer back with ' Next to Central America...you know... like Pirates of The Caribbean? (I get a blank face) ... JAMAICA?'. They answer in realisation 'Ohhhh so your Jamaican! Thats Awesome.. like Bob Marley'. Like seriously... 'Not everyone from the Caribbean is from Jamaica.' Then they say in disappointment 'Oh... then where are you from!?'. 'Well he was born on the Island of Tobago... like Trinidad and Tobago'. '(blank face)'. 'You know... the Cricket team?'. Now... most boys get me as soon as I say Tobago/Trinidad and Tobago. They say 'Ohhhh like the Cricket team!' But the girls... they have never heard of it. And all this makes me think. Where did they think Jamaica was before we had this conversation. And how does anyone not know where central America is!? Its a bit of a given isn't it? It would be in between North America and South America.. In the CENTRE! Half the time people just ask me if i'm African, I answer with 'yeah you could say that'.

I remember my friend who is African her self, asked me... 'Are you black in any way'. Apart from the fury heating up inside me thinking how dumb can you be, where do you think West Indian people came from!? Where does it look like we all came from. Have you ever heard of Slavery and the workers who fled the country, and migrated to the Caribbean, the USA, England, Europe. I mean come on.

Map of the Caribbean

My Aunty, Grandma, and I

Trinidad and Tobago flag

Beach in St Vincent

View from the house in St Vincent

African slave trade

     

Video we took in the St Vincent (an Island in the Caribbean) out of a moving car...