00:00 The education and advancement of Creole culture is the main thrust of groups hosting activities
00:07 for World Creole Month. A Creole festival hosted by For the Culture at the end of October
00:15 highlighted dance, language, music and other elements that are a part of Creole culture.
00:20 Director of the organization, Rhea Ward, spoke about her passion for Patois.
00:25 This idea was good when I had my first Patois class with Miss Michelle Mora of Rotterdam
00:30 and I actually have a business called For the Culture which we do all our events under
00:33 because we specialize specifically in cultural events. So when it is we have the initial
00:38 interaction, she's so passionate about Patois that she would have given history coming down
00:42 the line about it and that passed on to me and that is what started the fire to create
00:48 an actual Creole festival.
00:50 The inaugural festival was originally scheduled for 2022 but was postponed due to bad weather.
00:57 The festival focused on the French Creole culture for its inaugural staging and will
01:01 incorporate other Creole cultures in the coming years.
01:05 Event partner, Michelle Mora Fodringham shared her experience with us.
01:10 We had lovely workshops here today. We had ballet workshops, we had stick fighting workshops,
01:15 we had jab molassi and it was very interactive and I did two Patois lessons and I saw the
01:22 appreciation on the people's faces when I said things like pomse de and series, all
01:28 the talking Patois, not even all the talking Patois. So I saw that happiness, I saw it
01:33 come to the city.
01:34 Mrs. Fodringham also told us what sparked her interest in Patois.
01:39 My father spoke Patois and at the age of 94 he told me that he regretted not speaking
01:45 that language with me.
01:46 Nnamdi Hodge was around interviewing elders, trying to preserve their knowledge, what they
01:52 knew, games and songs and I had contacted Nnamdi to my father and he told me, he said
01:57 I can't remember, I said stop speaking it and I saw this joy come back to him. He came
02:03 back to life.
02:04 So his last two months of life we had some of the happiest times we ever had together
02:09 and I do not want to have the same regret that he had, which is I regret not teaching
02:14 him the language sooner.
02:15 Aksha Galstang, TV6 News.
02:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
Comments