Mulimba Mirembe Kaile, Grade 11
UWC Costa Rica
Annually, at the end of August, the people of Limon, Costa Rica hold a parade in celebration of their African and Caribbean roots. It is known as the Afro-Caribbean and Black Heritage Parade. When I heard about it I was quick to sign up to attend it because I wanted to witness the celebration of my culture from a different perspective. Part of the reason for my eagerness to attend this parade was the fact that it was the beginning of the school year and I was still getting used to the new environment and wanted to see my culture represented in this place so far away from home.
The trip was organised by a DP 2 student and a teacher, both from Limon, with support from the school. The journey to Limon from San Jose is around three hours; therefore, we were required to wake up at around 4 a.m on the 31st of August in order to arrive at the parade on time. Waking up at 4am on a Saturday after a long week of waking up really early, was the last thing I wanted to do. However, my enthusiasm for the event gave me all the strength I needed to get out of bed at that hour.
Upon reaching the terribly crowded venue for the parade, we were tasked with finding an area where we could set up our tent in order to have the best possible view of the event. The parade started at around 11am and by this time the venue was congested. It was especially entertaining how some of my friends and I kept being mistaken for citizens of Limon (this is because Limon has a very large community of people of afro-descent in comparison with the rest of Costa Rica, therefore, it was very easy to blend in with the crowd). One of the people even asked me whether someone, whose name I have since forgotten, from the town was coming to the parade. It was very amusing because I could not even answer him properly due to my limited knowledge of Spanish at the time, and I just shook my head; he then realised that I was a foreigner and smiled.
The parade was an extravagant myriad of colours with sublimely tailored garments and the tremendous amount of work that went into setting up the parade was evident. The first line of people was holding flags of different countries in the Caribbean and Africa; I almost leapt with joy when I saw the Ugandan flag among them, to say that that made my entire day would be an understatement. I was thrilled because my country is rarely ever represented in overseas countries, usually, when the topic of Africa is brought up, South Africa and Nigeria are at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Seeing my country’s flag pinned proudly on some stranger’s chest miles away from home was eminently delightful; for about five minutes and with immense pride, I kept telling everyone in our small group that I had just seen my flag. However, after about 10 minutes of the parade, there was a slight altercation where the people of Limon interrupted the parade protesting against the government; the police were quick to intervene and the parade was resumed.
The dances and ensembles were superbly coordinated. It was so amazing seeing so many attires that were similar to the ones traditionally worn in Uganda. Furthermore, the music was fantastic and I was singing along to half of the songs that played. There were large floats with so many different designs and colours; some were even painted with beautiful Afro-centric images all of which were a way for the people of Limon to acknowledge their roots and it was inspiring how thoughtful the entire event was. It is truly an event to experience first hand.
Despite some people from our school who attended the event not being part of the cultures represented, they were in awe at how much fervour everyone in the parade had and the liveliness of the entire experience. In the afternoon, after watching the parade for about four hours we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach. It was lovely and calming - a complete contrast to the parade we had attended only moments ago -we took pictures and wound down after the exciting but exhausting day we had had.
The parade was phenomenal and all of us were beyond contented at having witnessed it, I personally found it memorable seeing a part of my culture represented and appreciated so excellently in a place that I was just starting to acclimatise to.
The trip was organised by a DP 2 student and a teacher, both from Limon, with support from the school. The journey to Limon from San Jose is around three hours; therefore, we were required to wake up at around 4 a.m on the 31st of August in order to arrive at the parade on time. Waking up at 4am on a Saturday after a long week of waking up really early, was the last thing I wanted to do. However, my enthusiasm for the event gave me all the strength I needed to get out of bed at that hour.
Upon reaching the terribly crowded venue for the parade, we were tasked with finding an area where we could set up our tent in order to have the best possible view of the event. The parade started at around 11am and by this time the venue was congested. It was especially entertaining how some of my friends and I kept being mistaken for citizens of Limon (this is because Limon has a very large community of people of afro-descent in comparison with the rest of Costa Rica, therefore, it was very easy to blend in with the crowd). One of the people even asked me whether someone, whose name I have since forgotten, from the town was coming to the parade. It was very amusing because I could not even answer him properly due to my limited knowledge of Spanish at the time, and I just shook my head; he then realised that I was a foreigner and smiled.
The parade was an extravagant myriad of colours with sublimely tailored garments and the tremendous amount of work that went into setting up the parade was evident. The first line of people was holding flags of different countries in the Caribbean and Africa; I almost leapt with joy when I saw the Ugandan flag among them, to say that that made my entire day would be an understatement. I was thrilled because my country is rarely ever represented in overseas countries, usually, when the topic of Africa is brought up, South Africa and Nigeria are at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Seeing my country’s flag pinned proudly on some stranger’s chest miles away from home was eminently delightful; for about five minutes and with immense pride, I kept telling everyone in our small group that I had just seen my flag. However, after about 10 minutes of the parade, there was a slight altercation where the people of Limon interrupted the parade protesting against the government; the police were quick to intervene and the parade was resumed.
The dances and ensembles were superbly coordinated. It was so amazing seeing so many attires that were similar to the ones traditionally worn in Uganda. Furthermore, the music was fantastic and I was singing along to half of the songs that played. There were large floats with so many different designs and colours; some were even painted with beautiful Afro-centric images all of which were a way for the people of Limon to acknowledge their roots and it was inspiring how thoughtful the entire event was. It is truly an event to experience first hand.
Despite some people from our school who attended the event not being part of the cultures represented, they were in awe at how much fervour everyone in the parade had and the liveliness of the entire experience. In the afternoon, after watching the parade for about four hours we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach. It was lovely and calming - a complete contrast to the parade we had attended only moments ago -we took pictures and wound down after the exciting but exhausting day we had had.
The parade was phenomenal and all of us were beyond contented at having witnessed it, I personally found it memorable seeing a part of my culture represented and appreciated so excellently in a place that I was just starting to acclimatise to.
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