Published: Sep 25, 2015, 08:08 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 25, 2015, 08:08 PM (IST)
Professor Eudine Barriteau, Principal of the University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus feels that cricket stars Brian Lara, Jason Holder, Curtly Ambrose and other sportspersons like footballer Dwight Yorke and runner Yohan Blake are doing the country a world of good by featuring in a charity-match scheduled to take place tomorrow i.e. on September 26, 2015 at Kensington Oval. This match will raise funds for all those who lost their loved ones in Erica storm in August 2015. Around 31 people died in the calamity and there was immense destruction of property. READ: Brian Lara to play charity-match to raise funds for Dominica Emergency Relief Fund
In a conversation with stabroeknews.com Professor Barriteau said, “The T20 game…is a tangible and most fitting expression of our oneness as a region, a oneness always articulated by our vice-chancellor [Sir Hilary Beckles]. We can think of no endeavour more appropriate than cricket, to rally the region for his worthy cause, for it is cricket historically that has united our region. The UWI [University of West Indies] and WICB are the very essence of regionalism in its finest forms. These two institutions exemplify the excellence that is attainable through our collective energies and it is fitting that these enduring symbols of regionalism should be united in the effort to bring relief to the people of Dominica.” READ: WICB collaborate with University of West Indies to raise funds for storm-hit Dominica
She added that all West Indians are like a huge family and feel compassion for everyone, “We were galvanised to pledge whatever assistance we could, not only to the deeply disturbing images of the devastation, dislocation and death which Tropical Storm Erika left behind in Dominica. But also by that firmly embedded shared sense of kinship which we feel as Caribbean citizens, that intrinsic West Indian trait made manifest whenever any single member of our regional family is hurting, we all feel the pain. The loss of life and widespread damage to property, both personal and public, within the state of Dominica, served as a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of our islands and the entire region through each and every annual hurricane season, and a chilling reminder of that sobering phrase ‘there goes us but for the grace of God.”
