Behavioural Change Training, Liming & Wining


I have been in-country for three months. Looking back on the past four weeks, I can confidently say, I’m settled into work and home. Some project highlights from July include:

  •  Attending the Caribbean Development Bank’s panel session: Solutions on All Sides – Addressing Multiple Crises to End Gender Inequality in the Caribbean. If you missed it ;-), here is a link to the recorded session, which took place at the posh Sandals Grande Resort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAQIKWTVqTM
  • Supporting the facilitation and documentation of the CARICOM (short for Caribbean Community) Secretariate’s Regional Gender Equality Strategy validation session. The new regional strategy, titled Stepping it up: a strategy to achieve gender equality in the Caribbean, aims to accelerate efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women in the region and is a collaborative effort of the European Union, the United Nations-funded Caribbean Regional Spotlight Initiative, the UN Women Multi-Country Office, and the United Nations Development Programme. https://caricom.org/caricom-secretariat-begins-consultation-on-draft-gender-equality-strategy/
  • Completing the three-day EnGenDER (Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience) Caribbean Behavioural Change Communication Training Programme. The EnGenDER Project is funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UKFCDO). Led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the EnGenDER Project is being implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). Nine Caribbean countries are part of the project – Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.
    https://caribbean.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/06/engender-gender-and-climate-change-resilience-infographic-series

July in Saint Lucia means Carnival. Essentially, Carnival is a month-long festival that culminates in a two-day, two-mile parade of bands along the highway into downtown Castries. It’s not a parade of marching musical bands and baton twirlers, as our Victoria Day parade largely is. Carnival “bands” are community groups or organizations whose members and public supporters wear costumes and dance down the closed off highway in the parade together. Every year, the individual bands choose a new theme, and then design elaborate costumes for participants to purchase and wear in the parade. Some of the Carnival Band entry names and their corresponding themes for 2023 were: Just 4 Fun – Into the Beyond; Legends – The Essence of Time; Red Carnival- Untamed; Thrive – Phantasma. Below are some pics of the Phantasma adult masquerader costumes, which start at $650 USD.

People travel from all over the Caribbean and further afield come to take part in the festivities. Former residents fly home to celebrate with family, and foreigners travel from countries all over the world to participate. Pre-parade activities include a variety of events and competitions from the carnival queen pageant and steel pan competitions to the Soca and Calypso music contests, as well as a seemingly continuous calendar of themed parties, or fetes, with music, dancing, food and drinks. Fete is French for party. The parties during the carnival season often feature entertainment and performances from top musicians or DJ’s.

It took me a while to understand what the parade was and how it worked. All month people asked me, “Are you jumping for Carnival?” The first time it happened, I said curiously, What do you mean by jumping? Well, turns out, it’s pretty much exactly as it sounds. If you are jumping for Carnival, you’ve paid your band member entry fee, purchased your costume and will be dancing down the street with fellow band members on parade day.

The Caribbean is known for exemplifying a laid back, carefree lifestyle. One of the first words my work colleague taught me the meaning of was “lime” or “liming”. She said, Saint Lucia is a liming culture. What’s liming? It’s hanging out, relaxing with friends for no reason other than to enjoy each other’s company. There’s a fine line between liming and partying. Apparently, if you buy food and drinks, and invite people to an organized event, you’re partying. But if you simply get together with or without beverages to hang out, with no set start or end time and no set invite list, you’re liming. In essence, liming reflects the unstructured, easy-going approach to life associated with the Caribbean.

Wine/wining is another common word I had explained to me. To wine, or wining, is a distinct style of dancing where you pull your ultra-sexy side out and move your hips and waist in a winding, rhythmic motion. I have my lively Soca fit instructor, Chacho, and the fabulous, welcoming local women in my Socafit classes to thank for showing me how to roll my hips in the right wine-type way. It’s a true art, and I am by no means a natural, but thanks to decades of former dance training, I don’t think I’m too terrible!

Chacho’s Socafit classes are a real joy and grounding part of every week that have helped me feel like less of an outsider. Soca is a style of Caribbean dance music with a strong, pounding beat and roots in Calypso and American soul music. I take three classes a week, and they are an absolute riot, with lots of laughs, saucy hip moves and tons of cardio. I am a sweaty mess by the end of the hour and half sessions.

Chacho also hosts Roadblock, an annual charity fundraising event for diabetes. According to the Caribbean Public Health Agency, diabetes is the leading silent and most preventable killer in the Caribbean. The 2023 Roadblock occurred a couple of weekends ago. The road between the Socafit studio and Reduit beach was cordoned off and a group of 150+ Socafitters donned fluorescent green tank tops to follow Chacho, dancing and wining in the back of a pickup truck outfitted with huge speakers, all the way down to the ocean. For three hours we danced, wined, sweated buckets and helped raise funds for diabetes awareness and prevention in the region. Here is a short clip from the event:

Other highlights of the past month include finding a vinyasa flow yoga class close by to frequent on Sundays and celebrating Canada Day with a free drink and coconut shrimp from the little sports bar on my street. I also experienced Caribbean-style karaoke at Chef Robby’s with some Socafit friends (who knew classic country music was so popular in Saint Lucia? Not me!), checked out Mission Impossible at the local movie theatre (terrible film, but the air con was divine), discovered Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Wiser than Me podcast series (OMG – if you haven’t listened to it yet, you are in for a real treat; her conversations with Jane Fonda and Isabel Allende are simply unforgettable), and I was thoughtfully invited to attend my colleague Felica’s 30 year grad reunion get together with her sister and all their former classmates from St. Joseph’s Convent.

St. Joseph’s is an all-girls Roman Catholic secondary school in Castries. The convent was founded in 1854 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, a Roman Catholic institute established in 1807 with satellite locations around the world. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny perform a variety of charitable deeds, primarily missionary work and providing education for the poor. Today, a mix of nuns and non-denominational teachers instruct the students at St. Joseph’s Convent, but back when Felica and her sister attended it was run strictly by nuns. I’m told its considerable reputation for excellence has existed for decades and it’s well known for producing some of the island’s best academic performers.

And last, but not at all least, Tod arrives from Canada tonight 😊

Time for liming and wining!

2 responses to “Behavioural Change Training, Liming & Wining”

  1. Todhunter M Weber

    A time in your life that is a true time of your life . Quite a blog of life … we all hope you are well and happy and surviving the initial
    Months of the many mandatory learnings required to move countries and live and work there. Our haggis off to your dedication. They are lucky to have you.

    Maybe some day tell us what it’s like to work in and with NGO’s and also the Saint Lucian government. Must be quite a process. Take care !

  2. Jackie

    Finally had a minute to catch up on your blog! Great writing Christi, and it sounds like you have fully landed and are an important part of the local team … that includes liming and wining (which you will teach us when you get back … right?!?)! The tropical storms are to be expected but no less unnerving. Love the pics that you post and share with us all. Thank you so much for including us in your adventure and experience of the culture in St Lucia! Enjoy your visiting time with Tod and we’ll catch up soon (which I’ve said more than once I know!). Keep dancing! 😁😎

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