Episcopal church celebrates homecoming
Panama National Dress Exhibition. From left, Tracy Connell, Reagan Davis, Taylor Connell and Itzel Connell.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
From left, Mr. Doukoure, guest from the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire); J. Andre
Laveau, consul general of Trinidad and Tobago in New York; the Rev. Fr.
Steve L. Foster, rector; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church; Sen. James Sanders,
Jr.; Juliana Mahie Doukoure, vice consul, Consulate General of the Ivory
Coast in New York; and Denise Donaldson, vice consul, Jamaica Consulate
General in New York.
Caribbean L BQ ife, October 4 - 10, 2019 39
By Nelson A. King
Members of several communities and
cultures in the city recently participated
in the second Homecoming and
International Day at St. Peter’s Episcopal
church in Rosedale, Queens.
According to Monica Carrington and
Yvonne Robinson, Trinidadian and Guyanese
nationals, respectively, coordinators
of the event, hundreds, as well as
officers and officials from the New York
Police Department (NYPD) and the
Fire Department of New York (FDNY),
attended the extravaganza on Sept. 14.
“Tents were beautifully decorated in
the various country colors, and the
highlights of the day began with the
Sunday school children marching in
with flags from 17 countries and presenting
them to their various representatives,”
Carrington and Robinson
told Caribbean Life.
They said dignitaries receiving flags
on behalf of their country was Sen.
James Sanders for America; Juliana
Mahie Sehi Doukoure, vice consul of
Cote d’Ovoire (Ivory Coast); Denise
Donaldson, vice consul of the Consulate
General of Jamaica; and Andre Laveau,
consul general of Trinidad and Tobago.
“Various other personnel received
flags on behalf of the other countries,
during which time each country’s
National Anthem was played,” they
said.
Carrington and Robinson also said
the anthem for Trinidad and Tobago
was played on steel pan, and that each
country’s representative addressed the
ceremony briefly.
The countries which participated
in the event were: America, Antigua,
Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Ivory Coast,
Jamaica, Martinique, Nigeria, Panama,
St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
While hundreds sampled the international
cuisine, they were entertained by
Elite One Steel Orchestra and DJ Josa,
the organizers said.
They said the talent show was an
admixture of “American stepping” and
music — calypsos from Barbados, Grenada,
and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Performers included Guyana folk
song and dancers; Haiti cultural presentation;
Cuba, Ivory Coast and Nigeria
fashion shows; Jamaican Kumina dancers
and folk singers; Panamanian exhibition
of national dresses; Martinique
music; St. Kitts and Nevis poem and
music; and Trinidad and Tobago children
parading in costumes to soca and
steel pan music.
Carrington and Robinson said children
sang “We are the World,” dedicating
the song to the people of the Bahamas,
whose country was ravaged by the
recent passage of Hurricane Dorian.
“Throughout the program, we
reminded all in attendance of the
importance of helping our brothers and
sisters in the Bahamas, and informed
them St. Peter’s is a drop location for
Bahamas hurricane relief assistance,”
they said.
“We opened and closed the event
with prayers from our rector, Fr. Steve
Foster (Barbadian-born),” Carrington
and Robinson said.
The organizers said St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, located at 137-28 244th
St., Rosedale, in the southeastern section
of Queens, is part of the Anglican
Communion, “sharing a common
heritage in the tenets of the Church of
England.”
They said St. Peter’s has been the
center of a vibrant Christian faith and
worship since 1907.
“Today, our congregation of 175
families consists mainly of immigrants
from the Anglican Church of various
Caribbean nations currently residing in
Rosedale and the neighboring communities,”
Carrington and Robinson said.
Jamaica Kumina Dance: Front, from left Lorna Evans, Donalee Thomas
and Janice Marriott. Back, from left, Elizabeth Bigaud, Hettie Powell and
Yvonne Robinson.
Parishoners proudly display their countries’ fl ags during the Flag Ceremony.