Manmay LaKay Magazine Issue 2 April 2018 | Page 46

Manmay LaKay Claudette Ubekha Charles BY MONICA VICTOR O n any given day growing up in St. Lucia, you’d find Ubekha  either playing in the yard or  going on – school adventures like the Sulphur Springs and country trips that involved river baths and climbing trees. Visiting the market, M&C, J. Q. Charles Ltd., or Valmont. Or eating tamarind jam, mango in sauce, freshly baked bread, cassava and squash. On special feast days you'd find her going to festivals like Assou Square and LaRose and carnival. Her story time involved characters like gajés and ti bolom. There were sunny days and rainy days, beach parties and Vigie beach. “All this, in a tropical bliss,” she remembers. But at the age of 10, Ubekha left St. Lucia to join her parents who had left a year earlier to pursue economic opportunities in New York. Albeit very young, the memories of her island home St. Lucia, never faded. Ubekha grew up and had kids of her own. Remembering her rich culture,