Manmay LaKay Magazine Issue 2 April 2018 | Page 47

she endeavored to share with her children
literary accounts but couldn’t find culturally
relevant books. It was then that Ubekha decided
that she’d write a series of books to document
her childhood experiences on the island.
After 20 years, Ubekha finally put pen to paper
and produced the Wyetta series – literary
accounts of her childhood – about a very annafè
little girl named Wyetta. A series that's bound to
be fun and exciting for children and nostalgic
for adults all over the Caribbean.
Thank you Bekha for sharing your work with
Manmay LaKay magazine and the world. I
must admit I was very excited to see characters
that look like me and you and little St. Lucian
and Caribbean children. Hats off to you on
fulfilling that need.
What inspired you to write the Wyetta series?
While in high school, I met a fellow St. Lucian
who, at 16 years old and had been living in the
United States for only two years, claimed she
had forgotten how to respond to me in the most
basic greeting of our French Patois, “Sa ka fet?”
Here is a person who denied her culture as a
part of herself and was rapidly losing an
important part of her identity. This encounter
caused me to show my St. Lucian pride even
more and to be sure that everyone knew that I
was from a magic kingdom called St. Lucia.
My second motivation for Wyetta was in my role
as a parent. It was important for me to share my
beautiful culture and heritage with my two
children about the magical place that I spent my
first 10 years. But unfortunately, I was not able
to find any children’s books highlighting our
 culture, neither in New York nor in St. Lucia.