Bavina Sookdeo (Newsday) writes about the reopening of the Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago after a relocation and new design of the exhibition layout.
A powerful narrative of endurance, culture and identity unfolds in Waterloo – not in words, but through artifacts, photographs and the preserved echoes of generations past. The Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, under the stewardship of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), has officially reopened its doors this May in celebration of Indian Heritage Month and the 180th anniversary of Indian arrival in TT.
Founded in 2006, the museum was originally housed in the old Waterloo Hindu Primary School. Its transformation into a cultural institution stemmed from a pressing need to preserve the heritage of Indian indentured immigrants and their descendants.
“It was seen at that time, that there was a need to preserve Indian heritage and the culture of Indians,” said Donell Jugmohan, executive member of the SDMS, newly appointed chairman of the museum and principal of Mc Bean Hindu School. “This was now a space that Maha Sabha had to create an avenue for the preservation of artifacts, paintings, pictures.”
Jugmohan explained that the museum is a view into the past that will help us to prepare for the future. “We have to understand what our past was like, what our ancestors went through, how we got to this part of the world, what were the situations that led us to be the kind of people that we are today and what are some of the practices that we continue to hold close to.”
Shuttered during the covid19 pandemic, the museum’s original building fell into disrepair, prompting a relocation to a more spacious annex. But the changes go beyond bricks and mortar – the entire layout has been redesigned to tell a story.
“The mere way in which the museum layout is, it tells the story from the beginning,” Jugmohan explained. “From India, then it goes to the journey – The Fatel Razack, the immigration documents, the kala pani (black water), life in the estates, life in yesteryears… all these are documented in photographs and so on.” [. . .]
For full article, see https://newsday.co.tt/2025/05/11/indian-caribbean-museum-of-trinidad-and-tobago-reopens/
[Photo above: “Students of the Waterloo Hindu School share a light moment at they view some displays the opening of the Indian Caribbean Museum.”]