| As a young student, listening in rapt wonder to a visiting storyteller, Cassilda Thomas was hooked on the spoken word. On leaving school her job as a library assistant offered opportunites for sharing stories with children, sometimes on Saturdays, during summer programmes and visits to pre-schools. As a result of networking between the Anguilla Library Service and the Philipsburg Jubilee Library another window of opportunity opened for Cassilda. |
From September 12 to September 15, 2011, under the theme “It takes a Story to raise a child”, the Philipsburg Jubilee Library, in collaboration with the Ark Foundation, hosted a workshop about how to tell stories in an enjoyable and effective manner. Sessions were held in the evening to facilitate the participation of persons in the community and were designed to develop the capability to tell stories or to enhance the skills of those persons who already had some experience in this field. Mr Wijnand Stomp, a.k.a Mr Anansi, a well known Dutch Antillean theatrical storyteller in Holland, conducted the workshop. On Friday, September 16th, the workshop participants showcased their skills as they delivered a delightful performance at the Philipsburg Cultural Centre. Sixteen storytellers, through voice and movement, presented a group telling of how Anansi outwitted more powerful characters to make money for meeting his family’s needs in these ‘hard’ times. The audience, which included children, was spellbound and very enthused over the performance of the participants. It was indeed a fitting finale that showed how the storytellers were able to command the attention and involvement of their listeners. The participants were presented with certificates as ‘professional storytellers’ and they all seemed eager to go out and practice their skills. Special recognition was given to Cassilda, from the ‘sister island’ of Anguilla, at the end of the closing presentations. “I certainly feel better equipped to read or tell stories to children”, raves Cassilda. “It has been a very rewarding experience for me. Thank you to my library, my ministry and the library in St Maarten”. Apart from the storytelling workshop, Miss Thomas assisted with various duties at the Jubilee Library including visits to schools on the mobile library bus during the daytime hours. |
