President Ramkalawan receives Rassin Vannier, Red Cross delegation |08 May 2021
Mr Vannier hands over a copy of the book to President Ramkalawan (Photo: Joena Meme)
President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday received Rassin Vannier and representatives of the Red Cross Society of Seychelles at State House.
Media practitioner and co-author of ‘Les Seychelles… un héritage métissé fragile’ Rassin Vannier was first to call on President Wavel Ramkalawan, and offered him a copy of the newly published book based on the evolution of the Seychellois culture since the birth of the nation 250 years ago.
“The objective was to present to the President a copy of the book that Mr (Frank) Underwood and myself have written. The book speaks about the situation of Seychelles, in terms of the evolution during the 250 years, which concerns our culture, where we came from and where we are in Seychelles,” said Mr Vannier.
“We discussed where we are in terms of culture in Seychelles, and the President attaches great importance to culture and the Seychellois culture, the mix that we have here in Seychelles. Of course, with me being in the media and news domain, we talked a little about, although it wasn’t necessarily the objective of the meeting, the situation regarding the press, but this was not a priority,” Mr Vannier stated.
The book covers a broad range of topics pertaining to the Seychellois culture, the different contributions as well as the evolution of the local culture. The idea behind the piece stemmed from Frank Underwood, who lives in France, and who authored the parts relating to the Seychellois culture in ancient and traditional terms. Mr Vannier contributed towards the piece relating to culture in the modern day, contemporary Seychelles.
“In the olden days we used to live as an extended family but today, people are more dispersed. It covers all of these transitions, and now with the Covid-19 situation where we are today, which is in line with the title ‘We are fragile’. The Covid-19 situation goes to show how our culture, because we cannot gather presently, we cannot celebrate, there is no Festival Kreol, so how all of these elements can put our small society in Seychelles in danger,” added Mr Vannier.
The book is not presently available for sale, due to travel restrictions in place. Eventually, it will be accessible to the public in different outlets. Although it is only available in French presently, President Ramkalawan proposed to Mr Vannier that the book be translated so as to reach a wider audience.
The Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS), represented by its president Kisnan Tamatave and secretary general Marie-May Bastienne, also called on President Ramkalawan and engaged in discussions with regard to the role of RCSS during the pandemic, the challenges the organisation is faced with, as well as the projects that RCSS is seeking government assistance for.
“Prior to Covid-19, RCSS was assisting people in disaster situations for the first 24 hours. But with the development of the Covid-19 situation, assistance sought is more than we were expecting and it has escaped us a bit. This is a challenge, because as people will understand, people are coming to us for assistance and we have assisted some for up to a month, which has depleted the resources that we had,” explained Mr Tamatave.
“As for staffing, we have realised that four staff is not enough to manage the situation. We want to have a community engagement project, as we want the communities to have the capacity to assist themselves. And how they can regroup all those who can help, and organise so as to help themselves,” Mr Tamatave noted.
The pair also addressed the issue of transportation with the president, a major issue for the organisation, as the RCSS presently has only one ambulance on Praslin and a van on Mahé in its fleet, and which sometimes means that the assistance cannot get to those in need within the desired timeframe.
Laura Pillay
