BavinaSookdeo (Newsday) After relocating the exhibition layout and new design, I write about the reopening of the Trinidad and Tobago Museum in the Indo-Caribbean.
The powerful narrative of durability, culture and identity unfolds in Waterloo, not words, but through artifacts, photographs, and preserved echoes of past generations. Under the stewardship of Sanathan Dharma Maha Sabah (SDMS), the Trinidad and Tobago Museum in the Caribbean, India officially reopened its doors this May with a celebration this May, celebrating the 180th anniversary of India’s Heritage Month and the arrival of India.
Founded in 2006, the museum was originally located in an old Waterloo Hindu primary school. The transformation into a cultural institution stems from the urgent need to maintain the legacy of Indian indentured master immigrants and their descendants.
“At that time we saw the need to maintain Indian heritage and Indian culture,” said Donel Jugmohan, executive member of SDMS, Donel Jugmohan, newly appointed museum and principal of MC Bean Hindu School. “This was the space where Maha Sabah had to make a path to preserve artifacts, paintings and photographs.”
Jugmohan explained that the museum is a view on the past that will help us prepare for the future. “We need to understand what the past is like, what our ancestors have experienced, how we reached this part of the world, the circumstances that led us to the kind of people we are today, and some of the practices that we continue to approach.”
The original building of the museum, which was closed during the Covid19 pandemic, has urged the relocation to a more spacious annex. But the change goes beyond bricks and mortar. The entire layout has been redesigned to tell the story.
“It tells the story from the beginning because the layout of the museum is merely a way of doing things,” Jugmohan explained. “From India, it goes on a journey – Fatel Razak, immigration documents, Karapani (Black Water), living on the estate, living last year… all of these are recorded in photographs and more. ” [. . .]
For the complete article, please refer to 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.”]