This just in! In a world of screens, swipes, and fancy video games, our young people are enthusiastically embracing our traditional mathematical board game, Warri. All thanks to the School Call Een phase of the Warri Revival Programme. Could this lead to higher maths scores in the future? Listen, as our youth speak out about Warri !
Warri 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: Trevor “Simple” Simon, Terrance “Kambue” Charles, and Peter Derryck of 𝗔𝗕𝗪𝗔.
With the School Call Een phase of the Warri Revival Programme, repeating in school is a good thing! This phase features repeat training sessions at schools across Antigua, with sessions in Barbuda scheduled for late November.
The Warri Revival Programme, facilitated by ABWA, falls under the National ICH Project that is funded by the UNESCO ICH Fund and led by Cultural Advisor Dr. Hazra Medica.
One of the Revival Programme’s main goals is to train five hundred and fifty (550) students and fifty (50) members of the business community, churches, community, and sports groups in the history and sport of playing Warri. The programme has already surpassed its target number for adult participation and is well on track to meeting its target for youth engagement.
For its part, theICH Projectis designed to address the urgent need, long voiced by the public, to safeguard important elements of our living heritage before they vanish. It will also bring to the forefront hitherto untapped economic activities and opportunities existing within our traditional knowledge, skills, and cultural heritage. To learn more about the project, click here.
The Warri Revival Programme kicked off on July 3rd with a dynamic week-long Train the Trainers Workshop. Sponsored by the UNESCO ICH FUND and facilitated by the Antigua and Barbuda Warri Academy (ABWA), the initiative produced five new Warri trainers—all students, aged 11 to 17.
Did the students enjoy the experience? Did they truly connect with the game?
You be the judge. Enough long talking—roll the video!
What’s next for the Warri Revival Programme?
The Warri Revival Programme, part of the UNESO ICH Fund-Sponsored National Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Project, will train 550 students and 50 NGO members in Warri-playing. The Revival will also birth a new generation of 18 Warri board makers, including youths from vocational programmes and the national prison. Furthermore, throughout this and the next year, ABWA will also plant 200 of the Caesalpina Crista, the “nickal”/”nicker”/seed-producing tree. Three varieties of the seeds are typical in Antigua and Barbuda: the grey, the brownish-orange, and the black.
Stay tuned for updates on how YOU could be a part of this project!
To learn even more about the WARRI REVIVAL PROGRAMME, see this previous article: Warri’s Epic Rebirth
Exciting times are ahead! The traditional game of Warri, an important African cultural retention, is in for a revival of EPIC proportions in Antigua and Barbuda!
Our nation is renowned as the “last bastion of Warri in the Caribbean”. It is the one Caribbean country where Warri is still very much visible as a heritage game/sport. Indeed our players are renowned as international champions/grandmasters!
A typical national scene: Warri being played at the West Bus Station in St. Johns.From one generation to another, a Warri training session.Ornate Warri Board with “nickal” seeds. (Artisan: Mr. Karl Henry)
According to Dr. Medica, The Warri Revival Programme is one of the flagship pilot safeguarding exercises within the larger National ICH Project. She revealed that the revival programme will be coordinated by the Antigua and Barbuda Warri Academy (ABWA) under the watchful eyes of founding member and InternationalGrandmaster Trevor “Simple” Simon (CN), with assistance from public, private, and civil partners.
During the first week of July 2025, the ABWA will train six students to become Warri trainers. Following this, the history and fundamentals of the game will be taught to five hundred and fifty (yes, 550!) students. These five hundred and fifty students will be selected from private and public educational institutions in Antigua AND Barbuda. Their training will occur throughout the 2025 summer and Christmas school holidays, and possibly extend into the 2026 Easter holidays.
Excitingly, fifty (50) members of selected NGOs will also benefit from similar training sessions. What is more, eighteen (18) young people will be trained in the craft of making Warri boards. One group of youths will be drawn from vocational programs and the other group from within our national prison.
Warri Boards created by Mr. Karl Henry. Photo credit: Trevor Simon (CN)
Attention will also be given to the seeds of the game. Throughout this and the next year, ABWA will embark upon a project to plant two hundred (200) of the Caesalpina Crista, the “nickal”/”Warri seed”-producing tree. Three varieties of the seeds are typical in Antigua/Barbuda: the grey, the brownish orange, and the black.
International Grandmaster Trevor Simon (CN) is urging the public to rally behind the programme. He acknowledges the current lull in the traditional sport/game noting that in the past Warri was played in all the villages throughout the nation. According to him, participating in the playing of Warri enhances social bonding, problem-solving, and mathematical skills.
The ABWA is promising that all training sessions and activities will be interactive, entertaining, and geared towards reigniting the entire nation with the Warri fever we once had. Training sessions for students will be held at the National Public Library, and the Multipurpose Cultural Centre.
It is anticipated that during, and following the Warri Revival Programme, competitive and frequent Warri championships will be staged. It is also anticipated that the Programme will increase women’s participation in the game.
To learn more about the Warri and the Antigua and Barbuda Warri Academy, click here.
To learn more about the Antigua and Barbuda National ICH Project, clickhere.
Exciting times are ahead! By January’s end, Antigua and Barbuda will be launching a first-of-its-kind mammoth project that will inventory, promote, and safeguard important elements of our cultural heritage.
Cultural Advisor and the project’s manager, Dr. Hazra C. Medica, will be joined by Reginald Murphy CN, MBE, GOH, PhD, Antigua and Barbuda’s UNESCO National Commission Secretary-General, to guide the implementation of this crucial intersectoral and inter-ministerial project.
Dr. Hazra C. MedicaReginald Murphy, CN, MBE, GOH, PhD
In 2020, the nation secured US$ 97,754, / EC$ 264,185.07 in funding from the highly competitive UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund for a 19-month-long project. The project title: Strengthening Capacities for the Implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Antigua and Barbuda. In the coming months, it will be referred to as “The ICH Project”.
Similar to the now-concluded UNESCO IFCD-sponsored project, the Antigua and Barbuda Cultural Industries Mapping Project, The ICH Project will create several firsts for the nation. It will result in the nation’s first-ever national living heritage inventory/registry, with the input and involvement of communities across Antigua and Barbuda. The inventory/registry is meant to raise awareness of key living heritage elements, their viability status, and sustainable pathways to safeguard them.
There will also be a one-year Warri revival programme that will involve legendary Warri players, including Grandmaster Trevor Simon (CN), train five hundred and fifty (550) students and fifty (50) members of the business community, churches, community, and sports groups in the history and sport of playing Warri.
Warri is an African cultural retention whose survival undermines the amnesia thrust upon our enslaved African forebearers and their descendants. The skill of playing the game and the intricacies of making Warri boards has persisted through intergenerational transmission. In 1993, a Caribbean Beat Magazine article declared Antigua and Barbuda “the last bastion of Warri in the Caribbean”. Our players have long been highly visible internationally as world champions.
A typical Antiguan scene: Warri being played at the West Bus Station in St. Johns.
As a part of this programme, eighteen (18) young people— one group drawn from vocational programmes, and another from within our prison—will also receive training to create Warri boards for local purchase. This will allow for the transmission of the knowledge and continuity of the skills associated with making Warri boards, and allow greater public access to them.
Competitively priced Warri boards will also ensure earning opportunities will arise for the newly trained artisans. Moreover, tree-planting exercises will be undertaken to increase the number of Caesalpinia Crista trees, the source of the seeds used in Warri.
Additionally, there will be a boatbuilding programme, in which six (6) selected youths will be trained by a traditional boatbuilder to build a tradition-inspired seaworthy vessel. The process will be thoroughly documented for posterity and public dissemination. The intention is to use the programme to elaborate localised occupation standards, certification, and curricula in the field and widen our youths’ maritime skills and the maritime opportunities available to them.
Traditional sailing boats were once built and used in large numbers in Antigua. The backbone of commerce, they transported goods and people from the land to larger ships anchored in deeper water offshore. In the early years before automobiles and asphalt roads were established, they also transported produce from coastal areas around the island. Over the years several varieties were developed according to their intended function. But in general, the most common vessel type was the sloop. While larger vessels, such as schooners were built for long range trade and transportation, the smaller sloops were versatile, fast, and easy to handle.
Text courtesy Reginald Murphy CN, MBE, GOH, PhD.
Photos courtesy boatbuilder Mr. Alford Cochrane (who also appears in the foreground in the third photo).
Other components of the project will include diverse cultural exhibitions, the publication of a short book based on the Precision Centre’s cultural heritage documentary series, and a programme designed to teach youths traditional toy-making using recycled and indigenous materials.
The ICH Project originally meant for a 2022 launch and to span 19 months will be launched, with a revised timeline, by the end of January 2024. It was formulated by Cultural Advisor, Dr. Hazra C. Medica, after eight months of consultations with representatives from the private, public, and civil sectors. The project’s proposal was refined with assistance from the Heritage Department of the National Parks Authority—Reginald Murphy CN, MBE, GOH, PhD (now retired), Dr. Christopher Waters, and Desley Gardner (MA)—and (then) researcher in the Department of Culture, Mr. Anderson O’Marde.
The ICH Project is designed to address the urgent need, long voiced by the public, to safeguard important elements of our living heritage before they vanish. It will also bring to the forefront hitherto untapped economic activities and opportunities existing within our traditional knowledge, skills, and cultural heritage.
