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As T&T marks 180 years of East In­di­an ar­rival, lec­tur­er in his­to­ry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies Dr Jerome Teelucks­ingh is urg­ing cit­i­zens to draw on their an­ces­tors’ strength and sac­ri­fice to con­front to­day’s chal­lenges in­clud­ing do­mes­tic vi­o­lence, sui­cide, de­pres­sion, and al­co­holism.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia as the coun­try cel­e­brat­ed In­di­an Ar­rival Day, Teelucks­ingh said some of these chal­lenges ex­ist­ed dur­ing the in­den­ture­ship pe­ri­od yet Africans and In­di­ans worked hand in hand to solve prob­lems.

“In­di­an in­den­tured labour­ers faced dis­crim­i­na­tion, mar­gin­al­i­sa­tion and pover­ty lead­ing to a high rate of il­lit­er­a­cy. Yet the chil­dren of In­di­ans in ar­eas such as Pic­ton, Di­a­mond, and Welling­ton were able to ac­cess ed­u­ca­tion, of­ten through the sac­ri­fice of par­ents who had lit­tle them­selves,” he said.