Caribbean leaders walk to promote health and exercise

Source

PARAMARIBO, Suriname -- The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda forgot his walking shoes, but still walked — in slacks and sandals. Fellow St. Kitts and Nevis leader, a physician, missed the bus and joined in late, drenched in sweat.

And the newly elected president of Guyana led the pack, finishing the 3.8-mile nature trail in under two hours.

“It was very nice,” Guyanese President Donald Ramotar said Friday.

A burly guy, Ramotar is a regular trail blazer. He walks anywhere between 2.5 and 3.7 miles, three to four times a week in his neighboring English-speaking South American nation. But this early Friday walk was at the protected Mopentibo Nature Trail on the former Peperpot coffee and cocoa plantation on the other side of the Suriname River.

For Caribbean heads, the two-day conference that began here Thursday and ended Friday, wasn’t just about diplomacy and discussions over pressing matters, including West Indies Cricket, crime and security and the regional body’s future. The meeting was also about promoting a healthy region.

Caricom began promoting walks at its conferences — usually the July meetings — in 2007 to raise awareness about the importance of health and exercise. In Suriname, for instance, three in five individuals suffer from non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, the United Nations has said.

Suriname President Desi Bouterse, currently serving as Caricom chairman, came up with the idea of Friday’s fitness walk to keep the issue at the forefront of leaders’ minds while meeting in his Dutch-speaking South American nation. Health is a key area of focus for Caricom, and last year was introduced on the agenda of the United Nations.

Speaking at the U.N. in September, Bouterse, a jogger who prefers his country’s jungles to its sidewalks, told global leaders there is a need to “address the rising incidence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases.”

“We can no longer ignore this emerging health crisis, which disproportionately impacts the poorest people, pushing them further into poverty and deprivation,” he said. He has subtitled this week’s conference, “Healthy Women, Wealthy Region.” The official Caricom slogan is “Healthy People, Wealthy Region.”

Neither Bouterse nor his wife made the walk. But three Caribbean leaders did along with government advisers and staffers, and both the former and present secretary general of Caricom.

“It’s a very healthy habit for anyone to cultivate,’’ Ramotar said. “It keeps you fit.”

Ramotar led the police-escorted group through the bucolic trail, where organizers set up water stations for participants and offered a bus at the end for those unable to make the trip back. At one point, a car got stuck on the dirt trail and Ramotar joined police officers in trying to push it out of the way.

The park consists of 700 acres, and is popular among bird watchers. Signs along the trials also point to the animals that can be spotted — if one is lucky: monkeys, jaguar, squirrels and more than 60 species of birds. It is covered in various species of towering trees and plants.

“It is very nice,” Ramotar said. “A nice place and good environment.”

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer agreed. He made it through the first 1.9 miles, not far behind Ramotar. But conceded after reaching the half-way mark, “I couldn’t go on.” He took a bus back to the beginning of the trail.

One leader who didn’t make it at all and was among the 11 who remained behind was The Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette.

“I was having my breakfast, answering emails and watching the news,” he said. “I have a bad hip and a bad spine. I am up at 5 a.m. every morning. I get out of bed and work; the heck with exercise.”