The Bambarra line of products is now available at the Gift Shop.

The name Bambarra has historical significance to the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands. In 1841 a Spanish slave ship carrying slaves bound for Cuba wrecked off the coast of East Caicos. By then slavery was illegal in the British territories and the 192 captives that survived were freed.  They were from a Mande tribe in West Africa consisting of persons that spoke the Bambarra language.  These are the ancestors of the many Turks and Caicos islanders.

At our Gift shop you would find Bambarra teas, jerk rubs, hot sauces, mango and papaya chutneys and also rum cakes.  Visit us today for a taste of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

We know you’ll have lots to write about your visit, so at our gift shop we have lots for you to write on.

We have added new postcards and note cards; the sunset from the balcony of Guinep house, the cutest donkeys you’ll ever see, one donkey help us with our geography and another  gives us a glimpse of history.  For a festive flare we have beautifully painted abstract donkeys.

Special thanks to Mr. Art St. John and Mrs. Donna Seim who donated their photographs and to Mr. Tarlach O’Neill who donated his painting.

For that special gift we have packaged beautiful historic gates of Grand Turk for you. The gift pack has a bookmark, note cards and envelopes, a spiral note book and stationery sheets. Specially featured in the package is the St. Thomas Anglican Church, the oldest church in Grand Turk. It was built between 1823 and 1824. This is lovely souvenir of Grand Turk.

By Candianne Williams
Gift Shop Attendant

Wiley Manning and Tracy White from Columbus, Ohio, visit the museum and share a memory about John Glenn.

On Wednesday 13^th November 2013 Wiley Manning and Tracy White of Columbus, Ohio visited our museum. The highlight of the visit for them was our John Glenn room, having won a Charity Auction for the Columbus Opera where the prize was lunch with John Glenn and his wife Anne in January 2012.

The visit to the museum brought back all those pleasant memories of that wonderful afternoon while absorbing and learning even  more of John Glenn’s historic journey into space.

Thank you for sharing your memory with us!

By Pat Saxton
Director

Well, that isn’t exactly what happened here at the TCNM…but close! We needed to replace the window in the “cave room” but no one had any idea how those “cave” panels were held together, and worse, held to the walls, and they had to come out to get at the window. What you have to imagine is the entire room is less than 6′ x 8′!

Disassembled cave pieces in the hallway. The Queens were not amused.

There had to be precise team work at all times trying to take large fiberglass “cave walls” out of this tiny room. Between AND Construction Project Manager Rene Carrillo, Joseph the carpenter, and Neil Saxton they broke the secret code and dismantled the cave walls.

Replacing the window was easy, but putting this massive cave wall puzzle back together wasn’t. The AND guys didn’t let us down. With a ship coming to port and museum visitors on the way, they worked diligently to put it all back together.

Joseph putting the cave pieces back together. It took patience and persistence.

From the outside of the building you would never know there is a new hurricane resistant window and a new shutter. New things, made to look like original-that is why we love the AND Construction team!

By Candianne Williams
Gift Shop Attendant

I recently attended the Disaster Management for Caribbean Museums Workshop along with twenty five other participants from the region. The workshop was put on by the Commonwealth of Museums Pompey Museum of Slavery & Emancipation, National Museum of the Bahamas. We shared ideas and experiences. There were also a number of very informative and educational presentations and as a result we are now better equipped to mitigate against, prepare for and if need be recover from a disaster.

Disaster Management Workshop group photo.

In one of our sessions we dealt with risk identification and challenges associated with them. In the Caribbean our biggest risk is that of Hurricanes. That is because we are geographically located in the hurricane belt. However, there are many more disaster risks to be considered like storm surge, flooding and fire.

Here at the Turks and Caicos National Museum we have been stepping up our mitigation efforts. We have installed new hurricane doors and windows in addition to the shutters on the doors and windows that were already in place and have upgraded our alarm system. There are fire extinguishers and smoke detectors throughout the building. Our quest to protect and safeguard our 200 year old Guinep House and the wealth of history within continues.

By Pat Saxton
Director

Ann Pienkowski (UKOTCF) gifting books to Director of the TCNM, Pat Saxton

Once again our friends from the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum have helped the TCNM.  This time they delivered books to the Turks and Caicos National Museum’s Reference Library. In June, Dr. Mike and Ann Pienkowski brought books donated by World Land Trust, IUCN, and Natural History Book Service through UKOTCF.

Our reference library now has the following new items:
1. Creating a Sea of Change: The WWF/ IUCN Marine Policy.

2. International Ocean Governance. Kimball, IUCN, 2003 (Includes Executive Summary and DVDrom insert)

3. Integrating Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Rules of the World Trade Organization. Downes, IUCN, 1999.

4. The Economic Benefits of Protected Areas: Lower Mekong River Region. The PAD Partnership, 2003.

5. Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystems and Species – Environmental Context. Ed. Pernetta, Leeman, Elder, Humphrey. 1995.

6. Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs: Implications for People and Reefs. Wilkinson and Buddemeier, IUCN, 1994.

7. Marine and Coastal Protected Areas. Salm, Clark, Siirila. IUCN, 2000.

8. Friends for Life. Ed. McNeely. IUCN 2005

9. Evaluation and Assessment for Conservation. Spellerberg. Chapman and Hall.

10. Ecological Census Techniques. Sutherland. Cambridge, 1996.

11. Centres of Plant Diversity: V3, The Americas. Davis, Heywood, Herrera-MacBryde, Villa-Lobos, Hamilton. WWF/ IUCN, 1997.

Ann Pienkowski (UKOTCF) gifting books to DEMA, accepting is B. Naqqi Manco.

We greatly appreciate the donation and our volunteer Botanist, B. Naqqi Manco is already making use of them.

By Pat Saxton, Museum Director

I’m sure many visitors to the Museum have walked up the uneven, somewhat patched pavers that guide you to the Museum’s front door and never noticed them.  I look at them every morning and wonder where they came from and how long they have graced the entrance to the Museum. Each one, like a snowflake is unique. One can see footprints of river rapids on them, where time has worn the layers of slate-like stone away.  That is why it was a difficult decision to replace the old uneven pavers with new even pavers.

Each paver has a unique pattern that has emerged over decades of rain, sand, wind and many visitor’s shoes.

But how could we just replace these historical pavers with new ones? Eureka! In an effort to reclaim, reuse and recycle we are setting the pavers aside and will use them when the outdoor classroom in the Botanical and Cultural Garden is complete later this year. These pavers will have a final resting place under the large trees, for both adults and children to admire. By then we hope to have the analysis done so we can put up signage to explain why the pavers look like they came from a riverbed. Maybe we will even learn the origin!

I think Dr. Keith and I are in total agreement that the historical pavers will have a much easier job resting under the shade of the Scarlet Cordia and Yellow Elder trees!