The pavilion includes symbols of its launch towards modern technologies
Expo.. Barbados tells the story of its evolution “from sugar cane to blockchain”
The pavilion sends a message to the world through the "Expo", showing the possibility of dreaming and progressing.
Photography: Patrick Castillo
Taher Bulbila: “Barbados was distinguished in the past by using limestone to purify water from impurities and salinity.”
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The Barbados pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai sheds light on the symbolism of moving towards the future, through historical stories it tells to its visitors, most notably the story of the “Slave Uprising”, through which it narrates the stages of the launch towards innovation, starting with traditional stone tools and ending with expansion. In digital services, and blockchain in government and banking services.
The pavilion tells, through a painted mural documenting the story, that the cultivation of sugar cane and its derivatives led Africans to work as slaves in the fields of sugar cane.
During the year 1816, the largest slave uprising in the history of "Barbados" appeared, and it was led by the warrior "Bossa".
It continued until it was suppressed by the British forces that controlled Barbados.
Barbados is located 259 km to the east of the Caribbean islands.
The Portuguese called it "Los Barbados" in the year 1536, and the British colonized it in 1625. It covers an area of 430 square kilometers.
It has a strategic location from which British forces have long benefited as a distinguished center for the defense of its multiple islands, thanks to its high areas, which transmit signals within a few minutes upon seeing hostile forces.
The Barbados pavilion consultant, Taher Bolbela, said that the pavilion contains many messages that symbolize the country's journey and its development towards modern technologies, whether by adopting its official slogan in the exhibition under the phrase "from sugar cane to blockchain", or displaying samples of its history. It denotes the journey of evolution.
He added to "Emirates Today", "One of the most prominent messages and symbols of launching for the future that is focused on is the pavilion displaying ancient innovations, most notably the use of limestone, which characterized the island in the seventeenth century, to purify water from impurities and salinity, as its residents used to put Water in two limestone basins, upper and lower.
The water is placed in the upper basin, and the impurities are removed through the lower basin, then the clean water is stored in clay vessels that were called “monkey vessels”.
And they were exporting these stone tools to other islands for use in filtering water.
Bolbela explained that among the innovations that were used as a symbol of development from the past to the present, the use of windmills in the seventeenth century in the production of energy to process the manufacture of sugar.
He pointed out that the pavilion sends a message to the world through the "Expo", explaining the possibility of dreaming and progressing through the model of our country, which in the past depended on sugar cane cultivation and some other simple crops, and then developed into the application of comprehensive expanded digital services in its government institutions, banks and various companies in the private sector. With the country’s fame in the Caribbean region for its blockchain systems, which are applied in national identity systems, and the export of the experiences of these technologies to other countries, in addition to implementing a plan for complete digital transformation throughout the country and its economy during the next five years.
Bolbela added that his country has famous icons in different sectors, including Alan Imtag, who in 1989 invented the idea of the original version of the first search engine on the Internet, under the name "Archie", in addition to the famous singer "Rihanna", which many do not know is From "Barbados", in addition to machines for harvesting sugar cane, and its machines used around the world have received 20 patents.