On Sunday 13 June 2021, two renowned Mauritians Vina Balgobin and Dr Sarita Boodhoo have been invited to intervene during a public zoom meeting organized by the Indo-Carribean Cultural Centre (ICC) in collaboration with the Ameena Gafoor Institute (AGI). This special event focused on Indian Women Making History in Mauritius, was broadcasted in Trinidad, New York, England and India.
One of the two Mauritian intervenants for this online discussion was Vina Balgobin. The latter is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Mauritius. She is also a Member of the Association Historique Internationale de l’Océan Indien (AHIOI) in La Réunion. Whilst the other participant was none other that Dr Sarita Boodhoo, the Chairperson of the Bhojpuri Speaking Union and founder of the Mauritius Bhojpuri Institute. This was followed by the speeches of Professor in Humanities at Scripps College in California, Dr Hao Huang who is Bessie and Cecil Frankel Endowed Chair in Music, also gave his insights on the chosen topic.
The main highlights of this zoom meeting are Mauritius as the first British colony to have imported indentured labour from India on a large scale, the arrival of almost half a million indentured labourers from India at Aapravasi Ghat between 1834 and 1920, the classification of Aapravasi Ghat as a World Heritage Site and the achievement of Indo-Mauritians.
