While the first annual Special Olympics regional bocce tournament focused on dozens of talented athletes, an exclusive torch displayed on the stage generated excitement of its own.
Several people helped create the Cayman bocce torch, a piece of art in itself, which took over a month.
“The coolest part in doing this, is that we have persons here to create something that is very Caymankind for our purposes, and it can stand up against all those other torches that we have experienced around the world,” Shakeina Bush, one of the masterminds behind the torch, told the Compass.
The design phase began in April after MP Bernie Bush, a founding member of the local Special Olympics Committee and its former president, proposed that a torch should be made for the event but with a specific suggestion for its appearance.
“Typically a torch is made out of aluminium or stainless steel, something of the sort,” Shakeina Bush said, noting that Cayman’s needed to stand out from the rest.
“Bernie said let’s make it local. He is very pro Caymanian and he wanted the essence of Cayman wrapped in it.”
And so in a community effort, the torch was constructed out of a sea grape tree by carpenter Andre ‘Charlito’ Gooden; fragments of Caymanite were carved into the shape of a turtle and conch shell by Launa Green; thatch was donated by Reba Manderson; and cured mango leaves were placed on each side.
“It was just trial and error, which took hacking at it every day, but Charlito is hands-down one of my favourite artists… he has a very creative mind,” Bush said.
But the torch also has some less-obvious characteristics that may not be noticed at first glance.
“The turtle and conch shell made from Caymanite has a resin that sits behind them, which actually glows in the dark, so you can see a silhouette of the conch shell and the turtle.
“We had to make sure that it was fire safe, so it was constant modifying… and inside also has the ability to place a small GoPro camera.”
It was completed several days before the torch run on Thursday, 23 May, which opened the ceremony for the tournament at the Lions Centre.
Bush ended by noting that it was really nice to be able to support the Special Olympics in that way.
“It is now bigger than what [we] dreamed it could become.”
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