One of the reasons why I'm never active on Steem (and kind of dissappear on most social media channels as well) near the end of the year is my commitment as chairman of the Surifesta foundation.

The Surifesta foundation is an non-profit organisation that helps structure the promotion of events around Owru Yari (literally translate 'old year' in Suriname), focusing on the New Years activities in Suriname.

The main brand recognition from locals (and a growing part of tourists) comes from the Surifesta calendar, which over the past 3 years has featured more than 100 events a year between the second Monday of December until the first Sunday of January. Also, the foundation hosts a daily radio show in December, promotes the events on Social Media, partners up with international organisations to promote Suriname abroad and helps with the coordination of the Owru Yari celebrations in the inner city of Paramaribo on the 31st of December.

While there is no formal or signed document, over the past 17 years, the Surifesta period closes of with the Bigi Broki Waka (Big Bridge Walk), a 5 km walk which includes walking over the main bridge across the Suriname river, which connects our capital Paramaribo with the district of Commewijne, the gateway to the eastern part of our country.

The organisation of such an event tends to create a lot of work, as between 5000 and 8000 participants have to cross the bridge while the bridge (which is a major connection route between the east and the west) is closed off for 2 hours from 7-9 am on the first Sunday of the year.

This year, my wife decided it was time to take the kids along as she had faith in our 5 year old daughter to complete the full 5 kilometer walk without needing a rest. This meant getting up extra early to beat the gigantic line for busses that cross the bridge before 7 am.

Like every year, participants get to enjoy some beautiful morning sun before they start the walk.

Once you get close to the bridge, you get a nice view of all the participants walking on the bridge. It used to be a flock of white shirts covering the bridge, but the organisation changed it up and went with green dry fit shirts for the first time.

According to my son, the best view is always on Dad's shoulders. I can't really blame him. He did walk down from the top of the bridge all the way down, which is still a couple of hundred meters.

But the real hero was my daughter who did finish the walk without sitting down once.

And that marks the end of the Surifesta period of 2019. The board has already requested the evaluation meeting and rumor has it thousands of Surinamese people are already counting down towards Owru Yari 2020.

#lobi
@jeanlucsr

Walking