Good vibes for the World Cup
Greeting us throughout the warm-up matches here in have been numerous Bajans dressed in distinctive red and orange uniforms. The clue to their identity is the wording written across their backs. These are the - and we are going to be seeing a lot of them.
The Vibes are the volunteers who have been recruited to help make the event run smoothly and I am told over 4,000 of them will be working at the tournament across the nine host countries.
According to the official ICC World Cup guide the term Vibes is an acronym "representing the envisioned impact the participants will make the World Cup - volunteers will be intelligent, inspirational, bright, bold, enthusiastic, energetic, sensational and spectacular". This Red and Orange army has quite a billing to live up to then!
I was chatting to two of the Bajan volunteers Martha and Sheena; Martha is taking a break from her job at the Barbados Inland Revenue to be here and Sheena is a student. They tell me that the volunteers come from all sorts of backgrounds including doctors, nurses, teachers, musicians, even jet ski instructors.
They all responded to adverts in the media, but in order to earn their brightly coloured uniforms they had to attend seven training sessions.
There are apparently over 20 categories of Vibes ranging from those meeting and greeting fans at the airport, to those helping the media, those on hand for medical emergencies and those available to translate if required.
I put it to Martha and Sheena that surely most volunteers got involved to get into the cricket for free. But they immediately quoted the mantra they must have learnt at Vibes training camp: "We are here to help the event run smoothly, not to watch the cricket. If we see the odd moment's action then that is a bonus."
My favourite member of the Vibes so far is Glenda. She is in charge of the media catering and has absolutely no interest in the cricket. Her main aim in life seems to be to maintain my expanding waistline with fantastic Bajan delicacies.
So far we've had grilled flying fish, curried chicken and , not to mention home made banana cake and fresh tropical fruit.
The only problem with Glenda is that she looks absolutely mortified if you don't eat every single thing she has made and as the warm-up matches here at the 3W's Oval haven't attracted a massive media attendance, she is constantly asking if you could just manage another piece of fish or a small bowl of rice.!
So what is the reward for Glenda, Martha, Sheena and the other 4,000 Vibes? According to Martha, it is "to give a fantastic impression of the West Indies to our visitors". But they do get something more tangible for the hours of service - they get to keep their brightly coloured red and orange uniforms.
In keeping with the Caribbean flavour of the World Cup they may be, but Martha tells me she won't be wearing hers the next time she goes clubbing!
