When people move from one area to another, they strengthen families and communities, so there is no need to look at migration with trepidation, says Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
Speaking at a service for the St Michael leg of We Gatherin’ recently at Golden Square Freedom Park in The City, Mottley said this was demonstrated in the parish which now had the largest population, forged by the resilience of the people.
“St Michael, of all parishes in this nation, really is the parish of migration. For St Michael didn’t become 100 000 people just so,” she told the congregation which included Members of Parliament, special guests and people from the various communities.
“It is because people came from St Lucy and St Philip and St Peter and St John. It is because people came from St James and Christ Church and St George and St Thomas, St Andrew. It is because people came to Town. And when the first one or two came to Town, they were sent back and told the rest, ‘I got a spot next door here. You want to come too?’ You know it. I know it,” she said.
“So that when we speak about migration in these times, let us not do so with fear. Let us recognise that has been the story of our existence in this country, on this land. Let us equally recognise that when people came to Town, more often than not, they helped strengthen the families and the communities that they
came to.”
Mottley said community and covenant were important and for the Barbados Labour Party, it started with the Covenant of Hope, the promise to the people of Barbados.
The Prime Minister said when people of varying strengths, perspectives and backgrounds came together, they achieved as a group what none of them could do on their own. She added that the way in
which Barbados rallied through the COVID-19 pandemic was the perfect example.
“We Gatherin’ exists because we want to ensure we can strengthen our families again, and build our communities, because it is only when we do those two things we will have a strong and resilient nation. For it is a resilient people that keeps a nation resilient.”
She said the focus was now to build the best Barbados for young people and they had not been forgotten in the celebrations. Two events will be designated for the youth where they will have a voice and also expression in a cultural extravaganza at the National Botanical Gardens on the eve of the island’s 59th anniversary of Independence, she told the gathering.
Mottley also encouraged her listeners to keep pressing on when faced with a setback.
“We need to recognise that we cannot quit just because we hit a bump in the road. If those who went before us quit when they hit a bump in the road, how could we be even here standing at Golden Square today when this was the place where courage emerged to be able to make a difference in the lives of people in this country? They did not walk away when they hit a bump in the road,” she stressed.
The ceremony opened with the voices of the youth calling for peace, hope and unity to reign in the nation through poetry by Kaden Ward, deputy head boy of St Cyprian’s Boys’ School, and spoken word by Renneika Wallace of Harrison College.
Chairman of the St Michael Parish Organising Committee, Kelvin Carvalho, outlined some of the activities to take place. They include night fishing, Passport To The City, Sunrise To Sunset Fete, family day, a back-in-time fete, outdoor movie nights, street festivals and a community garden competition.
He said it would be “a homecoming for all Barbadians and for persons born and raised in St Michael”.
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