Dame Graça Machel, African stateswoman, educator, humanitarian, and the widow of former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, will visit Barbados from today, Wednesday, August 21, to Monday, August 26.

Mrs. Machel’s visit coincides with the Season of Emancipation and she will participate in a number of related activities.

Dame Graça will visit the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and take part in Barbados/Africa Connections, where she will meet with South Africans living here.  She will also meet with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and other government officials during her six-day visit.

Mrs. Machel will visit places of interest which are tied to the island’s intangible cultural heritage, such as Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, the Emancipation Statue, Rock Hall Freedom Village and Golden Square Freedom Park. The ‘Story of Sugar and Rum’ will also be shared with her.

The highlight of the visit will be her participation in the discussion ‘Dame Graça Machel in Her Own Words: Reflections on the Road to Freedom’, at Frank Collymore Hall, on Friday, August 23, at 6:30 p.m. 

This date commemorates the United Nations International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Dame Graça Machel, who was also a former First Lady of Mozambique, was one of Mozambique’s Ministers of Education and has been known to dedicate her life to advancing the rights of women and improving the lives of children. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) highest honour, the WHO Gold Medal, for her tremendous contribution to the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. (PR/GIS)

Barbadians are invited to submit nominations for the 2024 National Independence Honours to the National Honours and Decorations Advisory Council.

Nominees should be outstanding in sport, science, the arts, culture and civic or other areas, or have provided meritorious service in the military or protective services.

Section 9(2) of the Barbados National Honours and Decorations Act 2021 states that “a person other than a citizen of Barbados is eligible to be appointed as an honorary member of the Order”.

The categories and criteria available this year are as follows:

ORDER OF FREEDOM OF BARBADOS – awarded for distinguished and extraordinary service to Barbados, the Caribbean, the Caribbean Diaspora or to humanity at large.

ORDER OF THE REPUBLIC – awarded for distinguished national achievement and merit.

GOLD AWARD OF ACHIEVEMENT – awarded for meritorious service or achievement in Barbados or a community within Barbados.

THE TRIDENT OF EXCELLENCE – awarded in two grades (Gold & Silver) for highly meritorious service or achievement in science, the arts, literature, sport, civic duties or any other endeavour worthy of national recognition.

THE BARBADOS SERVICE AWARDS – awarded in two grades (Service Star and Service Medal) for meritorious work in the public, fire, military, police, prison or other protective services or in any other similar field of endeavour.

THE BARBADOS BRAVERY MEDAL – awarded for acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances.

THE BARBADOS STAR OF GALLANTRY – awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril.

Nominations will be made via the link: https://eforms.gov.bb/f/2024nationalhonours  and will close on Monday, September 30.

The National Honours Committee will be tasked with the responsibility of renaming public buildings and facilities thereby removing that function from those “in the corridors of political power”.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made the announcement recently while delivering the feature address at a dedication ceremony for The Leroy Trotman Customs House, University Row, Bridgetown.

The facility was named after Sir Roy Trotman, a stalwart in the trade union movement, who was employed with the Barbados Workers’ Union’ (BWU) from July 15, 1971. He was the BWU’s General Secretary from August 29, 1992, until August 30, 2014.

The Prime Minister told the gathering that Cabinet had decided that the naming of facilities and institutions should not be an arbitrary exercise or in “the province of those who happen to occupy the corridors of political power”.

Ms. Mottley stated: “We therefore ask the National Honours Committee that exists and may act only on the eve of Honours conferred at Independence or with ‘We Gatherin’ Pride of Barbados next year…that it also takes responsibility for consideration and recommendation to Cabinet for the naming of facilities and grounds.”

The Prime Minister stressed that over the last six to eight weeks “two sets of letters” from communities recommending persons had been received, and she believed that the process should be encouraged but in a more structured arrangement.

“We believe this is something that ought to be encouraged rather than just left as an ad-hoc arrangement. It allows the country to own and consume pride and to reward appropriately people outside of the immediate vision of the newspapers . . . and to give appreciation and due honour where it is deserved.

“This is important because that little girl or that little boy watching you and listening to you, Sir Roy…must come to understand your name adorns this building, not simply because we love you but because you put in the effort, stood for something and that made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of Barbadians and tens of millions of workers across the globe,” Ms. Mottley underlined.

During the ceremony, Sir Roy accompanied by his daughters Dr. Paula Trotman-Hastings, Lesley Trotman-Edwards and grand daughters Amber and Michaela Hastings, thanked his immediate family, his trade union family and well wishers. 

“I want to thank all those dear souls from either side who have dared to stand with us in difficult times and have now joined with us in these blessed times,” he said. (PR/GIS)

Caption: Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. William Duguid, Minister of of Tourism and International Transport, Ian Gooding-Edghill and Sir Roy Trotman, savouring the moment before cutting the ribbon to officially declare the building open