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Prime Minister: Continue To Look Out For Our Children

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has called on the extended family to continue the Barbadian tradition of looking out for and assisting in the rearing of children.

Ms. Mottley made the call this evening as she delivered the feature address at the Unveiling Ceremony for the Monument to the Barbadian Family, at National Heroes Square, The City.

The Prime Minister told her audience, including the President of Barbados, Her Excellency The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason; members of Cabinet, members of Parliament, and the public, that family support was vital. She expressed the view that over time the family institution had not received the needed healing.

“I ask us today to continue that tradition because it is only through solidarity, community and family that we can rise to be the best that we can…. As a small nation, we need everyone moving in the same direction if we are going to make difficult things seem achievable, easy and possible….

“More often than not, it is the extended family that makes the difference as to whether the journey of that particular child can be smooth or whether it becomes disruptive,” she stated.

Ms. Mottley stressed the importance of the family throughout her address, and said any suggestion that Government would do anything to denigrate the family in this country “is so offensive”.

“The notion that we are here to impose on our children capacity and obligation, … to determine their identity and their gender is as preposterous as giving them the right to determine that they can consent to sex as minors, and therefore it must be put to rest where it belongs – in the garbage heaps of this country….

“When our Father of Independence said that we were friends of all and satellites of none, he wasn’t only talking about relationships with countries, he was talking about the arrogance of the people of this nation or the confidence, depending through whose prism you are looking at it, to determine that we can chart our own ways and we can be firm craftsmen of our fate.

“We do not take tutelage from anyone as to who is and is not the family. We do not take tutelage from anyone as to what matters in terms of our mission. If that which we have settled, we agree with others, then that is solidarity. But the notion that others shall determine our future by reason simply of relationships outside of the bounds of this geography is preposterous equally, and must equally be put one side,” the Prime Minister said.

The monument to the Barbadian Family – We Loyal Sons and Daughters All – follows their journey and recognises them as the heroic beacons of our nation, from which all national heroes came. The design of the monument focuses on the history of slavery and oppression; the endurance and resilience of the Barbadian family; and the family’s role in producing our National Heroes.

The monument, which was designed by Vincent Jones and Hugh Holder, reflects the struggle and commitment of the ancestral family, and the rise and life it gave to the modern kinfolk. (PR/GIS)

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SPECIAL POLLING DAY NOTICE

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FundAccess To Host Legal Clinic Workshop from May 13th

Entrepreneurs will soon get another opportunity to learn about critical legal matters that are key to the operation of their businesses.

FundAccess will be hosting The Legal Clinic Workshop, which will commence on Tuesday, May 13, and continue each Tuesday, until May 27, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The workshop will be facilitated by Attorney-at-law Ondene Kirton and participants will discuss Understanding Business Legal Structures; Contracts & Agreements; Employment Law & Compliance; and Examination of the Various Laws Relating to Small Business.

During those sessions, the participants will be exposed to sole proprietorship, partnerships, corporations – pro and cons; how to choose the right legal structure for a business; the importance of contracts in business operations; avoiding common contract pitfalls; and employee rights & employer responsibilities, among others. Some of the pieces of legislation to be examined include the Employment Rights Act and National Insurance and Social Security Act.

Interested persons may attend the workshop in person at FundAccess’ Pinfold Street, Bridgetown location, or online via the Zoom Platform. To register, click on the following link: https://bit.ly/3Fu09Jv.

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Centenarian Built On Firm Foundation Set By Grandmother

“Trust God first” is the mantra of one of Barbados’ newest centenarians, Athelstan Browne, who celebrated his 100th birthday on April 29, 2025, at his home in Montrose, Christ Church, surrounded by family and friends.

One of his specially invited guests was President of Barbados, Her Excellency, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason.

Mr. Browne shared that he grew up “not knowing a mummy” as his mother passed away at age 23, when he was two years old, and his brother was only one year old.

Crediting his grandmother for his upbringing, Mr. Brown remarked: “I had a real good, good grandmother that raised two of us, and everything we learn before we went to school, she taught us.”

Pointing to a humble yet deeply religious upbringing, Mr. Browne said: “I and my brother slept on the floor. Our grandmother spread things down there, and she just put the pillow under our head.”

He recalled that they had to sing the hymn “Under the Blood” before going to bed, and first thing in the morning before they had breakfast, which usually consisted of “a cup of tea and two biscuits”. Adding that the hymn was “our song”, Mr. Browne sang the hymn from memory.

Stressing that his grandmother was a great provider, he noted: “My grandmother had land, and she would work the land…. We would eat raw potato, raw okras, (green) peas, cucumbers…. The only thing we did not eat was raw yams and eddoes.”

Mr. Browne continues to enjoy his ground provisions “with a little rice”, as he likes his rice with green peas, and if available, chicken boiled with the rice. “I am a fish man,” he remarked, eating it either fried or with a “stew sauce”.

Continuing to nurture his Christian beliefs, he joined the Mount Ararat United Holy Church (currently in Dayrell’s Road, Christ Church) in 1967, at age 33, and has continued there ever since.

Once the Superintendent of the Sunday School at the church, Mr. Browne is still instrumental in providing leadership to the youth there. “I have a crowd of young people at church that love me…especially when I have to talk to them…. It is what they should hear and what they should have,” he said.

The centenarian was raised in Montrose, Christ Church, and attended the Christ Church Boys’ School (now Milton Lynch Primary School). After leaving school, Mr. Browne initially took to agriculture but then worked cutting soft stone in two quarries in Christ Church.

In 1947, at the age of 22, he decided to join the US Farm Labour Programme and took the first Pan American Airlines flight out of Barbados. Over 10 years later, Mr. Browne returned to Barbados and married Monica Browne (deceased). Together, they built the house where he currently resides.

Returning to his roots in agriculture, the centenarian worked at the Ridge Plantation, Christ Church, until retirement. He also planted and reaped ground produce at home, as well as planted and cut canes.

Mr. Browne, who is generally in good health and has a sharp memory, still works around the home and enjoys reading, which he does without glasses. He also keeps in touch with his family in New York and North Carolina, and will do some travelling, but he is always ready to return home.

After toasting the centenarian, Her Excellency remarked: “You are in the midst of a lot of love, and I am sure you are going to enjoy the rest of your birthday. I am really happy to have met you. I am grateful for the work that you still continue to do with our young people because a lot of them lack direction, and we, nowadays, don’t take enough time to sit down and speak with them…. We don’t remind them that they are important, that they are somebody.”

Mr. Browne responded: “You got to make them understand what … the Lord expects of them… We have to acknowledge the Lord.”

Mr. Browne has two children, 10 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. (PR/GIS)

Caption: President of Barbados, Her Excellency, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, and Barbados’ newest centenarian Athelstan Browne take a walk outside during his birthday celebrations in Montrose, Christ Church