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Guest speaker Estella Walcott, a native of Sierra Leone who now lives in Barbados, answers questions from students about the delicacies common to Barbados, but which go by a different name in her native land.

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Principal of Blackman and Gollop Primary, Petrona Holder (left), as she addressed students. Seated is guest speaker Estella Walcott, a native of Sierra Leone who now lives in Barbados, who spoke about the similarities between the way of life of people in both countries.

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Principal of Blackman and Gollop Primary, Petrona Holder (right); and co-ordinator of activities for African Awareness Month, Deborah Harper (left), joined students in displaying resplendent African wear, following the opening ceremony to signal the start of African Awareness Month at the school.

Celebrations commence for African Awareness Month

 

Staff and students of Blackman and Gollop Primary have a head start as they are the first school to officially commence activities in celebration of African Awareness Month this February, under the theme “Retracing Our Steps: From Africa to Barbados”.
 
The activities got started yesterday, with a special opening ceremony held at the school, located at Staple Grove in Christ Church. It was during this ceremony that Principal of Blackman and Gollop Primary, Petrona Holder, who was also celebrating her first African Awareness Month there with staff and pupils of the school, highlighted the importance of these types of activities for students of African descent.
 

“Today, we celebrate the start of African Awareness Month, also known as Black History Month. African Awareness month was started sometime back, because persons of African descent felt as if they were not part of the human race. And today, we are proud that someone thought of the idea that we should celebrate our blackness and our African heritage,” Holder commented.

 

Whilst giving the students a brief history lesson with regard to slavery and the journey to freedom, Holder encouraged them to be proud of their lineage and to be brave and industrious, as their ancestors were, given the circumstances facing them at the time.

 

“They came across the Atlantic ocean many, many years ago in slave ships and (on account) of their bravery in surviving the Middle Passage, we are here today. They worked on plantations and in plantation houses for no pay. And it was their bravery again and the pride in themselves that kept them alive. Let us pay homage this morning to our brave ancestors, our great ancestors, of our African heritage,” Holder told the attentive students.

 

Holder ended her address by acknowledging an African proverb that has been passed down, that still holds true today.

 

“Let us remember that throughout our African ancestry, we have a number of proverbs and one of the most significant ones is, “It takes a village to raise a child”. Today with me is the village of the Blackman and Gollop Primary School, as the teachers and I set about to raise you in the way you should go... So today children, I want you to salute the journey, “Retracing Our Steps: from Africa to Barbados” the principal said in drawing reference to the month’s theme.

 

During the ceremony, coordinator of activities for African Awareness Month, Deborah Harper stressed that this was only the start of a host of month long activities, which would aid students in exploring their African heritage. Students, who were decked out in their resplendent African attire, were meanwhile eager to take in the African hymns, drumming and talks about the West African country Sierra Leone, which formed part of the day’s festivities.

 

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