St Lucy’s We Gatherin’ celebrations continue

The parish of St Lucy’s We Gatherin’ celebrations continued Sunday morning with a church service at the St. Lucy Parish Church. Several of the island’s members of parliament were in attendance for the early morning service. The theme for their month-long series of activities is FAITH, an acronym for Family, Achievements, Institutions, Talent, and Heritage.

Addressing the congregation Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade who leads the coordination reminded, “We Gatherin’ really is about love of ourselves and love of country and coming together for the purpose of building a better and more beautiful Barbados.”

The initiative seeks to highlight the unique aspects of each parish while also boosting local businesses. He assured, “It is really about celebrating you. It is everybody in Barbados being given an opportunity for their parishes’ customs, and every parish has a nuance of its own.” 

Several members of parliament were in attendance.

While acknowledging the appeal of the country’s upscale tourism offerings, Symmonds added, “We all know that visitors to Barbados like to be and to do, and to experience that which we do.”

One key focus of the celebrations is to showcase the culinary skills of ordinary Barbadians. He noted, “One of the things that we hope to be able to achieve is to identify the best cooks across this island in every parish.” That search also includes those who are skilled at mixing drinks.

Building bridges with the diaspora remains a key aim of the initiative. Symmonds explained, “Part of what We Gatherin’ is going to be about this year is to build that relationship with our diaspora in a manner which is more deep, more meaningful, and hopefully more long-lasting than it has ever been before.”

 He emphasized, “We want for them to come home and to not just mingle with us but to be part and parcel now of the future development of this island.”

To achieve this, a skill bank for Barbadians living abroad will be established. Symmonds elaborated, “In that way we better have an opportunity to intertwine them and wrap them into the commercial future of Barbados.”

He also stressed the importance of addressing the needs of Barbadians overseas, He detailed, “Even as I speak to you, our Ambassador in the United States of America and his team are working to put together a strategy which will better enable us, after the inauguration of the new president-elect, to be able to relate to what we anticipate will be some of the challenges being faced by Barbadians living in the U.S who may not have made themselves quite right, but who nonetheless have to be looked after because [there are] implications for labour, implications for housing, implications for the ability to take care of themselves, in terms of education, and health.”

Parliamentary representative for St Lucy, Peter Phillips assured that their calendar of events will soon be available. He said, “We are in the stage of finally doing the final draft today. Thereafter, we will be updating you on a weekly basis of all those events that will be taking place, simply because every day the excitement is so high that we are getting persons from the same shops, and small business owners; they are coming and they are saying, ‘I want to be part of that’.”

Member of Parliament for St. Lucy Peter Phillips.

He outlined a variety of planned activities, including tree planting, a spelling bee for schools, karaoke, and limes, a T20 cricket match, a flea market, and the marquee event — a Family, Food and Fun Day at the renowned Archer’s Bay, scheduled for January 21.

Phillips concluded his remarks stating, “I trust that as faith fuels the fire and ignites that light, it will illuminate Barbados and when we end this programme Barbados will be the better off for it.” (STT)