Working Together to Enhance National Pride

• 

  2000px-Flag_of_Saint_Vincent_and_the_Grenadines.svg

Fellow Vincentians:

“Metaphorically,we are the songs of the Caribs, Arawaks and Amerindians; we are the rhythm of Africa; the melody of Europe; the chords of Asia and the home-grown lyrics of the Caribbean itself.” The Honourable Prime of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, encapsulated the very essence of the Vincentian when he uttered those words in 2001. At this juncture, the 36th anniversary of our independence from the British colonial scaffold, we can proudly exhume that the vibrancy and hopeful expectation for a better Hairouna still echoes loudly!

The Independence period offers the best opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Vincentians living at home and abroad. It is a celebratory occasion to embrace our destiny as a people, and an opportunity to continue to embrace‘Peace and Justice’. Without a doubt, the past 36 years held its undulations –high and low points. Like any good nation, however, we have weathered and continue to weather the global economic changes.

In this regard, our country continues to make strides towards a better future: our youth are being offered countless opportunities for tertiary education through the availability of scholarships, grants and student loans. Creative musicians and artists continue to produce quality work to be reckoned with, and more youth are exploring entrepreneurship. We must, however, remain mindful that the ugly fiend of violence is not allowed to take root in our society. Too many families have had to deal with loss of lives of their young people taken before their time. We must, as a society, work to bring our youths onto the illuminated path where they can use their significant energies positively.

At this time, we must also reflect on what it means to be a Vincentian citizen and how we balance our country’s sovereignty with our membership in regional bodies such as the OECS, CARICOM and CSME. The idea of sovereignty is not mutually exclusive from regional integration, and we must continue to work toward regional collaboration and integration.

Better yet, the operations of CARICOM and CSME in our island-state are becoming clearer and more beneficial to Vincentians. Respect is due to all youth and youth proponents who continue to show interest and invest time and resources into our beautiful country.

On this, the 36th year of political independence of our Nation, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and our Committee, extend warm and ecstatic wishes for all Vincentians. May we move from strength to strength!