Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 20, 2019 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Community and Social Development honoured forty-six (46) parents throughout St. Kitts for the outstanding work they do and continue to perform in communities in family building, during the Inaugural Awards Ceremony for Exemplary Community Mothers and Fathers at the St. Kitts Eco Park on Sunday, May 19.
The awards ceremony formed part of the 2019 International Family Day observance which was celebrated on May 15.
The awardees were grouped in zones. They are as follows: Zone one (1) East Basseterre including Conaree and St. Peters – Kathleen Hobson, David Swanston, Dillion A Edmeade, Jillian Musgrave Archibald, Glenfield Boddie, Recaldo Brotherson, Shorna Maynard and Clive Richardson; zone two (2)Central and West Basseterre – Elvis”pepe” Isaac, Alphonso Percival, Anthony Rawlins, Leslie Nii Pappoe, Dwight Tobin, Heslian Dias, Ethel Bowen, Valerie Whyte, Jessica Jeffers and Karolyn Pemberton; zone three (3) Challengers to Sandy Point – Bruce Penny, Caroline Williams, Wilmoth Doyling, Loreen James, Roger Browne, Floyd Hazel, Agnes Burt, Robert Webster, Claudia Williams and Florence Williams.
Zone four (4) included Newton Ground to Tabernacle. The awardees were Bernadine Norford, Roger Rogers, Margaret Harvey, Joseph Richardson, Floreen Pogson Mulraine, Eustace Powell, Orland Browne, Beulah Elliott and Pastor Curtley Mills, while zone five (5) spanned from Estridge to Canada Estate with Cynthia Bart, Margaret Wilkinson, Police Inspector Rosemarie Isles-Joseph, Caren Williams, Emelita Jordan, Sandrine Berridge, Emanuel Berridge, Alcan Richard, Walton Tyson receiving awards for those areas.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Services, Janelle Lewis Tafari, said that each year the department takes time to honour parents during family month which runs from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day.
“…these persons have been offering great service to our society. These are persons who are involved in their children’s lives, involved in the school lives of their children. These are the parents who don’t believe that parenting should be limited to the four walls of the home,” said the permanent secretary. “These are parents who are active in the life of their communities. These are parents who realize that outside of their homes are great influences and pressures for young persons.”
She noted that the Community Mothers and Fathers awards doesn’t go to biological parents alone.
“We don’t limit it to biological mothers and fathers because we believe that every adult, male and female has a parenting role to play in helping to raise our children to become the best citizen that they can be,” she said.
The 45 honourees were awarded with plaques and were given the opportunity to take a family portrait. Each family was also presented with a plant.
“We are hoping that the families will plant that plant and together they will continue to nurture that plant, and that plant will be symbolic of how they are helping to build and nurture their communities,” said Mrs. Lewis Tafari.
