Mary Cuffy

As Trinidad and To­ba­go paints the na­tion in red, white and black to cel­e­brate 64 years as an in­de­pen­dent na­tion, the torch is be­ing passed to a new gen­er­a­tion. The tal­ent­ed youth of our twin-is­land re­pub­lic are step­ping in­to the spot­light, shar­ing how deeply proud they feel to be part of the cel­e­bra­tion and what this mile­stone tru­ly means to them.

For some, in­de­pen­dence is deeply root­ed in cul­tur­al preser­va­tion and ho­n­our­ing the past.

Math­ias Lyons For­tune, al­so known as Afroking, ex­plains that, to him, in­de­pen­dence means “not just the free­dom to make our own laws but the free­dom to pro­tect and prac­tice things some may not un­der­stand, our his­to­ry and cul­ture free to be we.”

This sen­ti­ment of deep rev­er­ence is echoed by Cay­la Allen, who views in­de­pen­dence sim­ply as “free­dom.” For her, “It’s a time to ho­n­our the sac­ri­fices made by those who fought be­fore us, while re­flect­ing on our na­tion’s jour­ney. It means show­ing deep re­spect for our his­to­ry and feel­ing im­mense pride in who we are as a peo­ple.”

The shift from colo­nial rule to self-gov­er­nance re­mains a pow­er­ful fo­cal point for the youth.

Zachary Ran­some re­flects on this tri­umph, stat­ing that in­de­pen­dence means, “We’re no longer un­der the British rule. We fought for the op­por­tu­ni­ty to grow in­de­pen­dent­ly as a na­tion with no one hold­ing our reins.”

He em­pha­sis­es the pride of hav­ing “a cul­ture and a so­ci­ety we can be proud of” while re­mind­ing his peers that we “must recog­nise our re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for the fu­ture we cre­ate.” As he puts it, “With our own flag fly­ing high, the fu­ture of T&T is in our hands.”

Be­yond the his­to­ry books, in­de­pen­dence is al­so a lived, vi­brant ex­pe­ri­ence.

For Cael Pyke, in­de­pen­dence means “be­ing free to make my own choic­es and be­ing proud of who I am.” He speaks to the joy of the sea­son: “I’m proud of my coun­try, our cul­ture, our mu­sic, our food, and the way we come to­geth­er.”

When asked about his favourite In­de­pen­dence Day ac­tiv­i­ty, Cael lights up at the thought of the cel­e­bra­tions.

“My favourite In­de­pen­dence Day ac­tiv­i­ty is watch­ing the pa­rade and see­ing all the dif­fer­ent ser­vices we have in Trinidad and To­ba­go. I es­pe­cial­ly en­joy the Fire Ser­vice Band be­cause the mu­sic and en­er­gy are amaz­ing. And, of course, the fire­works are al­ways a joy to see!”

At just 12 years old, Kay­ley Da Cos­ta per­fect­ly cap­tures the for­ward-look­ing spir­it of the 64th an­niver­sary.

“As young peo­ple, we are the fu­ture of our beau­ti­ful coun­try,” she de­clares.

To Kay­ley, in­de­pen­dence is about “cel­e­brat­ing our beau­ti­ful cul­ture, our his­to­ry, our na­tion­al he­roes, and all the things that make our coun­try spe­cial.” She beau­ti­ful­ly notes that In­de­pen­dence re­minds her that “we are one peo­ple, with many dif­fer­ent cul­tures and tra­di­tions, but we can still stand to­geth­er as one na­tion.”

Like her peers, Kay­ley recog­nis­es the du­ty that comes with free­dom.

“Let us be proud of who we are, re­spect one an­oth­er, work hard, dream big and al­ways re­mem­ber where we come from,” she urges. “Let us use our tal­ents and our voic­es to make Trinidad and To­ba­go an even bet­ter place. No dream is too big when we be­lieve in our­selves and work to­geth­er.”

It is a ral­ly­ing cry for a new era.

From Afroking’s cul­tur­al pride to Cael’s pa­rade-day joy, these tal­ent­ed young voic­es prove that the spir­it of 1962 is alive and well.

As Kay­ley con­cludes, “From one young cit­i­zen to the youths of our na­tion: Be­lieve in your­self, be proud to be Trin­bag­on­ian, and nev­er stop dream­ing! Hap­py 64th In­de­pen­dence, Trinidad and To­ba­go! May we con­tin­ue to grow, shine and make our coun­try proud.”