Dr Rad­i­ca Ma­hase

Ex­tra­or­di­nary things are al­ways done by or­di­nary peo­ple

– Desmond Tu­tu

Every morn­ing in Mara­bel­la, there is a dou­bles ven­dor who sets up her stand on the main road. Her stall is like so many oth­ers on that stretch of road. But what makes her dif­fer­ent is not the food she sells but the food she gives away.

Some of the home­less men who “live” on the Mara­bel­la stretch know that if they go by her, they will not be turned away. Some­times it might just be one or two dou­bles, al­ways giv­en with a smile. She does not make the news­pa­pers, and most peo­ple just know her as the dou­bles woman, but for those who de­pend on her gen­eros­i­ty, she is a life­line.

There are many oth­ers like her through­out T&T who give qui­et­ly, who look out for those who are less for­tu­nate, with­out any ex­pec­ta­tions. The strength of T&T lies in the or­di­nary cit­i­zens who build our na­tion every day, in qui­et ex­tra­or­di­nary ways. They re­mind us that a re­pub­lic is not on­ly de­fined by its con­sti­tu­tion or its lead­ers, but by the peo­ple who live with­in it.

When T&T be­came a Re­pub­lic in 1976, the pow­er of the na­tion was placed di­rect­ly in the hands of cit­i­zens. At a na­tion­al lev­el, we use our votes to choose our lead­ers. We show our pride and love for our coun­try every time our ath­letes are suc­cess­ful in world com­pe­ti­tions. We cel­e­brate when our artistes top the mu­sic charts.

How­ev­er, the spir­it of the Re­pub­lic is al­so alive in the every­day acts of or­di­nary cit­i­zens through­out the coun­try. It is ev­i­dent in the teach­ers who take food for the stu­dents who do not get a prop­er meal at home, who buy sup­plies out of their own pock­ets and who men­tor stu­dents out­side of the class­room. They are the nurs­es and health­care work­ers who con­tin­ue to show up de­spite over­crowd­ed wards, lack of sup­plies and long shifts. They are the san­i­ta­tion work­ers who are busy col­lect­ing our garbage while many of us are in the com­fort of our beds. They are the farm­ers and fish­er­men who work through hot sun and rainy days, do­ing their part to feed us. These cit­i­zens may not hold of­fice or make head­lines, but they are the back­bone of our na­tion, as their steady, every-day work is what gives life to the Re­pub­lic.

A Re­pub­lic is not on­ly sus­tained by for­mal in­sti­tu­tions; there are al­so grass­root or­gan­i­sa­tions, in­for­mal sports and cul­tur­al groups through­out our na­tion which serve our cit­i­zens and up­hold the vi­sion of the Re­pub­lic.

They are the run­ning, foot­ball and crick­et clubs which teach dis­ci­pline to our chil­dren. The dance groups, tas­sa groups and pa­n­yards which serve as safe spaces for younger gen­er­a­tions to cul­ti­vate their tal­ents and learn val­ues of ser­vice and com­mit­ment.

Then there are the church­es, mosques, tem­ples and non-gov­ern­men­tal or­gan­i­sa­tions which are found through­out T&T, which ac­tive­ly en­gage in com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice; pro­vid­ing coun­selling ser­vices, shel­ter­ing the vul­ner­a­ble, feed­ing fam­i­lies and run­ning af­ter-school pro­grammes. They pro­vide sup­port for mar­gin­alised groups and of­ten fill the gaps where state sup­port is ab­sent.

As we cel­e­brate our Re­pub­lic and as our na­tion con­tin­ues to grow, we need to make a con­cert­ed ef­fort to pro­vide ex­cel­lent men­tor­ship op­por­tu­ni­ties for our younger gen­er­a­tions.

Too many of our cit­i­zens view Sep­tem­ber 24 as a day off from work; younger ones see it on­ly as a day off from school.

We need to teach them the true mean­ing of be­ing a Re­pub­lic and en­sure that they un­der­stand their roles as cit­i­zens. They need to know the part they can play in elect­ing their gov­ern­ment and de­fend­ing the Con­sti­tu­tion. By do­ing so, we will pre­pare them for the fu­ture.

We al­so need to ac­knowl­edge the con­tri­bu­tions of cit­i­zens from all spheres, in­clud­ing those who serve self­less­ly, even when they are not in top po­si­tions or in the me­dia. That’s why it gave me im­mense joy to see some of our cit­i­zens be­ing award­ed for their every­day acts of courage at the Na­tion­al Awards Cer­e­mo­ny on Re­pub­lic Day.

Ak­il Des Vi­gnes climbed a Fer­ris wheel to res­cue a four-year-old child; De­shawn Hamil­ton and Ter­rance David, who pulled a man from a burn­ing car on the Beetham High­way, and Michael Wig­gins, who saved two peo­ple from drown­ing, re­ceived na­tion­al awards for acts of gal­lantry. They rep­re­sent the true mean­ing of the Re­pub­lic, and they de­serve to be award­ed for their self­less acts.

In 1962, we made a big step when we be­came in­de­pen­dent but in 1976, we took an even big­ger step when we said, “We are ready to ful­ly gov­ern our­selves.”

Re­pub­lic Day means we took re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for our­selves, and we must cel­e­brate it; if on­ly to re­mind our­selves that we are re­spon­si­ble for our­selves.

No one is com­ing to save us; we have to save our­selves. More im­por­tant­ly, we have the pow­er to save our­selves. Let us ac­knowl­edge our pow­er to shape our des­tiny.