April 2020
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www.theawardbarbados.com
Scouts and Guides share in Award Pride Odessa David, Rujola Waterman, Taidan Lynch, Aaron Moore, JeanPierre Blackette, Daniel Thomas and Franchero Ellis are now extra special people. They all received their Bronze Awards during the recent joint Founders Day service by the Scouts and Girl Guides of Barbados. The seven of them were presented with their certificates by Chief Justice of Barbados Sir Marston Gibson. This signals both an end and a beginning. The end of the Bronze and well the big step to Silver. Many of them are already well underway to getting that next pin. For that, achieve the common goal.” Rujola expects to be challenged further and experience Getting through the Bronze Award, took this group of personal growth. Scouts and Guides through a wide range of activities. For For Aaron the day was a double treat as he was also the Physical Recreation section they tested themselves awarded Scout of the year; this accolade will be shared doing sports like archery, football and swimming. In with Hallam Roach. In reflecting on the moment when he Skills section, Odessa has mastered the kitchen, while received his Award Aaron said, “It felt [like] I was one of Franchero joined his school’s marching band. These six the most important children in Barbados.” Aaron like his are just a small representation of how the Award is colleagues combined the Award with Scouting activities working to enhance the Scouting and Guiding on the and has also completed the Chief Scout Award. island. Among the Guides too there was high pride. More than pride though the sense of personal achievement could be seen on the girls’ faces as they received their pins. The lessons of being involved with the Award are character building and well-expressed by Rujola who states, “I learned the importance of endurance and perseverance; the importance of not giving up and working in a team to
Doing the Award has helped all them to improve in their time management. But it wasn’t always easy. At least one admits almost missing a deadline to submit a report. They are each looking forward to tackling whatever comes next.
On the Trails
Who needs chocolates when you’ve got hiking buddies? It wasn’t exactly the typical St. Valentines Weekend but it was ...pretty awesome. In February the Award held a National Bronze hike and participants from Queen’s College, Princess Margaret, Lodge School, Graydon Sealy, Harrison College, Scouts and the Open Group (yup all those units) had a blast. Snapping themselves all weekend even when the going got just a little tough, the groups had great fun as they made the trek. The hike started from the Alexandra School in Speightstown and was part of the Award’s participation in the national We Gatherin’ activities. We’re excited for the next big gathering.
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2018 Cohort Shine on
It was back in January when the Gold Award Holders Association held its inaugural Errol Barrow Day Dominoes Tournament. Open to award holders and leaders there was a slow build to the finish. Much like an AJ many started strong and did their very best to stick it out to the end. But unlike the AJ it wasn’t a case of we all make it to the end, only one was able to reach the top. It was Open Award group leader Vasco Lynch. He went home with a basket of goodies and a hammock. We look forward to seeing that hammock when he’s next out camping. Happily Vasco was the evening’s overall winner. But the fun and rivalry made the effort worth it for all who came. This was the first in a series of events for the association this year. Other events in the works are: a fun-raising hike on Saturday 29th August, a $100.00 dinner and getting members registered with the Global Alumni Network. Locally the GAHA has already launched a professional skills database. If you haven’t already shared your information, click here.
Back in 2018, Zhara Khan, Danico Allder, Justin Parris, Alexander O’neal, Keyon Watson, Jevon Yearwood and Alexis O’neal knew very little about the Award. But now they are proud bronze award holders and champions for the Award. Some of them describe the experience as life changing. Zhara puts it quite well when she says, “I learnt that I can do anything basically, if I get rid or push through my thoughts that run along the lines of ‘this is too hard’ or ‘I can’t do this I want to quit’ and tell myself ‘I can do this’ and ‘I will do this’ then I can push through and complete whatever it is that I’m doing.” This seven started the Award through a partnership between the Award and the Community Independence Celebrations Secretariat (CICS). It gives all the Ambassadors who are under 25 the opportunity to take part in the Award as Parish Ambassadors. The Award programme also organizes a weekend of hiking and survival training for all the Parish Ambassadors and their
Attendants. The weekend provides the preliminary training for the Adventurous Journey section and really takes them out of their comfort zone. For Zhara and her team, the qualifying venture was a real test of teamwork as it was just them a group of seven. They had to shrug off uncertainty, health challenges, blistering heat and a couple equipment issues to push themselves to the very end. But along the way each took a turn at being the team motivator and kept pushing forward to the end. They all completed in 2019 but were presented with their Awards during an opening reception for the 2020 cohort of Parish Ambassadors. During the evening they we able to tell the new batch just a bit of what to expect. By the way, they’ve all been convinced to go on to the Silver Award. Keep going forward. 3
Celebrations Cut Short The annual anniversary celebrations for 2020 had to be cut short because of the COVID19 virus impacting the island. However we were still able to attend the Sunday service at the Sharon Moravian Church. The congregation and Pastor gladly welcomed the representatives of the Award and encouraged all to continue working for the benefit of the youth. In attendance were participants and Award leaders from a few of the units. While bringing greetings to the congregation, Chairman Stephen Smith threw out a challenge to the church to have an Award unit there. Even as the Award had to close the doors of the office to the public towards the end of March, staff and volunteers have remained committed to supporting participants however they can. We encourage all to follow the safety procedures outlined by authorities. Practice social distancing and good hygiene.
Sheraton Mall Sargeants Village Christ Church T- 436-8754 F – 436-1630 deiabarbados@gmail.com www.theawardbarbados.com @dofebarbados
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