Dedication of the Computer Lab
L.W. Young Jr. High
Honouring KETURAH WRIGHT

23rd March 2009

It is my special privilege and honour to be here this morning to say these few words on this special occasion.

I have been working in the Fox Hill Area for 12 years this very month.  I lost the contest in the General Election of 1997, but following my defeat in that year, I was appointed to the Senate and asked to nurse this constituency.  It was during that time that I met Mrs. Wright and got to work with her over the years that she served as Principal here, until she could no longer do so.

She was a stern individual, disciplinarian by nature, and traditionalist, but not at all a difficult person to get along with.  She had a passion for her work and for the children whom she served.  She was indefatigable.  She had a heart of gold.

When I learned who she really was, I was not surprised.  On her side, she was part of the family of Bains with whom I have had a long association.  Each of the Bains has succeeded in The Bahamas as nation builders.  She was part of that clan, who understood what it is to work hard, to rise up from poverty and make something of yourself out of nothing.

In that respect, Mrs. Wright is part of the great story of our country and the social mobility which we seek even today to protect.  It must continue to be possible in one generation to rise from poverty into the middle class and bring greater security for yourself and your family.

On her husband’s side, as a Wright who came from Green Castle, Eleuthera, that family was well connected with my own family from as far back as my grandmother the late Gwendolyn Forde.  So I suppose it is fair to say that everyone has always known everyone in The Bahamas and we are all connected.

Anyone who came to this school during Mrs. Wright’s time could not help but see the devotion to duty which she had and the love for the children.

I think the most impressive moment for me was when she made a decision to close the school for a day.  I think in those days this was both a senior and junior high school.  There was a problem between the children of Elizabeth Estate and the children of Fox Hill.  The school was finding itself in the news too often.  Some people say the threats and reports were exaggerated.

She got permission for the adolescent health programme of the Ministry of Health to come into the school to help lessen the tension.  The girls went off campus.  The boys had the campus to themselves.  On that day, each class was led in intense discussions about themselves and their futures.  The whole exercise was to seek the answer to the question; why young people, all of whom suffered from varying degrees of poverty were fighting one another instead of working together.

What the day revealed was that there were deep seated tensions affecting most children at home, problems of identity, of self esteem, of poverty and the sheer ability sometimes to come to school on a full stomach.  But the day was a good day or with proper, clean clothes.

It was also my first introduction to the specialty of adolescent health with its emphasis on dealing with people between the ages of primary school and young adulthood, and its special problems of identity and self esteem.

I have worked for many years with the students of the Sandilands Primary School one of the feeder schools of this school.  I would watch a transformation take place in the attitude of young boys in particular who would leave Sandilands Primary, smart, inventive, co-operative and willing to work.  Then they would come to junior high and there would be a sudden shift in their attitudes: sullen, disagreeable, quarrelsome.  It was something that I could not understand.

What was remarkable however was that this did not faze Mrs. Wright.  She assembled in the school an able team of supporters and leaders, some of whom are here today including Ms. Cheryl Samuels and our own dear Principal Mr. Telford Mullings.  Together they had a vision for this school and what we see here today is still being carried out under the capable leadership of Mr. Mullings.

I did not know and could not tell that Mrs. Wright was a cancer survivor and the news came as a shock to me that she had the disease and was no longer in remission.  She fought on valiantly with never a sign of fatigue in her duties.  Sadly she is no longer with us and has passed on to a far greater reward.

It is always important for us to remember those who worked to make us what we are today.  In remembering those who went before us, we enhance our own life and our work.  The students of this school and the teachers can look to the example of Mrs. Wright as someone who loved her God and country and worked to ensure the success of our nation through education.  This computer lab is a fitting tribute to her and I want to thank Mr. Mullings, his staff and the Ministry of Education for their effort here this morning.

I hope that the facility is treated with respect and that it will help with the further education of our people.  As the representative for Fox Hill, there can be no finer and safer investment than in education.

And so congratulations to the L.W. Young School on this fine facility.  I try to remember all those who helped me along the way.  Mrs. Wright was one of those people who always showed me courtesy and respect and who I worked with I think to build a better Bahamas.  For that I am eternally grateful.

Thank you. God bless your school and God bless you all.