JAMAICA
Governor General's Message
I firmly believe that it is in knowing and understanding our past that we are able to appreciate fully our present developments, underline our successes, note where mistakes have been made and consequently plan for our future. I therefore commend the organisers and participants of the Nakumbuka Festival for their intiative in staging this celebration.
"Nakumbuka" (I remember) is focusing on the African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage. In so doing it is focusing on the lives of our ancestors and the horrendous death that many of them met on their journey to the Caribbean. It will however help us to better understand our achievements and who we are today - a people, strudy and resilient. For some of us, the celebration will be a useful reminder of facts that we learnt of earlier in life, while others will be hearing of some elements and perspectives for the first time. Regardless of which, the Festival will serve as a valuable historical and educational tool.
Years ago, one of our National Heroes reminded us of the importance of our history to our development, likening a country without knowledge of its history and culture to a tree without roots. It is my wish that we will heed this reminder and emphasis the importance or this, the Nakumbuka Celebration in helping us to understand our past, appreciate our present and plan for the future.
Howard Cooke
2003 February 20
Principal's Message
The Mico Family salutes Nakumbuka. I am elated that this dream has been realised - a dream that impacts our community, the Caribbean and indeed all of the diaspora. Nakumbuka is the ceremonial act of communal rememberance, a calling and recalling of more than 60 million of our ancestros that perished in the Middle Passage. As we pause to reflect and celebrate, let us be mindful that those nameless warriors that defied subjugation did not perish in vain. They have instilled in us the will to fight the will to remember the will to self-actualise.
The Nakumbuka Cebration is a timely one - a time for self-analysis, a time to demystify some of the stereotypical notions about our race and value. As we stand tall in this ceremonial act of memory and recory, let us be our brother's keeper. Let us find time to build our people. Let us do our part in rmeoving ourselves frimly in the position of power and self-actualisation. Too many of our people lack a firm sense of who they are and so miss the golden opportunity to be better people. Nakumbuka challenges us to love ourselves and draw on our communal strength to chart our way forward.
Let us remember those like Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley who through their own efforts of liberation have blazed a path for us. Let us remember on of Mico's sons, the late Dr. Aston Taylor (like so many of us, a descendant of slaves) who in tangible ways reconstructed the fragments of our past. The artifacts bear living testimony in the Mico INAFCA Musuem. Ours is a glorious history. The Mico founded to educate the children of ex-slaves so it is only fitting that we reflect our past, assess our achievements and find ways to make the future a better on.
We must never forget. Let this song of liberation seep into our consciouness:
You cannot tear my song
From my throat
You cannot erase the memory
Of my song (Olive Senior, "Meditation on Yellow")
Let us remember. Let us build. Let us heal.
Dr. Claude Packer
Principal, The Mico College
2003 February 20
