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BAHAMAS WELCOMES OVER 4,000 PARTICIPANTS TO AFREXIMBANK ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

- by Oswald Brown, Editor

NASSAU, Bahamas, June 16, 2024 – In a post on his Facebook page today Prime Minister Philip E. Davis noted that The Bahamas proudly welcomed over 4,000 participants for the Afreximbank Annual General Meeting and “was honored to host this significant event, underscoring our commitment to economic collaboration and growth.”

“The $30 million capitalization of the Bahamas Development Bank by Afrexim Bank will create new opportunities for Bahamians, support small businesses, drive innovation, and foster sustainable development,” the Prime Minister stated.

Pictured from left to right:   Dr.  Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana; Mrs. Chinelo Oramah, spouse of Professor Benedict Oramah, President & Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank; Professor Benedict Oramah; Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Bahamas First Lady Ann Marie Davis; and Bahamas Prime Minister Philip E . Davis .

In another post, the Office of the Prime Mnister highlighted the signing of the $1.86 million Project Preparation Facility agreement between Afreximbank and the Ministry of Grand Bahama at the 2024 Annual Meetings of Afreximbank held from June 12 to 15 at the Baha Mar Convention Center on West Bay Street.

“This marks a significant step towards the development of the Afro-Caribbean Marketplace and Logistics Center on Grand Bahama Island, set to become a vibrant hub for tourism, commerce, and trade between African countries, The Bahamas, and the Caribbean,” Prime Minister Davis said

He noted that the Afro-Caribbean Marketplace and Logistics Center “will position Grand Bahama as a beacon of international trade.”

“This transformative project will revitalize the International Bazaar, boost economic growth, empower entrepreneurs, and strengthen cultural ties across continents, fostering mutual exchanges in culture, education, and investment,” the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, on its Facebook page , Afreximbank described the AfriCaribbean trade and Investment Forum 2024 as “an amazing few days” on the closing day of the meetings on Saturday, June 15.

“This brings us to the end of our 2024 Annual Meetings,” Afreximbank noted. “We hope you managed to keep up with all the insightful and inspiring conversations we reflected on throughout the week, and that now more than ever, you are ready to join us in championing Global Africa.”

It then provided “a final recap of the last few days” with narrative and photos, including:

In a heartwarming session, distinguished guests gathered to give prominence to the importance of

charitable donations and support for the vulnerable, particularly children and women.

Bahamas First Lady Ann Marie Davis highlighted the role of supporting and uplifting one another, particularly children, in building a strong nation.

“We must continue to build our nation by supporting and uplifting each other, especially our children, who are our future,” Mrs. Davis said.

Mrs. Chinelo Oramah, spouse of Professor Benedict Oramah, President & Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank

Mrs. Chinelo Oramah, spouse of Professor Benedict Oramah, President & Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, echoed the importance of inclusivity and sustainability in achieving meaningful prosperity for the African continent.

“The prosperity of the continent is only meaningful when it is inclusive and sustainable,”Mrs. Oramah said.

Embodying the spirit of a Global Africa, Mrs. Chinelo Oramah made two donations of $50,000 each to the Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel and the Salvation Army the spirit of Global Africa.

Ms. Charlene Gibson of the Children’s Emergency Hostel and Mr. Felix Stubbs, Chairman of The Salvation Army Advisory Board, expressed their gratitude for the support, acknowledging the significant impact these contributions will have on the lives of those in need in The Bahamas.

BACKGROUND DISCUSSION ON THE THIRD DAY

At the side panel discussion on the 3rd day of #ACTIF2024 titled “Unlock The Opportunities To Africa Trade And Finance Through Africa Trade Gateway Platform,” Mr. Haytham ElMaayergi, Executive Vice President, Global Trade Bank (GLTB); Emily Mburu-Ndoria, Director – Directorate of Trade in Services, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights & Digital Trade (DTIID), AfCFTA Secretariat; Mr. Simon Tiemtore, Chairman, Vista Bank Group & Lilium Capital Group; Mr. Abdulmajid Mussa Nsekela, Group CEO and Managing Director, CRDB Bank, Tanzania; Mr. George Chitera, Managing Director, FDH Bank Limited, Malawi; and Dr. Daniel McKorley, Chairman, McDan Group, Ghana shared practical insights on how the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG) is revolutionizing cross-border trade across Africa.

Through a suite of digital services, the ATG creates a collaborative trading Ecosystem to facilitate end-to-end trade (with services, tools and resources to support transactions from initial verification stage through to final execution). The ATG side panel was attended by international partners and African Banks. #GlobalAfrica #Afreximbank #ACTIF2024 #GlobalAfricaProsperity #OnePeopleSharedAspirations

Bahamas Deputy Prime MinisterChester Cooper, who is also Minister of Tourism, Imvestments and Aviation, opened the Trade and Investment session.

BAHAMAS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER CHESTER COOPER OPENS SESSION

Hon. Isaac Chester Cooper opened the Trade and Investment session with a heartfelt message about unity, resilience, and collaboration. “You know, my mother did not have a college education, but in her great wisdom, she taught me never to miss a moment.” he shared, setting the tone for an inspiring address.

Drawing attention to the potential for joint ventures, he declared, “You are family, our brothers and sisters, and we love you, but I think this is an incredible opportunity to do more business with you.”

He went on to stress the importance of self-determination, stating, “We no longer believe we have to play by the rules we did not create.”

Speaking with fervour, Hon. Cooper addressed the need for unity and the collective power to alter the course of history: “We were victims of history, but if we stand together, we have the power to change history by fostering connections that will see us stronger, more united than ever before.”

Hon. Ginger M Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama, The Bahamas, during our recent session on “Realising Opportunities for Afri-Caribbean Trade in Creative and Cultural Products.”

MINISTER FOR GRAND BAHAMA GINGER MOXEY ADDRESSES MEETING

We were honoured to hear from Hon. Ginger M Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama, The Bahamas, during our recent session on “Realising Opportunities for Afri-Caribbean Trade in Creative and Cultural Products.” She beautifully articulated, “And while people come for the sun, sand and sea, what they really want is they want that experience. They want that culture, the arts, the craft. They want to know what it is we do, what we’re all about. And I consider that the orange economy, we place so much focus on it, that in our own platform, in our own blueprint for change, for how we govern the country, the orange economy plays a pivotal role. So, for me, it is who we are, what we do, how we act, and its what people come to the Bahamas for.”

Her insights remind us of the role that cultural and creative industries play in not only attracting tourism, but also in building a resilient economy. The focus on the orange economy helps preserve our heritage and promotes sustainable development.

 

 

 

 

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WITH ROOTS DEEP IN STANYARD CREEK, ANDROS, THE ELLIOTTS ARE A CLOSELY-KNIT FAMILY By OSWALD T. BROWN WASHINGTON, D.C., November 1, 2024 – My family roots are in Stanyard Creek, Andros, where I spent my boyhood years growing up with my grandparents, Benjamin and Mabel Elliott, after I was born on March 7, 1942. We were, and still are, a very closely knit family. My mother, Violet Corinne Elliott Brown, was the eldest of Papa and Mama’s daughters and their second child, preceded by their first-born, Uncle Clarence Brenville Elliott. Next in line were my Uncle Lee Elliott, followed by Uncle A udley Elliott, Aunt Amanda Elliott Fox, Uncle Ashton Elliott. and Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes, who was very much involved in my growth and development during my teenage years growing up in Nassau. Ican vividy recall how distraugnt I was when my cousin Norma Elliott, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, called me shortly after 7 o’ clock on the morning of ????????????????????????????with the devastating sad news that my Aunt Maria ad died. She was 91 years old, but there is absolutely nothing in life to inoculate you from the gripping pain at the loss of someone who meant so, so much to you.during the span of your life. The loss of a loved one is always painful and although death is inevitable, the pain is not lessened by this knowledge when someone close to you dies. The deaths of my grandparents, Ben and Mabel Elliott—first Mama and then Papa – certainly were examplesof the debilitating nature of the level of this excruciating pain that I experienced.. Similarly, when my saintly mother, Violet died in March of 1991, the depth of my despair was almost unfathomable. (CAPTION: My Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes is pictured in this photo taken in New York with her nieces Norma Elliott (left) and Patricia Elliott Horsford.) (CAPTION: I am pictured with my Cousin Sylvia Elliott Ross (left) and Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes outside the Crystal Palace Ballroom, where we attended a dinner held by Our Lady’s Roman Catholic Church several years ago.) I was living in Washington, D.C., at the time and had just seen my mother a couple months earlier during my annual Christmas visit to The Bahamas and she seemed to be in very good health. So when I received the call on March 10 from my Aunt Maria informing me that my mother had died, I became limp and incoherent and simply lost all composure. Even this experience, however, was not as emotionally gut-wrenching as the drowning death of my wife Enid, my African Princess, in February of 1998. Enid was from the African nation of Liberia, and we had only been married for five months, but over a period of six years after we first met in January of 1992 in Washington, D.C., we nurtured and developed an intensely loving relationship as well as a close friendship. Her untimely and sudden death still pains me greatly whenever I think of the wonderful times we shared together. I felt this same level of gut-wrenching pain when I heard about the death of my Aunt Sylvia Elliott Ross in April of 2012. Aunt Sylvia along with Aunt Maria were very instrumental in steering my life in the right direction during those formative years when young minds are so impressionable and vulnerable to inculcating life-long bad habits. Aunt Sylvia was actually my first cousin. Her father was my uncle Clarence Elliott, who as I previously noted was the oldest of Ben and Mabel Elliott’s children; my Cousin Sylvia and Papa and Mama’sungest daughter, Aunt Maria, were around the same age and they grew up like sisters. Consequently, all of the other grandchildren who were left in the care of Papa and Mama while our parents were on “The Contract” in the United States or working somewhere else in The Bahamas grew up calling her Aunt Sylvia. In addition to myself, the five other grandchildren were cousins Agnes, Beryl and John, children of Uncle Lee; my late sister Elthreada Brown McPhee; and my cousin Alphonso “Boogaloo” Elliott, a son of my Uncle Audley. The grandchildren of Ben and Mabel Elliott were fortunate to have two very gifted and imaginative persons like Cousin Sylvia and Aunt Maria as mentors and guiding lights growing up on the Western Ridge of Stanyard Creek in the 1940s and early 1950s. Both were “monitors” at Stanyard Creek All-Age School, which meant that us younger grandchildren had the benefit of two “teachers” living in the same house with us. They both ended up choosing teaching as their life-long careers, and there are unquestionably many of their former students in The Bahamas who can vouch, as I certainly can, for the fact that Maria Elliott Forbes and Sylvia Elliott Ross were two excellent teachers. Both were also staunch disciplinarians, a trait they no doubt picked up from Papa, a no-nonsense deeply religious man whose influence in the community was probably not matched by any other individual in Stanyard Creek. Papa owned the “major” grocery store, small though it was, on the Western Ridge and our family compound also consisted of a “big” and “small” house as well as a separate structure that was used as a kitchen. Papa had a very liberal policy with regard to regular customers of the grocery store. They could “trust” things they needed if they didn’t have the money at the time and pay whenever they got it. Whatever influence Papa had as a grocer paled in comparison to when he donned his cassock as a catechist at Stanyard Creek’s St. Rita’s Roman Catholic Church. The priest assigned to Andros generally made his rounds of the various settlements once a month, so Papa was responsible for conducting Mass most of the time. Therefore, we all grew up as very devout and committed Roman Catholics. Indeed, attending church three times on Sundays—morning Mass, Sunday School and Evening Mass—was the norm for the Elliott household. Christmas at Stanyard Creek was especially memorable. The entire settlement got involved in seeing to it that it was an enjoyable period for children as well as adults. This was facilitated by a series of Christmas concerts by the various religious denominations, which gave the children an opportunity to display their budding thespian skills or singing talent. Thanks to Cousin Sylvia and Aunt Maria, the grandchildren of St. Rita’s catechist had the inside edge for the top parts in the Christmas play put on by the church, and invariably John, Boogaloo and myself were cast as the Three Wise Men or some other leading roles. (CAPTION: Maria Elliott Forbes with her nephew Alphonso “Boogaloo” Elliott, who visited her at the home of her niece Leonardette Ross King during her summer visit to Nassau from New York.) All of our Christmases indeed were wonderful ones, but there is one that really stands out in my mind. I am not quite certain whether it was Christmas of 1949 or 1950, but I was either seven or eight years old. Cousin Sylvia and Aunt Maria left no stones unturned in putting their imaginative skills to work and requested all of the grandchildren to write essays to Santa Claus asking for the gifts that we individually wanted and they encouraged us to explain why we felt deserving of those gifts. They told us these letters would be mailed directly to Santa, and depending on whether or not we were able to convince him that we had been good boys and girls, our requests would be answered. On Christmas Eve, we were told we had to go to bed early, and sometime during the night, Santa would bring our gifts. I can’t recall exactly what I wrote for, but I knew it wasn’t what I got when I woke up the next morning. In a nicely decorated bag with my name on it there were all sorts or goodies such as home-made candies, coconut cream cakes and other similar goodies that more likely than not were baked in our own kitchen. Inside the bag, there was a letter from “Santa” explaining that there was an overwhelming number of requests for the items I had asked for and he simply ran out before he got to our house. He said he would keep me in mind for the next year and urged me to continue to be the exceptionally good boy that I said I had been in my letter to him. I was deeply disappointed, but my disappointment evaporated almost instantaneously when I opened a gift from Boogaloo’s father, Uncle Audley, who had recently returned from The Contract. As he usually did, he had brought back sets of new clothing and shoes for all of us. That Christmas Day we were probably the best dressed children in all of Stanyard Creek. Memories of those wonderful, wonderful years in Stanyard Creek flooded my mind when Cousin Sylvia Elliott Ross died in August of 2012 and when Aunt Maria had died. (CAPTION: Maria Elliott Forbes, during her visit to Nassau this past summer, is pictured at the home of her niece Leonardette Ross King, with, from left to right: Jerome Elliott, a nephew; Norma Elliott (standing), a niece visiting from New York whom she raised; Dr. Marcella Elliott-Ferguson, a cousin; and Leonardette.) (CAPTION): My Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes is pictured in this photo taken in New York with her nieces Norma Elliott (left) and Patricia Elliott Horsford. I have written on more than one occasion about how closely knit we are as a family. Cousin Sylvia was the daughter of my late uncle Clarence Elliott Sr., the eldest child of Ben and Mabel Elliott. He moved from Stanyard Creek as a young man to work in Nassau and built a house through Paul Meeres Corner, now known as Fleming Street, which became the Elliott family homestead when members of the family relocated to Nassau. It still exists as a rental unit opposite what used to be Keith’s Chicken in the Bag take-out restaurant. Uncle Clarence subsequently moved to New York —I think at some point during the 1940s – where my cousins the late Clarence Jr., the late Sandra Elliott Coleman, Patricia Elliott Horsford, Mabel Elliott Moultrie, the late Alfred Elliott and Norma were born.Norma and Alfred were brought up in Nassau by Aunt Maria, and Clarence, Jr., Sandra, Patricia and Mabel attended high school in Miami while living with my late Aunt Amanda Elliott Fox and her husband Lawrence Fox. They all eventually moved back to New York when they graduated from high school. When they both retired from teaching, every year Aunt Maria and Cousin Sylvia went on a cruise. After they had seen virtually all of the islands of the Caribbean, for a couple years they took cruises to Mediterranean destinations, and I still have a t-shirt from Greece that Aunt Maria brought back for me from one of those trips. When Aunt Maria’s health started to deteriorate, she moved in with Aunt Sylvia, through Murphyville in Palmdale, where Cousin Sylvia’s daughter Leonardette Ross King, who was then teaching in Nassau, was able to assist in taking care of both Aunt Maria as well as her mother. After Cousin Sylvia’s death, Norma, who calledd Aunt Maria “Mommy,” subsequently arranged for Aunt Maria to live with her in Brooklyn, New York. Aunt Maria spent several summers with Leonardette in Nassau, and although she had been afflicted with Alzheimer’s for several years, she often was very “upbeat” and looked marvelous for her age. Her funeral service was held at Our Lady’s Roman Catholic Church on Deveaux Street in Nassau, which has been the parish church of members of our family from the time we moved from Andros to Nassau and where both Aunt Maria and Cousin Sylvia blended their voices with the excellent choir at Our Lady’s for many years.

I AM AS EXCITED AS A LITTLE KID WAITING FOR SANTA CLAUSE OVER MY FIRST VISIT BACK HOME IN MORE THAN FIVE YEARS

PREPARING FOR MY FIRST VISIT BACK HOME IN FIVE YEARS

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