COMMENTARY: BY OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2019 — The number of civic-minded residents of Grand Bahama who have adopted the “Service Above Self” motto of Rotary International as their personal credo appears to be noticeably increasing as the new Rotary Year begins in The Bahamas.
This viewpoint clearly is supported by the fact that even though Grand Bahama already has a raft of very active Rotary Clubs, the newly chartered Rotary Club of Grand Bahama will later this month install Christine van der Linde as its first President along with an impressive list of officers, all of whom have long-standing and notable records of making stellar contributions to the Grand Bahama community in various areas.
The new club makes its debut with a total membership of 25, and in baseball terminology, a “line-up” like this in support of President van da Linde’s administration would certainly be classified as all-star: Attorney Rengin Johnson is President-Elect; Jackie Russell, Secretary; Raquel Smith, Treasurer; Malvese Capron, International Service; Mercynth Ferguson, Club Service; Dr. Tamarra Moss, Community Service; David Mackey, PR/Marketing; Roosevelt Rolle, Youth Service; Titi Moss, Sergeant-at-Arms; and Angelika Christie, Vocational Service.
Under the theme, “Rotary Connects the World,” the new officers will be installed during a “Black-Tie Affair” at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club off Midshipman Road on July 27.
The new Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, which will hold its regular meetings twice monthly on Saturdays, joins four already well established clubs on that island: Rotary Club of Lucaya, Rotary Club of Freeport, Rotary Club of Grand Bahama Sunrise, and Rotary Club of Grand Bahama Sunset.
All of them make outstanding contributions to the Grand Bahama community and several have “projects” that receive special attention which demonstrates a total commitment to Rotary’s motto, “Service Above Self.”
For example, when I lived in Grand Bahama and was Editor of The Freeport News from 2003 – 2009, I was a member of the Rotary Club of Lucaya and Education was an ongoing major focus of the club. One project in particular that really made a big difference in the lives of some young Grand Bahamians was the annual Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics, and Enrichment (SECME) Mousetrap Car and Bottle Rocket Competition, co-ordinated and supervised in Grand Bahama by Rotarian Dennis Knowles.
Established in 1975, CSME involved some 40 universities, many industries and government agencies, 900 schools and more than 20,000 students in America, Jamaica and The Bahamas. The Mousetrap Car competition, for example, required the students to build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap.
Each year as the program evolved, new categories were added, such as Water Bottle Rocket, Sweep Away Clawbot Robot and Starstruck Robotics, but the Mousetrap Car was always considered to be the most challenging.
The annual regional SECME Competition in Grand Bahama District was always well organized by Dennis Knowles, resulting in a number of students deciding to further their education by pursuing engineering as a career. I assume the competition is still a “pet project” of Mr. Knowles, although Rotary Club activities in Grand Bahama in recent years have not been receiving the same level of news coverage as they did when I was Editor of the Freeport News, as recognition of what’s news and what’s not has shifted more in favour of crime and sensationalism.
Nonetheless, I am expecting some great accomplishments from President Christine van der Linde and her team at the new Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, based on not only the all-star support she has, but also on her track record of involvement in Rotary Club activities in the past. Indeed, Mrs. Van der Linde is a Past-President of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, having done an excellent job in that position four or five years ago.
Actually, I am expecting outstanding performances by all of the Rotary Clubs in Grand Bahama. One major reason for my optimism is that Rotary’s Assistant District Governor for the Grand Bahama area is Lisbeth Maigaard Knowles, a Past-President of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, whose presidency was when I was an active member, and I have first-hand knowledge of her administrative skills and commitment to the principles espoused by Rotary International.
Just this past Saturday, July13, Assistant District Governor Knowles officiated at the installation of Phelicia P. Martin, new Rotaract Club of Freeport President for 2019-2020, during a reception at the Regency Theatre in Freeport.
Among those at the reception were Christel Lightbourne, President of the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama Sunrise; Jamis Carey, recently installed President of the Rotary Club of Lucaya; Carol Rolle, Past-President Rotary Club of Lucaya; Kiara C. Jones and Keturah Babb, Rotarians/Rotaracter; and Rotarian Felix Roy Bowe Jr.
