Dame Graça Machel, African stateswoman, educator, humanitarian, and the widow of former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, will visit Barbados from Wednesday, August 21, to Monday, August 26.
Mrs. Machel’s visit coincides with the Season of Emancipation and she will participate in a number of related activities.
Dame Graça will visit the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and take part in Barbados/Africa Connections, where she will meet with South Africans living here. She will also meet with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and other government officials during her six-day visit.
Mrs. Machel will visit places of interest which are tied to the island’s intangible cultural heritage, such as Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, the Emancipation Statue, Rock Hall Freedom Village and Golden Square Freedom Park. The ‘Story of Sugar and Rum’ will also be shared with her.
The highlight of the visit will be her participation in the discussion ‘Dame Graça Machel in Her Own Words: Reflections on the Road to Freedom’, at Frank Collymore Hall, on Friday, August 23, at 6:30 p.m.
This date commemorates the United Nations International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
Dame Graça Machel, who was also a former First Lady of Mozambique, was one of Mozambique’s Ministers of Education and has been known to dedicate her life to advancing the rights of women and improving the lives of children. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) highest honour, the WHO Gold Medal, for her tremendous contribution to the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents.