Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley addressing the Nation on matters of national importance. 29th April 2020

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley addressing the Nation on matters of national importance. 29th April 2020

Posted by Barbados Government Information Service on Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley addressing the nation on matters of national importance. (PMO)

My fellow Barbadians, residents and well-wishers, ever so often, on this journey of life, we are brought to a sudden halt when the wind is taken out of our sails – often not of our making or desire – and somehow when we are left adrift, it is then that we begin to realize that those things we valued so highly when we were sailing comfortably, are not so valuable; and those things that we took for granted, were too quickly underappreciated.

Today, I speak to you on the cusp of two significant holidays in our nation’s calendar- National Heroes’ Day and Labour Day.  Nowhere have these two holidays borne more significance, in my mind, than they do this year, where a list of 10 officially recognized heroes had to be updated to collectively include thousands more yesterday.

To date, as the lives of each and everyone one of us have become dependent on the conscientiousness and sense of responsibility of those unsung heroes who continue to work, during this trying time, to ensure that Barbadians have some measure of comfort and normalcy, we are reminded that heroes are born and idols are made.  

As we continue to salute our medical professionals who leave their families daily to ensure that the rest of us remain safe, we must not ignore the value of the support services of the cleaner, of the hospital porter and orderly, of the supermarket and gas station worker, of our policemen and soldiers, bank tellers and branch managers, water and electricity and telephone workers, all of whom and many, many more to continue to perform their duties with dignity and respect. 

They stand alongside, proudly so, our nurses and doctors on the front line- necessary, vital, indispensable- and so we are forced to recognise what we already knew; there is no frontline without the backline. This evening, yet again, I salute you. I salute you all…..each and every worker who has helped us thus far, in this still evolving challenge.

To download the full transcript of the Prime Minister’s address to the nation, please click here.

Prime Minister’s Office

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