WHENEVER Undine Whittaker is asked “how she’s doing, her response is always summed up in one word: “thankful”.
And while that response might seem simple, its meaning for Undine is far-reaching. Not only is she thankful for the opportunity to serve on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged in Barbados, but she is grateful that she is doing so with optimum health.
After all, three years ago Undine was fighting her way back to health after suffering the effects of a stroke. She went from a vibrant woman, to someone who barely had the use of her arms.
“That was a difficult time for me and I was off for about three months,” she said. “I gradually eased my way back into work.”
The woman now able to walk around and use her arms that once seemed like weights at her side, is testimony to her faith, courage and steely determination. But perhaps that desire to help those in need became her own life force, helping her to battle back.
“Politics for me is a lifetime service,” said the former teacher.
“My work was an extension of the poor and downtrodden. Having taught for 34 years and worked in the service industry and then became a trade union rep, and then I moved into the political arena which has been the representation of people and their issues, so it has always been issues that I’ve been involved with.”
Undine reinvented herself after spending 34 years in teaching as a way to do good and serve the people who didn’t have a voice or people to fight for them.
“I became involved in politics through my work with the trade unions,” she said. “My work was an extension of the poor and down-trodden. I ran in the poorest constituencies.”
Though her life in politics has seen her transition through different chapters in her life, and now in her current role as Adviser to the Prime Minister she is focusing heavily on women’s issues and seeing their lives enhanced.
“I produce a number of things,” she said of her current role. “Some of the projects I’m working on is the Youth in Agriculture and the Crafts Programme in which I sponsor exhibitions of craftspersons and I also work with the Women Entrepreneurs of Barbados.
“When you do that you are empowering that person to provide for themselves in the things that they may need for their family.
“When these young men are in the Youth and Agriculture project they are off the street and they are learning something to help forge a better future for themselves”.
Working to empower people who are disadvantaged is an area that has always been dear to Undine’s heart.
Undine reminisced on times when her fiery spirit and attitude helped her to wage battles and fight long and hard for certain causes. “Those were the days when I had a lot of fire. I haven’t lost it but I channel it differently now,” Undine said.
“It was a mild stroke, but when I returned to work I did not return initially at the full volume that I worked before,”she said. “I gradually eased back into work.”
Now back to work at full capacity, she is determined to make her own mark. But despite her good deeds that she tries to do every day, there is still a void within her own life left by the death of her only child, eight years ago.
“I’ve learnt to accept it even though I don’t always understand but I miss her terribly. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. But her death though has made me more emphathetic to others because you recognize tragedies of all types.
Though time, illness and the vagaries of life have challenged her, they have not daunted her spirit or her commitment to serve those who she has pledged to fight for.
“I want to be remembered as someone who fought honestly for the plight of people,” she said. “I hope that I have shared some of my skills and knowledge with younger women who I expect to continue the fight. Wherever I can motivate women and people in general to make life better, that’s what I would like.”