“SO I MADE IT TO HARVARD.”
An infectious and admiring smile was plastered across the faces of a large audience when Rihanna made that remark recently at the famous university in Boston. There was a good reason for both her positive presence and the upbeat impact on her listeners.
Rihanna, the multiple Grammy Award-winning singing sensation from Barbados, thanked the university for a prestigious honour, the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award, given to her for the philanthropic endeavours she has undertaken to make a difference in the lives of people worldwide.
“You don’t have to be rich to be a humanitarian,” the 29-year-old reminded every young person watching television and the commercials which urge people to give something, maybe 25 cents, to aid a child. “You don’t have to be rich to help somebody. You don’t got be famous. You don’t even have to be college educated.”
True. Just look at her life story and the message becomes crystal clear.
Rihanna (Robyn Fenty) went to the United States more than a dozen years ago after being spotted in Barbados by Evan Rogers, a top-notch American music producer and his Bajan wife. She is now one of the planet’s best known pop icons. She didn’t finish Combermere School because she went to the US to pursue a dream.
Fortunately, Barbadians, Americans and others are beneficiaries of her charitable foundation and her generosity. She established the Clara Lionel Foundation in honour of her Guyanese-born grandmother, Clara Brathwaite, who died a few years ago in Brooklyn of cancer and was buried in Barbados, the birthplace of her husband.
The foundation helps children get an education, extends a financial helping hand to youngsters in need of specialised health care, and has aided the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The much-needed help, she said, “starts with your neighbour, the person right next to you, the person sitting next to you in class, the kid down the block in your neighbourhood; you just do whatever you can to help any way that you can”.
Well said. Little wonder that her short speech which inspired awe and respect went viral on social media.
We trust that some of our international big-name cricketers, whose awe-inspiring talent can be traced to the villages that dot Barbados’ landscapes, are learning a lesson from Rihanna’s actions, not simply her words.
These young men and women who are making “good” money playing on the international cricket circuit in India, Australia, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ireland and the West Indies should consider it an obligation, in Rihanna’s words, “to help one person and expect nothing in return”.
Our cricketers can begin by volunteering to coach boys and girls in their neighbourhoods without expecting the Government or a Bridgetown firm to pay them, for one afternoon a week. They should give of their time willingly.
Our heartfelt congratulations to Rihanna.
