SOME PEOPLE CALL St Andrew the forgotten parish on the east coast of the island. However, this year’s parish ambassadors, Renandra Small and Terrance Drakes, are out to clear up that misconception.
With this year’s parish project, entitled De St Andrew Experience: A Discovery To Share, they want to share their home parish with all of Barbados.
“This year we decided to give people the village life in St Andrew; how the villagers experience the community. I don’t believe that we could sell one part of St Andrew so what we tried to sell is the parish as a whole – not one district or community, but an experience for both local and overseas tourists,” said Drakes.
And they plan to take patrons “way back in time” at the climax of the programme on Saturday night at the annual Spirit Of The Nation show. “That’s all we’re saying,” added a smiling Small.
They both admitted to learning a lot since the inception of the programme in February.
“Time management and learning how to balance both my hectic life and my hectic schedule as parish ambassador is what sticks out for me,” said Small.
As for Drakes, he has learnt how to deal with multiple personalities all at once. “Learning to work with different personalities is what stands out for me. In every parish there is a different culture and dealing with different people you have to adapt.”
For them, the programme has had its moments but the experience has been great. “It has its challenges, but it has been a lot of fun. I have learnt a lot about St Andrew I did not know before and Barbados as a whole, so it has been fruitful,” said Drakes.
“The support has been phenomenal. Wherever we go in St Andrew, we never leave with our hands empty. Even on our walks, almost every house we visited, we were offered something like we have been living there or are a part of the neighbourhood. In our walks we also met people who are family members who we would never have met before,” added Small.
And for anyone looking to get into the parish ambassador programme, they had this advice to offer.
“Come in with an open mind and no expectations. It’s not about winning but rather how much you can develop as a person. A lot of people only know the Spirit Of The Nation side of the programme, but there is a lot more to it than that,” said Drakes.
“Be willing to listen and learn. You learn from the critiques and in turn moving forward you learn how to better yourself. So listen to learn, so in the end you adapt to make yourself a better person overall,” added Small. (RA)
