Sunday, September 11, 2011
THE BELIZE TIMES
Centenary and the Next Revolution One Belize-Prosperous, United and Free By Carolyn Trench-Sandiford – Deputy Leader People’s United Party - Belize
I
could still see my great grandmother Euphrozene “Frezene” Garnett nee Bowen on the tenth. She would have on her blue skirt, white blouse with her white hat, gloves and pocket book, that’s what they call a purse those days. She was off to march in the PUP parade. In those days, there was a PUP and a UDP parade. Later, I think it became three, with UBAD joining at some point. I was too young to remember it all. When “Ma”, as we used to call her, could parade no longer, we would take her stool to the corner of West Street and Cemetery Road early on the tenth morning to secure her space, where she would sit to watch and enjoy the centenary parade. Come to think of it, I never heard her call it the tenth. It was always Centenary. Coincidentally, this was the same stool that we would take for her to the Court House Wharf and Battlefield Park to sit and listen to “Mista Price” or the Premier talk about the peaceful constructive Belizean revolution and the road to independence. She lived for those moments. So, whenever I hear people say that the People’s United Party is against the tenth, I am amazed, for if ever there was a bona fide PUP, it was Euphrozene Garnett. More blue and white you could not get, and she loved the tenth. She was born on September 12th, 1898 somewhere along the ‘Shiboon’, that’s how she pronounced it. We know it as the Sibun River. She later migrated to Belize City and lived on what was then Richard Side Walk, now Richard Street, which happened to be a creek that branched off the Haulover Creek. At that time, Belize City south side only went as far as what is now Pound Yard bridge on a picado road. I remember her saying that they used to come in the dorey right up to the house. It was there that she gave birth to two children, Nellie and Constance Usher. She later married George Garnett. She was proud of her party, and often used to say that she joined
the revolution, and the journey to a better Belize, for her grandchildren. She never saw the tenth in competition with the revolution and the road to independence, but rather as a first step of courage and determination of a people to forge a new nation. It was worth commemorating. She was able to distinguish them as having occurred at different moments in time, under different circumstances, for different reasons, but contributing to the same cause. I never did hear her say once, that either was more significant than the other, but rather, if the first did not occur, the second would not have been possible. I even remember her making a comparison with the United States of America and saying that if they can celebrate both Thanksgiving and Independence Day in different ways for different reasons, but the same cause, so could we, as similarly, while they occurred at different moments in time, one could not have happen without the other. She, along with many others of her generation, understood the importance of both occasions to Belize. So like her, each tenth, I parade and I enjoy myself, and maybe one day, if I am fortunate to live beyond my three scores and ten, I may also have to sit on a stool to watch and enjoy. I considered my great grandmother a wise person. I considered her a true Belizean patriot. I also considered her a Belizean nationalist at heart. One of her greatest enjoyments was to celebrate Centenary. One of the greatest moments of her life was to witness September 21st, 1981. So like her, I do not get caught up in whether there was a battle of St. George’s Caye or not. If she believed that it occurred, so do I. If she felt it was worth celebrating, so do I. After all, she was born the same year the celebrations commemorating the battle began. Probably her parents and grandparents knew something from their parents, grandparents and great grandparents, and told her, for her to believe. After all, they were closer to September 10th 1798 than I am. She also believed fervently in the peaceful constructive Belizean revolution, the Rt. Hon. George Price and the People’s United Party. She knew the future of our generation relied on them. So do I believe that the future of the next generation is dependent on the next revolution. Happy Centenary to All! Happy 10th of September to all! For comments email carolyntrench@gmail.com
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