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NEWS
TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
January 3 - 9, 2015
PERSON OF THE YEAR
Rhondalee BraithwaiteKnowles ‘A gem of a lady’ BY DELANA ISLES THERE are no truer words that can be penned in describing the current Attorney General of the Turks and Caicos Islands and proud Grand Turk girl than ‘a gem of a lady’. Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles is truly the personification of a humble, elegant and poised woman. The Weekly News chose her this year as our 2014 person of the year, primarily due to her rise to a position within the Turks and Caicos Islands judiciary that no Islander has been afforded. Not to mention her unstinting dedication and professional ethics throughout the years. But we may not have been astute enough in our assessment of the learned counsel. It became clear during our hours
long conversation with her that she is more than the sum of her accomplishments, impressive though they are. Rhondalee was born to Susan Fulford-Braithwaite and Pastor Frederick Braithwaite of the Bible Baptiste in Grand Turk on August 17. From a little girl growing up on West Road, North Grand Turk - the second child among six girls and two boys - she had the value of hard work and dedication to life drummed into her head by her parents. Yet she found the time to get into some scrapes with her older sister Denise, which she recalled with an infectious laugh and a peek of naughty sense of humour. She smiled as she recalled her mother, a South Caicos girl and her father, a native of Barbados, and the
Published by Turks & Caicos News Company Ltd. Cheshire House, Leeward Highway, Providenciales P.O. Box 52, Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI W. Blythe Duncanson - Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Bird - News Editor Delana Isles - Senior Reporter Daisy Handfield - Staff Reporter Faizool Deo - Sports Editor (At Large) Cord Garrido-Lowe - Graphics Consultant (At Large) Dilletha Lightbourne-Williams - Office Manager Email: (Advertising) tcnews@tciway.tc, (News) tcweeklynews@gmail.com Tel. 649-946-4664 (office), 649-232-3508 (after hours) Website address: www.tcweeklynews.com Follow us on: Facebook: facebook.com/tcweeklynews Twitter: twitter.com/tcweeklynews1
love they shared among themselves and with their children. Like life in any rural district, her childhood was about being your neighbour’s keeper and the sweet nectar of un-spoilt innocence. As she spoke of her early formative years, her eyes gazed into past with a stare of wistfulness and a hint of sadness. Sadness for the innocence of childhood and community that has slowly seeped away through the years. “Although there is still a strong sense of community in Grand Turk that type of community spirit and feeling is not there in the same idyllic, naïve in a sense, way it was there. “People are more guarded, and I suppose it’s just a result of the times,” she poignantly recounted. Yet, two seconds later her voice was filled with excitement and laughter as she recalled beach outings, church socials, playing in the street and the lack of fear she, friends and siblings enjoyed as children. But it was not all fun and games in the Braithwaite household, as her parents were sticklers for education and hard work. Her mother was the Registrar of Lands and her father, a Police Prosecutor. Both positions achieved through their dedication to personal development and commitment to hard work. “After a while our childhood became a lot about working hard,” she recalled with a total lack of regret. One would assume, quite erroneously, that Rhondalee got her love of the law from her father. She however, put those suppositions firmly to bed. “My sister Denise always wanted to be doctor and I always wanted to be a lawyer and people always said oh it’s your parents who told you this, but from a very early age, about five or so, we were saying this. “And then the things that we did too – she always found the lizards and buried them in the yard then would go back and look at the
skeleton, while I was the one who couldn’t shut up.” She also recalled her love of reading, which was cultivated by her beloved grandfather. Her “absolute” favourite book she told us is Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, which has been adapted into a movie. She loves it because of its message of redemption despite bleak circumstances. “I used to love to read and to talk and to get into people’s business,” she laughed. Naturally occurring talents, is the way she describes her and her sister Denise’s chosen career paths. “I always wanted to be an attorney and my sister always wanted to a doctor,” she affirmed. So with her path quite clearly delineated in her mind, after high school at the Turks and Caicos High School (now the HJ Robinson High School), she began her journey towards achieving her legal career at Liberty University in Virginia, United States. A degree in government and history soon led to her pursuing her LLB on the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. Her choice of the Cave Hill campus was two-fold. Seeking out father’s homeland and getting to know the ‘Bajan’ culture factored prominently in the decision. “The experience in Cave Hill, Barbados where I opted to stay for the three years was an enriching experience in terms of understanding Caribbean jurisprudence and the importance of law in this region.” Enriching too because that is where her ingrained spirit of volunteerism shone through. Volunteering her time and love at the Florence Nightingale Children’s Home was one of her many rewarding experiences in the land of the flying fish. She also played a role in the student guild, and was elected chairperson of the Sherlock Hall and the Frank Worrell Hall, both dormitories at the Cave Hill campus. She grew into a soccer player there as well; putting her skills and determination to work for a women’s team at the university.
Putting truth to perceptions, she recounted her differing educational experience in Virginia and in Cave Hill. Laughing with feeling, she recalled that school in the US was geared towards helping students, while in Barbados it was like they were trying to break you. But she said it was good in the sense that when something is accomplished in the Caribbean, there’s a feeling of immense achievement and success. Taking two steps back however, a little known fact about the Attorney General is her life as a teacher. For two years after high school, Rhondalee taught at the Grand Turk Christian Academy in grade two and for an additional two years after receiving her first degree at Liberty University. The second time she taught at the fourth grade level; but four years of teaching was not enough to deter her from her calling. Another little known titbit about Rhondalee is that she taught the current Deputy Governor, Anya Williams and Aisha Gardiner who now holds a senior level position at FortisTCI. “I feel proud of those four years. Teaching is a very enriching, rewarding, hard job and you have to really put your everything into it. But that was not my calling and I knew that.” She feels her stint as a teacher played a significant role in her life as a lawyer, in more ways than one. After school in Barbados, and then at the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas, she returned to the Turks and Caicos Islands to work. She made it quite plain, and did so quite firmly, that it was never her intention not to return to her homeland to work. “I always felt a sense of commitment to the Islands. A sort of patriotism that you see displayed in other places.” Not mincing words, she spoke plainly of the lack of patriotism that is all too often apparent in the Turks and Caicos Islands. But she always felt that bond with continued
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