The Tribune

THE VIEW FROM DOWNTOWN

By FAY SIMMONS

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE TRIBUNE hit the streets yesterday to ask Bahamians about the women that inspire them in honour of Women’s Day 2023.

Respondents were excited to highlight women that they considered role models due to their accomplishments and characteristics.

Ms Cox considers a charitable mother that continued her philanthropic deeds while supporting her special needs son through his battle with cancer to be a role model for herself and others.

She said: “I think that Tanya Moncur is a great role-model. She has a special needs son that is battling cancer, and despite all of her trials and the stuff that she goes through she is still charitable and helping other people.

“She helped put together a special needs prom for her son and others; she has done thanksgiving giveaways. She’s just a mom, she’s just a regular mom, but her strength and her kindness makes her a wonderful woman.”

Sean, a security guard, is inspired by female leaders such as the current Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, and the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.

He said: “A woman that I’d consider a role model is the Barbados Prime Minister [Mia Mottley]. I like her because she’s smart, outspoken, funny and doesn’t back down from anyone. She was a lawyer, you know, and it shows, I wouldn’t like to go against her in court. To me, she’s like a modern day Thatcher, but in a good way, both strong intelligent women, you can tell they keep the men around them in line.”

While some respondents showed admiration for popular and political figures, others garnered inspiration from sources closer to home.

Ms Neely, expressed that her mother has always been her role model.

She said: “My mother, Maude Neely, has always been my role model. She was a virtuous woman, she was kind, supportive to all her children and she was a woman that others could emulate. I thank God that she was in my life.”

Christovia, a barista, considers herself to be a role model and maintained that the way to improve the lives of women and girls is through support and encouragement.

She said: “I think that I’m a great role model. I strive to be kind and understanding, encourage and motivate others, and always be the best woman I can be.”

She added: “Women should always look out for each other and try to empower ourselves and each other whenever we have the chance. That’s how we are going to get ahead, we have to support and encourage other women.”

‘A MISS BAHAMAS, A TRUE QUEEN AND MY HERO - MY MOTHER’

I NOMINATE my mother, Agatha Elizabeth Watson, as a Women’s Day Heroine.

This year marks 50 years since she was crowned Miss Bahamas.

She was crowned in 1973, the year of our Independence.

My mother has two daughters - Felicity and Alisa, seven grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. She is an exceptional woman.

Fifty years after wearing the crown, she still carries herself like a true queen.

Always poised and elegant, she does not put on pretences.

She is the same woman of dignity and class inside and outside of the home.

She has a caring spirit, and many are drawn to her. She is the only sister to seven brothers.

Her parents, William and Olga Watson, did a tremendous job of instilling discipline, dignity and respect for others into their children.

My mother continued to serve on the Miss Bahamas Committee for many years, helping to mould other young women and instill a sense of national pride and civic duty into them.

In addition, she served as a judge with the National Junkanoo Committee for many years, proud of our culture. She has represented this country around the world.

She is extremely faithful to her church, Holy Cross, where she has played a significant role in its growth over the years. Most of all, we call her mum, and she is the love of our lives.

THE TRIBUNE CHALLENGED READERS TO NAME THEIR #WOMENSDAYHEROES - AND HERE ARE SOME OF THOSE YOU HIGHLIGHTED IN CELEBRATION

Shirley Bain, nominated by Tamika Brice

I CONSIDER myself extremely fortunate to have a devoted, loving mother (Shirley Bain) who is courageous, a visionary, strong, perseverant and “in service” to her family and others. She is a mom to three and “NaNa” to one.

She is disciplined, responsible, autonomous and highly accountable. In the face of challenges, she has urged me to always remain grounded, be compassionate, transparent and humble. My mom gave me the confidence to know myself.

She is patient and centered with amazing composure regardless of the circumstances. I have watched her age gracefully, naturally accepting herself as she believes that loving and accepting one’s self is our greatest gift to ourselves.

Thank you to the woman I cited above for opening doors and creating paths where there were none.

Mommy, you have comforted me over the years via your continued prayers, words of wisdom, your never-ending love, commitment and authenticity. Happy International Women’s Day!

'#womensdayheroes'

Mrs Ida Rolle-Hall, nominated by Virginia Hall-Campbell

IN CELEBRATION of International Women’s Day, I am nominating my mother, Mrs Ida Rolle-Hall (deceased)

A giant of a woman... marvellous, strong, kind, faithful, loving, generous, disciplined and humble and talented.She was a straw vendor, who loved her craft, her country, her co-workers and her family with no strings attached. She was blessed with “mother’s wit”, and a sense of humor and grace.

She was from Breezy Hill, Andros, and had the quiet sass and big city know how to navigate raising a family of five boys and two girls. An impeccable dresser, she grew up her girls (two of us) to value quality over quantity, Christmas and Easter and birthdays were special occasions to go shopping.

She was a faithful and devoted member of the Church of God, East Street and there was no option for missing church.

Her husband was her torch bearer... they had a loving, respectful and dependent relationship... ying and yang. She never learned to drive but she went whereever she wanted to.

Her cooking was magical and she often fed the entire neighbourhood - and she knew everyone!

She loved travelling and a stroke later in life was no deterrent in her living a wonderful and energetic life.

We loved that woman and are thankful everyday that she was our hero.

We know that she smiles daily that her last daughter is a physician, a grandaughter is a physician, one is a PhD, Assistant Professor at University of The Bahamas. Her legacy is rich, all from an unlettered woman from Breezy Hill Andros... our HERO!

Dr Selima Hauber, nominated by Yolanda Pawar

DR SELIMA HAUBER currently serves as our crop production manager at One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) and the Centre for Training and Innovation (CTI).

She is a force to be reckoned with in terms of her academic accomplishments, twenty (plus) years as a farmer and her deep-seated commitment to advancing The Bahamas’ Agriculture Industry toward the goals of food sovereignty and food security.

She uses her knowledge and platform on a daily basis, actively teaching and promoting sustainable farming techniques to build capacity among local farmers and backyard growers while employing farming techniques that protect our fragile ecosystems and pristine environment.

She is a passionate advocate for community health through proper nutrition and invests her time and energy in educating staff and the community about the many health benefits of consuming live, super-charged, nutritious green foods, to nourish the body and the benefits of adopting a primarily plant-based diet to mitigate the negative impacts of non-communicable diseases.

Every day she works in the trenches teaching, training, planting, and harvesting for a healthy and sustainable future.

She is growing hope by providing communities with greater access to healthful foods and inspiring the next generation of Bahamian women to take a leading role in local farming.

She has served on The Bahamas’ National Advisory Committee for Agriculture 2018-2020

In February 2022, Selima was invited to represent The Bahamas as a contributor/presenter at Expo 2022 in Dubai, United Emirates. She was a speaker in the Food, Agriculture & Livelihoods Business Forum under the theme: “Spotlighting the Role of Smallholder Farming Across Agricultural Value Chains.”

She was featured in the Canadian publication: “Small Farms Feed the World” by Market Gardener Institute. (It showcases the stories and wisdom of 10 growers practicing human-scale biointensive agriculture.)

She was named in COBs (top 40) Most Outstanding Alumni in 2014 (AA-93)

Dr Selima Hauber received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Horticulture universities in the Southeast of The United States of America. Her graduate research studies involved plant secondary metabolite physiology and plant micropropagation.

Amidst studying, she worked in the ornamental plant industry and botanic gardens in Florida, and in molecular breeding of agronomic crops at the University of Georgia.

In The Bahamas, Dr. Hauber was employed at a privately-owned, hydroponic greenhouse producing vegetables for domestic sales. While there, she established the country’s first plant micropropagation laboratory which engaged in propagating native plants for habitat restoration and tropical fruit propagules for commercial production.

For more than a decade, Dr Hauber operated her own mixed-vegetable organic farm which pioneered the use of regenerative production methods in The Bahamas.

OEF is a non-profit organisation whose mission is empower the island’s communities, aiding in transforming them into thriving self-sufficient ecosystems. Here, Selima operates the teaching farm and develops programs at the intersection of food production and health to inspire healthy dietary behavioral change to mitigate the epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

Monique Palmisano, nominated by Craig T Lowe

It is a great honor as the owner and founder of The Storm Intercept Weather Network to present our Network’s nomination for Women’s Day Heroes, in that of our very own executive director of hurricane intercept operations, Ms Monique Palmisano.

Ms Palmisano is a prime example of a hero among heroes.

As a woman, she has truly exemplified what a hero is.

Through her service in our Hurricane Division and Storm Spotting cores, she has tirelessly worked to identify hazardous weather threats in and around New Providence, and even gone as far on countless occasions to put herself in the line of fire all in the name of public safety and security in the meteorlogical world.

This work has earned her the title of Waterspout Queen and the Lightning Princess among local and international storm chasers.

Ms Palmisano has shown through her committment exactly what women in the field of storm and hurricane intercepting can do when they are given the respect and admiration they wholeheartedly deserve.

She currently holds the most important position in our divisional operations extending from The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and portions of the Midwest States of America.

It is an honour to say that Ms Palmisano is in fact the GREATEST OF ALL TIME in our weather community at SiWeather and dare we say in the region.

We continue to push our very own Senorita 629 and her 80% Female Interceptor Core.

Therena A Cunningham, nominated by the STRAW Inc Centre for Young Women

We wish to recognise our executive director, Ms Therena A Cunningham, of the STRAW Inc Centre for Young Women, a safe place dedicated for nearly 20 years to inspiring, educating, engaging and challenging girls to become self sufficent and responsible young adults.

For more details, visit www.strawincbahamas.org or call 242-544-5240.