Her Excellency Dame Graça Machel, former Minister of Education of Mozambique, former First Lady of the Republics of Mozambique and South Africa, widow of former South African President Nelson Mandela, visited Barbados in recent days and starred alongside Carol Roberts, Executive Director of the National Cultural Foundation of Barbados, in an excellent and entertaining public debate entitled, “Reflections on the Road to Freedom”. The Frank Collymore Hall Theater was attended by the Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, ministers and officials of the Government of Barbados, diplomats from the missions accredited in the country and representatives and members of various social organizations. Some of them spoke before and after the debate with the guest of honor, including the Prime Minister.
Dame Graça, among the many concepts on which she reflected, said that she wants blacks to be masters of themselves and not allow anyone to belittle them. She recalled that, unlike in the days of slavery, today all citizens have an equal opportunity to shape their own future. In his broad and eloquent speech, he said that blacks and Africans have to assert themselves and internalize that they have the same rights as any other person. She further noted that resilience will also be needed to address the global social crises we face today. With the reflections of Dame Graça Machel, Barbados commemorated the International Day in Memory of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, with an activity of excellence that was linked to others carried out in the summer as a day for Emancipation.