BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, October 12, 2020 (MMS-SKN) — Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, has praised leadership, officers and staff of the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services for putting God first in their day to day operations as they honourably serve the people of the Federation with dedication.
Prime Minister Harris, who through the Ministry of National Security has direct responsibilities for the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Services, made the remarks on Sunday October 11 at the end of a worship service held at the Antioch Baptist Church in Lime Kiln Commercial Development, West Basseterre. It was attended by the organisation’s officers and staff led by Chief Fire Officer Everette O’Garro.
“St. Kitts and Nevis prides itself as a Nation under God, and indeed in our Constitution way back in 1983 we declared publicly that we are a nation under God,” said Dr Harris. “As the Prime Minister I am heartened to see these officers, who perform duties that put them in direct line of danger as they safeguard our country, taking time to worship and praise God.”
The sermon, which was delivered by Senior Pastor Lincoln Connor under the theme ‘Unseen Conflict’, dwelt on the blameless and upright life of Job. Accompanying Prime Minister Harris at the service were the Minister of Health and Area Parliamentary Representative for West Basseterre, the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, and Deputy Speaker Senator the Hon Dr Bernicia Nisbett.
The St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescues Services became severed by Law from the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force on January 4, 2000 under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 6/99. Thirty officers, accompanied by Forces Chaplain Rev Ericsson Cumberbatch attended the service.
“As a young upcoming organisation, we just like anybody else would have had some bumps on the road,” observed Chief Fire Officer Mr Everette O’Garro. “However, we would have accomplished some notable achievements on the way and we have developed the old adage that in everything you do, you must put God first.”
The idea behind the church service was an initiative of the St. Kitts-Nevis Fire and Rescue Services Welfare Association, which according to Mr O’Garro does a wonderful job in making sure that the officers are kept grounded in recognising that in all they do, and in all they have achieved they should put God first.
“We thought it was really great that Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris joined us for this church service,” said the Chief Fire Officer. “We are really thankful and grateful that he would take time out of his busy schedule to grace us with his presence and worship with us as the Minister who is responsible for the Fire and Rescue Services. We are really grateful to have him being our honourable guest at the service such as this.”
He added: “The Honourable Prime Minister has always given solid support to the programmes of the Fire Services. His support via the Ministry of National Security has been instrumental in a number of achievements of the organisation.”
Senior members of staff in attendance were, Fire Sub Station Officer Lenox Griffin, Fire Sub Station Officer Rommel Williams, Fire Sub Station Officer Lesroy Caines, Fire Sub Station Officer Mavis Archibald-White, Ag Fire Sub Station Officer Dwayne Williams, and Secretary Mrs Cecilia Phipps-Heyliger.
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Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 19, 2020 (ZIZ News):The Antioch Baptist Church engaged the Federation’s young men in a conference for two days this week.
85 young men gathered at the Antioch Baptist Church for the conference dubbed Turnaround Agenda which was held on Tuesday August 18th and Wednesday August 19th.
Lead Pastor at the Antioch Baptist Church Lincoln Connor said Turnaround Agenda is an auxiliary of the Antioch Baptist Church focused on youth rehabilitation and poverty alleviation.
He spoke of why this conference was geared specifically to young men.
“Turn Around Agenda really is focused on targeting young people but we realise that there is a need to target males in particular from the churches point of view. We find that lots of young men are engaging in sports and the arts and that’s great but we realise in the context a lot of critical issues for their success in either of these areas are missingso we believe that we can fill that gap in terms of the capacity that is missing and so many of them are interested in sports and the arts and they don’t understand that it requires planning and perseverance and dedication and goal setting . So it is merging the ideas together and helping them to have a fusion of all that is required for success in life.”
Pastor Connor said the high number of participants exceeded expectations and the enthusiasm of the young men was welcoming.
“ It’s really something that we are excited to do on an annual basis. But for 85 as a first go, we are really really excited. One of the things that was really encouraging was that the young men were very engaged. They were very excited; in all of the sessions, there wasn’t one young man that was on their phone and that is commendable. They were really immersed in what these presenters were saying.”
He said, “I must give credit to the presenters they were engaging, knowledgable, personable and we are really excited for the future in relation to theleaders that we have and these future leaders that we are creating.”
18 year old Mikhail Powell is a Nursing Major in the CFBC/ UWI Programme. He participated in the two day conference and said what he learned will be used to advance his career.
“They taught us how to basically budget, how to plan our future and how to take things slowly so we could know how to do it properly. It will help me with my career planning when to start mortgaging, budgeting and planning and all of that start.”
15 year old Auren Brunder of Verchilds High School said he enjoyed the conference in its entirety and spoke of what impacted him most.
“One thing that stood out most for me was something a speaker said. He said that you cannot have a goal without doing work or its just a wish and with my future aspirations I was thinking I could just achieve it but I have to put in a lot of work. So from now on I will start to work harder.”
He said, “I would like to attend it in the future. Maybe in the future I may be going through a time where I may not be sure if I’m good enough for stuff and it’s very motivational so I would like to come back.”
The participants engaged in a number of open sessions including “The Successful Student Athlete” facilitated by Delwayne Delaney, “Money Matters & Critical Life Skills” by Quinn Martin, “Life and Music” by Azem Bailey, and “Black Boys Framework for Success” by Curtis Martin.
Dr. Marcus Natta spoke with the participants about the guiding theme “Don’t’ Fear the Future; Shape It.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 3rd, 2020 (ZIZ News): Training for local observers for the upcoming general elections took place on Tuesday morning at the Antioch baptist church. Due to the fact that observers from the OAS mission will not be overseeing this week’s elections, the observer group will be made up of local members of the st. Kitts and Nevis christian council and evangelical association.
The training was facilitated by the former supervisor of Elections Eugene Petty who spoke of the significance of the day’s training.
“The purpose of the training session was to assist persons in gaining a better understanding of what is involved in observing elections. I first tried to impress upon them the important role of an observer. I also took them through the electoral process in terms of observing the opening of the poll, voting, counting of the ballot and closing of the poll. I think persons left with a better understanding of what is required of them in performing in a very impartial manner,” he said.
In speaking about the church’s new role as election of observer, pastor of the Antioch Baptist Church Lincoln Connor said the idea was never for the church to work alone in this capacity.
“ The reality is that the church has always been a part, working with other groupings and that was the expectation leading up to the elections and I think for persons to say ‘let the church alone do it’, I think that’s hypocrisy.” He said, “In elections gone by, the opposition has always rallied the government to have oversees observers and as a matter of fact, the current administration made it clear that there had to be observers on the ground. I have seen the role that oversees observers play when they come and we should not minimize or downplay the expertise of overseas observers. We really should not do that because I really believe that it does not speak well for our democracy because we have not developed that cadre of observers on the ground to do exactly what is required.”
Provost and Parish Priest of the Pro-Cathedral of St. George with St. Barnabus Rev. Canon Dwayne Cassius said while the training was informative, as it stands, he is undecided as to whether or not he will participate in the observer mission on Friday.
“I’m a bit uncomfortable because the time is so close and in my mind, its sort of like taking a crash course to do a professional job. It’s one thing to say ‘I believe in God and God can do all things’ but at the same time, there has to be a certain amount of practicality that has to be involved in processes. My thing is, where and when better can be done, better should be done. So honestly I’m a bit undecided right now whether or now I am going to be involved in the process.”
The observer training continued with a virtual session at the ICT center on Tuesday afternoon.
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