Today is National Heroes' Day in Barbados - and here I am attending meetings in Switzerland. This means my welcome today is not from a bright and sunny Barbados. Still, I thank everyone who visited the page from the United States of America, Barbados, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and Sweden.
I am taking longer to update "Keeping Buzzy" as I do not find the time to do so now. I am grateful to the faithful who check in on occasion to see what's new - and it's usually not anything at all.
Now, back to the topic. This is not my first post celebrating Barbados' National Heroes. It will however reveal my acting debut!
The Right Excellent Sarah Ann Gill was not only a National Hero of Barbados; she was also a Hero for Methodism in Barbados and for the right to religious freedom in the British colonies of the 19th century.
The story of Sarah Ann Gill takes place 200 years ago, when she stood up to the local planter class that wanted to curb religious belief systems promoting the concept of equality of mankind - the Methodists were thought to be filling African slaves with notions of freedom from slavery and were felt to be sympathizers of the Abolition movement. At the time, African slaves were chattel (property) and were treated as such - made to work the land; they were not educated; marriage was not encouraged as the strong were needed to procreate to increase the labouring population. So the planter class chased off Rev. Shrewsbury, the Methodist Minister of the day, with his very pregnant wife.
With this void in the Methodist leadership, Sarah Ann Gill, a free woman of colour, stepped in and kept cottage meetings - to keep the faith alive. I'll say no more here. You can view the link to the Aldersgate Service for 2022, at which the film debuted. The Heather Headley production begins at 43:21. I enjoyed the service that preceded the viewing so I'm not discouraging anyone from watching the full 2 hours of it. May you be richly blessed.
Male cast members in their historical costumes
And on the topic of film in Barbados. I pause to pay tribute to the singer of the theme song, Island In the Sun, which was filmed in Barbados in 1957. The singer and actor in the same film, Harry Belafonte, died on April 25, 2023, age 96. May he rest in peace.
So many of the entertainers I admired growing up are passing on. A sign of life.
Until next time.
Peace.
