Adventists turn out in numbers to support new GG

Sunday, November 08, 2009 1:14 AM

News

BY KIMONE THOMPSON Senior staff reporter thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, February 27, 2009

HUNDREDS of Jamaicans, including students who took time out of their mid-term holidays, yesterday defied Mother Nature's threat to rain on Dr Patrick Allen's parade as he was installed as the country's sixth governor general on the lawns of King's House.

The vast majority of the group - which represented the Adventist church, and which included professionals, uniform groups, clergymen, students in uniform, husbands, wives and their children - was complemented by members of the local and foreign diplomatic communities, the judiciary, representatives from central and local government and non-governmental organisations.

Newly-inaugurated Governor-General of Jamaica Dr Patrick Allen being invested with the Insignia of the Order of the Nation by Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Order of the Nation Justice Zaila McCalla during yesterday's installation ceremony at King's House in Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

They had no problems wiping off wet chairs and sinking their heels into the earth made soft by the afternoon rain. Many of them, who had travelled several hours from parishes all across the island and from countries within the region, said rain would not have caused them to miss the afternoon's event, even if they had not got official invitations.

"I would have come even if I weren't a pastor in the Adventist church because an opportunity like this seldom comes," Aldon Fuller, intern pastor of the Ocho Rios district of churches, told the Observer. He, his wife and their young son arrived at King's House in the middle of a steady shower of rain, an hour-and-a-half before the 5:30 start of the proceedings. "It's a historic event so hopefully in the years to come I can reflect on it," he said.

A Central Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists employee who identified herself only as Mrs Gunther, and her colleagues arrived before the downpour and had to seek shelter. "We got here some minutes to three so we were sitting in the sun the whole time. It was so hot, but then it started to rain and we had to run under one of the booths," she said.

"I wasn't worried about the rain. In fact, I thought it was a blessing," said Dr Carol Fider, head of the English and Modern Languages Department at Northern Caribbean University.

"I had absolute confidence that it was going to turn out beautifully and it did," added her colleague, Dr Jacqueline Clarke, who heads the university's education department. Even so, she confessed she was tempted not to show up.

"I was tempted not to come. I was tempted to stay home and watch it from the comfort of my bed because I'm a morning person and I think twice about events this late in the evening but I'm happy I came. I'm not even sleepy," she told the Observer.

"When he (Dr Allen) was speaking I wondered if Martin Luther King had come back to life; he motivated us to get involved in nation building and not wallow in self-pity and gloom. He spurned us to hope and to believe that each of us can go back to our little corner and do something."

Dr Clarke was referring to the new governor general's address to the audience in which, among other things, he called for Jamaicans to rely more on the country's natural resources as a means out of the current economic downturn.

"It's a memorable and awesome occasion. I feel proud to be Adventist", said Terry-Ann Thomas whose family are close friends of the governor general, his wife Patricia and their three children.

"It's definitely an Obama-like moment," added Thomas' friend, Alister Allie. "He's (Dr Allen) from humble beginnings and he broke all the barriers to rise to the highest office of the land."

Craig Campbell, a fifth-form student of Portland High School, agreed: "It shows that God appoints who He chooses to positions to do His will."

"For me it's a great honour and privilege to be here to support Dr Allen. Even though we are not of the same body I'm very happy to be here," said St Catherine High school sixth former Girvan Whittle who belongs to the Seventh-day Apostolic faith.

If you were to grade Derick Latibeaudiere's performance over his 13 years as Bank of Jamaica governor, what grade would he get?
	A
	B
	C
	D
	E
	F

View Results
Results published weekly in Sunday Finance

Username:
Password: