GOVERNOR General Sir Patrick Allen has urged Jamaicans to embrace and pass on Jamaica’s rich heritage to the next generation.

He was speaking at the annual National Heritage Week Thanksgiving Church Service held on Saturday at the Andrew’s Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church. The service was the first of activities to observe this year’s National Heritage Week celebrations under the theme ‘Our Heritage…Our Legacy…Our Strength.’

Allen said Jamaica’s heritage was created out of oppression, struggle, resilience, triumph and overwhelming odds.

“The Maroon wars, with Nanny emerging as one of the fearless leaders, the sacrificial leadership of Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, cleared a path of hope for Jamaica,” he said.

“That path, led Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley to inspire and develop the foundational structures of government, has policies which have brought us into a confident 54-year-old Independent nation.”

Allen stated that the opportunity created by our heroes and the traditions of our parents should continue “to serve as the template to open new horizons of social progress, economic growth and individual excellence”.

“The future is a canvas awaiting the picture that this generation of Jamaicans and Jamaicans yet born are available and willing and ready to paint,” he added.

He said it was the responsibility of every Jamaican to seize the moment and use “our gains in ways which will make our actions count”.

“We must use every opportunity to build our lives, to build the life of our nation on foundations which are secure, values which are sound and sustainable, relationships which demonstrate sensitivity and respect, and actions which reflect our inescapable duty of care,” he said.