Humility in honour - Claudette “Boopie” Smith
Virgin Islands News Online spoke with her about her feelings about this honour and the way the Festival was conducted this year.
Smith said that she had previously been asked to have the festival named in her honour but declined. She noted that this was because she always preferred to be behind the scenes.
She said when the topic came up again this year they “did not ask me, they just told me” so she decided to yield as a result of the persuasiveness of her daughter and other family members.
Smith submitted that her newly converted status (she gave her life to Christ some five years ago) has offered her much in terms of a new perspective on life and she wanted to blend this new found love for God into her organizational talent with this cultural event.
She said she looked at this as a sign, “God is blessing me and [I] need to stop rejecting blessings when they come.” In doing projects she believed that, “whatever you do, whether there is finance or not, you should do to the best of your ability and the purpose for which you are doing it [will be clear].”
“Everyone was very happy for me,” she said, “they said it was very deserving because of the dedicated person that I am.” The honouree felt that it that the tribute came as a matter of her being able to give back to her country and using her God given talent of organizing cultural activities.
There was no celebration of the honour, she expressed to this news site, since she did things generally without looking for a reward. In this instance she felt that when she got the reward for her hard work it was something to be accepted. There was no “let’s hold a party and all of that,” she said. “I’m a humble person.”
Smith added that she focused a lot of the cultural aspects of the organization in trying to incorporate the theme of this year’s event. She further stated that she tried to add a few improvements such as the directory allowing persons to find themselves around easily and the lunch time event that was introduced; both of which she hopes are continued.
The cultural night she felt in addition to the lunch time story telling had the most impact on her.
Any concerns she had about the festival, she noted, were expressed to the head of the Festival and Fairs Committee in a report submitted and these would be dealt with internally.
She felt that “if we put our minds together we can accomplish a lot” and this was a goal she saw as being achieved for this year’s Emancipation Festival.
“Boopie” Smith thought that she couldn’t have done this year’s event without the support of her husband “Chi Chi” Smith, daughters Zoe and Zarita, son-in-law Melson McMillan and her grandchildren and numerous family members and friends that assisted her throughout.
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