OSWALD BROWN Writes...

I have told the story before of Cynthia "Mother" Pratt's incredible rise from abject poverty as a little girl to a position of power in the arena of politics, but now that she has decided to close the book on her remarkable political career, it's certainly appropriate to retell it so that it will serve as a beacon of hope for all young people who may be suffering the indignities of poverty that they can accomplish anything in life if they are determined to succeed at what they set out to do.

No one would have ever predicted back in the early 1950s that the little girl who lived with her parents and siblings on West Street in a poverty-stricken area Over-The-Hill, in a wooden house that more likely than not provided easy access for rays of sunlight to serve the purpose of an alarm clock in the mornings, would rise to the position of Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas.

To some extent, she owes a great deal of appreciation to the foresight of former Prime Minister Perry Christie, who appointed her as Deputy Prime Minister after the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won the May 2, 2002 general election. No doubt, her selection came as a surprise to Christie's political colleagues, some of whom at the time considered her to not be qualified enough – politically and otherwise – for the position; others because politics in The Bahamas is a profession that has more than its share of male chauvinists.

Mother Pratt proved them to be wrong, dead wrong. When she made it official just prior to the PLP's recent convention that she would not be seeking re-election to her St. Cecilia seat in New Providence and would be retiring from active politics, the national consensus was that she had performed very well during her five-year tenure as Deputy Prime Minister. She also served briefly as Acting Prime Minister when Christie suffered a mild stroke.

I first told the story of this outstanding Bahamian woman, who has unquestionably already secured for herself a prominent place in the annals of Bahamian history, in March of 1999 after The Nassau Guardian, where I served as editor at the time, published a story about the quest of a Canadian couple to find out what had happened to an impressive 12-year-old girl they had met back in 1958 while honeymooning in Nassau.

That young girl was Cynthia Moxey. While strolling down Bay Street, Daniel and Louise Bolduc said the young girl left an indelible impression on them. They had visited Nassau several times since their honeymoon, and each time they had inquired about the little girl who had impressed them so highly, but it wasn't until their trip in February of 1999 that they finally got in touch with her.

And that was because she had proven that Mr. Bolduc was correct when he concluded after meeting her for the first time as a 12-year-old that she would one day be a success.

Cynthia, at the time, was assisting her mother in selling her wares at the straw market, and as Mr. Bolduc recalled in The Guardian's story: "She was putting in more of an effort in going the extra mile, which is the reason why people become successful."

He was not surprised, therefore, when he asked a female immigration officer on arrival in Nassau if she knew Cynthia Moxey, and learnt that she was a member of Parliament.

This is the sort of stuff that Hollywood movies are made of, but in the overall context of "The Cynthia "Mother" Pratt Story," it represents only a small scene. Life for her has not been a crystal stair, but she was able to overcome tremendous obstacles to establish successful careers in two other professions before entering politics. As a young girl, although poverty defined the environment in which she lived, she did not allow being poor to place limitations on the natural ability that she possessed in virtually all areas of sports.

And it was through sports that Cynthia Moxey would lay the foundation for the success she has had and the strong ethical standards that govern her life. No small amount of credit for this is due to the late Father Mar-cian Peters, a Roman Catho-lic priest, who was responsible for putting many young persons in The Bahamas at the time on the right road to becoming productive citizens of this country.

As the founder of St. Bernard's Sporting Club, Father Marcian provided many wayward youth an outlet to not only develop their sporting talent, but to im-prove their social graces and to establish a camaraderie with other youths who were from "better-off" or, in some cases, "well-to-do" families.

Among the club members, there were no social differences, and superbly gifted athletes like Cynthia Moxey were popular members. She excelled in virtually every sport and attained "superstar" status in basketball and track and field and, in later years, was also a standout in softball, volleyball, netball and cycling, among others.

If you were to ask her, she will confirm that the high morals she has maintained throughout her life were nurtured under the direction of Father Marcian and the late Lou Adderley, another all-around sportsman in St. Bernard's, who later became principal of St. Augustine's College.

Armed with a determination to succeed in life, in 1963, at the age of 16, Cynthia Moxey decided to pursue a career in nursing and began training to become a practical nurse. This was the profession by which she made her living for 17 years, before she decided that nursing was not what she wanted to do as a life-long profession.

That's when she embarked on a career built around her skills and knowledge of sports. She became a teacher and coach at C.C. Sweeting High School, but quickly realised that to advance up the ladder in this field, she had to further her education.

On entering St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, she approached her studies with the same drive and determination that had been hallmarks of her sporting life. The result was that she graduated in 1983 second in a class of 400-plus with a Bachelor of Arts degree in health and physical education and a minor in sociology.

She returned to C.C. Sweeting, where she re-mained until 1991. During this time, she helped to build a sports dynasty and used her status to assist many Baham-ian youngsters to get a higher education in the United States through sports scholarships. In 1991, she moved on to the College of The Baha-mas as assistant director of student activities.

Mother Pratt decided to enter the political arena in the 1997 general election be-cause she said she felt that if given the opportunity she could help open doors to opportunities for the masses. The Free National Movement (FNM) won that election by a landslide, and Mother Pratt, for the next five years, would be one of only five PLP members in the 40-member House of Assembly as the representative for the St. Cecilia constituency.

She was a diligent student of politics during her maiden term in the House, and when the PLP won the May 2, 2002 general elections, she was well prepared to make history by becoming the first woman to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Quite possibly, had it not been for the death of her husband of many years, Joseph Pratt, in March of this year, she may not have decided to retreat from the front line of politics because, as she often said, it was her husband who encouraged her to enter politics.

But although this may be the end of the road for her as an active politician, there is a strong likelihood that if the PLP wins the next general elections, she will be given an opportunity to once again serve the Bahamian people as Governor General of The Bahamas.

Such an honour will be the beginning of a new chapter in the life of this outstanding Bahamian woman.

Oswald T. Brown is managing editor of The Freeport News. You can contact him via e-mail at oswald@nasguard .com.