Providing a range of services

IT IS both my pleasure and my privilege to congratulate the National Council for Senior Citizens and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security as the nation celebrates Senior Citizens’ Week 2018.

Your theme for the week reminds us of the wealth of opportunities available to our people as the result of the character, commitment, and contribution of our senior citizens. They continue to use their talents, their wisdom, and their energies to provide a range of services to family members, community organisations, and other civic bodies, as well as to various professions and private and public enterprises. The nation benefits not only from the value of their experience, but from the psychic income that intergenerational bonding makes possible for our younger citizens.

CULTURAL RICHNESS

I commend all who contribute to the effectiveness of the work spearheaded by the national council, management, staff, resource persons, and volunteers. Through your engagement, you reflect the best of our Jamaican traditions of pride in family, caring for others, and the promotion of our creative talents.

We are constantly reminded of the richness of our cultural heritage. We are also conscious of the increase in life expectancy of our population as a whole. These are features of our national life which we treasure, which we celebrate, and for which we should never fail to give thanks. We are also essentially a people of faith, and our senior citizens have provided good examples and inspiring leadership in the preservation of that faith.

I encourage Jamaicans of all ages to use the events of this year’s Senior Citizens’ Week as opportunities for recognising the blessings we enjoy as a people. We do well to remember, ‘Ageing is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength’ – Betty Friedan.

We join hands and hearts in fellowship one with another, working together, being a caring community, forging a shared future with confidence, knowing that together we are indeed stronger.

May the week be one of blessing, and may God bless Jamaica, land and people we love.

SIR PATRICK ALLEN Governor General