 My mom is my heart and she's a fighter and she looks like this small person but this is a lady that's made of steel but at the same time is one of the most compassionate caring persons I've ever met and solely for me early days is my father having to work a lot so my mother was the one who was always there taking care of us. One of the things that my mom taught me that carries through to this day is she always used to say when the going gets tough the tough gets going but she used to say that in Creole so she would say Well my mom is my queen she is the most important person in my life as we speak right now well besides my my kids and my siblings. One of the fondest memories with my mother is I constantly come from Choselle is to always have a country in western dance you know Sunday morning you wake up you get to that station or you put in a CD with your western and you tease your mom with a dance it's something I always remember for as for as long as I can remember having that country in western tease with my mother. I've still not gotten over the passing of my mom six years ago she died at 93 years okay from time to time I go to the cemetery you know by the tomb and spend a little moment and reflect a bit so my mom had a lot of influence as far as I grew up. My mom was a lady when I'm on my best behavior I'm being my mother she was very adamant that you needed to be a lady she was very particular about how you spoke tone, intonation, decorum, comportment, a true old-fashioned quintessential teacher. My mother had a great influence on my personality and who I am today. From the time I got to know my mom really as a youngster she always encouraged me to do the very best that I could do. She was very productive in that she was a sin stress she she'd make cake she would bake in she did all sorts of things to assist my father who was a police officer at the time to raise us. Every time Mother Z comes around I remember how great a mother she was and she did such a great job with us who um who had to take up the role of mother and father while my father sailed as a seamen. I found myself singing while I'm doing my work my housework and that's what my mom always did. As a child I could know where she was at home because I listened to her voice singing. I don't think anybody gonna have a bit of mother that you like my mother. My mother is just the best who's the best. It's so difficult to talk about someone who is the most important person to you. I know that my mom has been a praying woman you know all my life I think one of the things she really taught us is to always pray and put God first in everything that we do so we have a strong sense of who we are but that faith is rooted you know in the Lord Jesus Christ and um a lot of days goes by without us praying as children every child of us I think continues to pray every day. My mother is somebody that um you know you would always look to if you're not feeling well they knew all the bush medicine and everything that was required. I find myself quoting my mom quite often on many things. I think first and foremost what I learned from her that really stuck with me that really molded me and shaped me was um having pride in oneself and having a healthy self-esteem I mean I grew up with my mom and my dad died at the age of three when I was the age of three and so I did not have a father figure that I grew up with but it was my mom who really molded me and shaped my character and made me who I am I mean this was a woman who was very strong and very proud I must say and I think she has instilled that quality enough. She always encouraged me um to be independent um she always took me to the kitchen that she comes to cook to wash and I must say I have no regrets right I can cook I can wash everything I don't like to do and I will not do for you is to iron I don't like to iron all right but when it comes to cooking and and and washing I like to wash dishes I like to see I like to see a clean sink in the house in the kitchen and because of the relationship I had with my mom you know as the eldest in the in the household that that has you know stayed with me and I enjoy doing it. My mother always taught me that be careful when you go up the ladder because the same people you pass going up or the same people you're going to pass going down and she was always put other person people first and so that was grounded me from day one. My mother has always indicated don't hang your heart higher than where your hand can reach and always remain who you are be true to yourself so that is one lesson that I have carried and I practice every day. In those days we used to cook in the garden so my mom would leave me some food when I get out of school and boy did I ever used to look forward to leaving school so that I can rush to the garden and get that food you know and you know just be with her in the garden. I remember one of the fondest memories I remember of my mom was going to school secondary school when she would be ironing my uniform and putting those splits on the back of my shirts I looked very clean very decent well attired and now that I'm an adult I no longer have those splits on my shirts you know that's one of the fondest memories I remember of my mom. My mom remains the rock of our family and she plays such a significant role in inspiring all of us. The last time I spent in my mom was very very very touching and that was the last birthday that we spent together. I still have the photographs that she's sitting on the couch and I'm and she's hugging me and telling me that she she loved me and so on and I made her proud. My greatest memory was my mom taking me down to Cassie's market every Saturday and going around as she shopped and as she conversed with the vendors. There's one childhood story that my family would say. My mom used to wash in the river we were we grew up in dairy so as you know and there were eight of us and she used to walk down to the river and I was always tired for some reason coming back home and my mom used to put me in the bathtub and she would carry me on top of the clothes with me sleeping in the bathtub and walking up the rocky hills with me. So these are things that mom's did and mom's do. A very special mother's day to all the mothers who are on the front lines working on mother's day. Remember that this is a worthy cause and I have always maintained that there is no amount of money that can compensate you for the work that you do. So no matter where you are you are there saving lives you are there protecting the lives of other mothers at the St. Lucian's and it is the most worthy cause that you can engage in on mother's day. To all St. Lucian mothers I just want to wish you a happy mother's day and may God continue to bless and keep you and continue to give you the strength to do the work that you've been doing in our nation because mothers are really the foundation you know of our society and who we are. So I want to take this opportunity to wish every mother in Cassie's South is all the best as they celebrate mother's day. It is not just about the eating and the drinking but it gives us an opportunity this time around to really reflect and celebrate mothers in a different way. So even if all the children cannot visit and you cannot have the parties and all of this that in no way should lessen the value that we place on mothers and how we celebrate them and their achievements because without mothers none of us would be here. I want to take this opportunity to wish all mothers a very happy mother's day 2020 as we know this country has been nurtured shaped and carried by mothers. Mothers play a predominant role as far as taking care of our nation is concerned and for what all mothers have done I want to express a sincere thanks. I want to give a special message of happy mothers day to my constituents all mothers in my constituency. I also want to acknowledge some of the fathers who play the role of mothers because they are they are children who grew up with single fathers and so they have to play the role of both mother and father. I want to wish every nurturer every mother in this country a very happy mother's day despite the restrictions that you will have to celebrate on. To all the lovely mothers I know we will still have a lot of country and western being played through the various windows and the various you know households in the community is just that we may not necessarily be congregating and doing that dancing. Happy Mother's Day and I wish everybody the best. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there all of you who have poured so much into all of us your children and we are truly products of you of your discipline of your inspiration of everything that you've done for us. We thank you I don't even think thank you is good enough but we are grateful for everything every sacrifice that you have made. I want to wish all the moms out there despite the fact that we are not socializing as we would like to but I want to tell them at least to spend some time to to to enjoy the Mother's Day and Sunday especially the moms from Barbano. I want by extension to wish all mothers in St Lucia of course in the region happy Mother's Day. I want to wish every mother in St Lucia and the rest of the world their very happiest and most enjoyable Mother's Day. You deserve it without you you would not be here to to celebrate and so please enjoy it remember that we have to do our social distancing and remember the protocols that have been set in place for our safety. I want to thank you. Happy Mother's Day to each and every one of you in my constituency the whole of St Lucia in the diaspora happy Mother's Day to each and every one of you please enjoy and stay safe. Happy Mother's Day to the teachers the mother not only their biological children but their mother the students in the classroom as well and and my heart goes out to them especially on this Mother's Day. I remember the nurses many of them perhaps will be working on Sunday and won't get to hug their loved ones in the way that we normally do especially within the context of COVID so if they would allow me I'd send them a virtual hug and to know how much we appreciate what they do and they're the housewives the magicians I call them they are the lawyers doctors economists nurses and they do everything the chefs the cooks they are the magicians so to the housewives I say happy happy happy Mother's Day I know the song is different I know because of the protocols regarding social distancing that many families will not be able to assemble in the way that they normally do for Mother's Day and even more reason for us to appreciate the things that perhaps we've taken for granted previously so to all the mothers out there do know that you matter so much to me you matter so much to us and to the fathers so our single fathers who double up as mothers for one reason or another we love you too and continue to do the fantastic work that you do for your children certainly I want to wish all mothers a very happy Mother's Day I believe our mothers in St. Lucia have been doing a tremendous work they are hardworking they are taking up the dual role of mother and father where the father does not exist to give guidance and to be that father figure within the community I do wish you the very best and I hope that this mother's day not not considering the social distancing and the remote environment within probably you will celebrate Mother's Day without your children around you or your family around you that make it a memorable one happy Mother's Day to you and I just want to take us out to celebrate the mothers out there to say happy Mother's Day and we live in unprecedented times where mothers are now called to be teachers mothers are called to be everywhere I would really like to thank these mothers on the front lines because they're sharing their motherhood with the nation they're being moms not just to their children but to everyone in their care that they're interacting with and the children should be so proud of their moms that their moms are mommies to everyone and that's so valued the mothers in my constituency and your mothers in St Lucia thank you for holding up St Lucia mothers hold up the world on behalf of myself and my family and my cabinet I want to wish all the mothers in St Lucia and all the St Lucia mothers in the diaspora a happy Mother's Day I wish you all the love and the respect that you all deserve and we're all here and we're surviving what's going on because of you so big hug big kiss and love you all and in particular I want to reach out to the mothers in my constituency in Niko South and I want to thank you for the incredible amount of support that you have given to me and and my own family and I wish you tenfold back in love and appreciation happy Mother's Day to all of you