RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Mod­er­a­tor of the Pres­by­ter­ian Church of T&T Rev Joy Ab­dul-Mo­han has ex­pressed her sup­port for Pres­i­dent-elect Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo, de­scrib­ing her as an in­de­pen­dent thinker. She said Kan­ga­loo is “strong, as­sertive and in­de­pen­dent-mind­ed.”

“When we think about the women in the Pres­by­ter­ian Church of T&T, their as­sertive­ness and crit­i­cal think­ing, Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo is no dif­fer­ent,” Ab­dul-Mo­han said.

She said many Pres­by­ter­ian women, in­clud­ing Dr An­na Ma­hase, Jean Ba­hadur and for­mer COP po­lit­i­cal leader Car­olyn Seep­er­sad-Bachan, had dis­tin­guished them­selves.

“They are all in­de­pen­dent thinkers and we are grate­ful that God has called them to serve in pub­lic life,” Ab­dul-Mo­han said.

She added that the new Pres­i­dent will use her Pres­by­ter­ian faith as a strong Chris­t­ian woman to guide her de­ci­sions.

The Pres­by­ter­ian Mod­er­a­tor said Kan­ga­loo was of­ten in­vit­ed to at­tend church-re­lat­ed func­tions when she served as Min­is­ter of Ter­tiary Ed­u­ca­tion, Min­is­ter of Le­gal Af­fairs and even Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate.

“When she was giv­en a top­ic to speak on, she ze­roed in on that top­ic, nev­er in­clud­ing her po­lit­i­cal phi­los­o­phy. She spoke on chil­dren, ed­u­ca­tion and women. She shared her ex­pe­ri­ence as a woman go­ing through health chal­lenges, the death of her dear broth­er Jus­tice Wen­dell Kan­ga­loo and her words res­onat­ed with the women as she spoke of her life,” Ab­dul-Mo­han said.

She added that Kan­ga­loo was fit to serve at any lev­el, and praised her for her hu­mil­i­ty.

“I am con­fi­dent that she will think clear­ly when mak­ing de­ci­sions in the in­ter­est of God’s peo­ple. She will put her faith in all de­ci­sion-mak­ing so her ac­tions will ex­press her in­de­pen­dent think­ing and her love for God and God’s peo­ple,” she said.

Ab­dul-Mo­han, who of­fi­ci­at­ed at Kan­ga­loo’s wed­ding, said: “Chris­tine’s fam­i­ly be­longs to the Pres­by­ter­ian Church and while as a min­is­ter, I vis­it­ed the fam­i­ly, had prayer meet­ings and there was al­ways that sim­plic­i­ty, a lev­el of hu­mil­i­ty among them.”

She said de­spite be­ing re­gard­ed as a fam­i­ly of stature, they al­ways act­ed humbly.

“It’s part of our jour­ney of faith as min­is­ters to pro­vide pas­toral care at the lev­el of mem­ber­ship. We feel proud of her and we are grate­ful that God can call on us to serve. We are grate­ful that God can use women as in­stru­ments of jus­tice and eq­ui­ty,” she said.