Shal­iza Has­sanali

They alight­ed from a sleek, white stretch lim­ou­sine dressed in their finest; walked a red car­pet; were be­stowed with tiaras, coro­nets and sash­es; ate a meal fit for a king or queen; and were ser­e­nad­ed in front of 100 pre-school­ers. This was how five se­nior cit­i­zens were treat­ed for a day by pre-school­ers and teach­ers of Kid­dies Kinder­garten in Pe­tit Bourg. The five: Eve­lyn Hor­datt, 89, Elv­ina Arno­ra Bernard Wil­son, 100, Emel­da Lash­ley, 83, Fran­cis Subero, 90, and Wil­fred Mod­este, 101, were ho­n­oured for their long-stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to so­ci­ety by prin­ci­pal Myr­tle Lash­ley on Feb­ru­ary 5.

With the school cel­e­brat­ing its 30th an­niver­sary this year, Lash­ley said she de­cid­ed to pay trib­ute to the com­mu­ni­ty's five el­dest. As a to­ken of its ap­pre­ci­a­tion, the school al­so pro­vides schol­ar­ships each year to many chil­dren whose par­ents may not be in a fi­nan­cial po­si­tion to pay for their at­ten­dance at pre-school. A lim­ou­sine, which Lash­ley rent­ed at $1,500 an hour, picked up the fab­u­lous five at their homes and dropped them off at the school on the East­ern Main Road, bring­ing traf­fic to a grind­ing halt. As they alight­ed from the lim­ou­sine, the three women and two men stepped proud­ly on­to a flow­ing red car­pet, which was lined with scream­ing three to five-year olds, who waved colour­ful bal­loons to wel­come them.

Beam­ing with pride and dressed to the hilt, the se­nior cit­i­zens were each crowned and draped with a sash in­scribed with the sen­ti­ment "We Ho­n­our You." With clasped hands and bowed heads the pre-school­ers prayed with the se­nior cit­i­zens. Next they were treat­ed to a sump­tu­ous meal, com­pris­ing callaloo, grilled chick­en, scal­loped pota­toes, bha­gi rice, fresh sal­ad, and boiled pro­vi­sions–a meal fit for a king or queen. In ho­n­our­ing the el­der­ly, Lash­ley heaped praise on the two cen­te­nar­i­ans and three se­nior cit­i­zens, say­ing they lived self­less lives and went be­yond the call to serve their com­mu­ni­ty and coun­try.

"You have made us proud and we hope God con­tin­ues to give you health, strength and hap­pi­ness in the com­ing years," said Lash­ley, whose moth­er Emel­da was one of the five ho­n­oured. The pre-school­ers as­sured the el­der­ly that they would pack their lunch box­es with veg­eta­bles and fruit for longevi­ty and pur­sue a healthy lifestyle. To top things off, the se­nior cit­i­zens were ser­e­nad­ed by sax­o­phon­ist Pe­dro Leza­ma, bring­ing the cur­tain down on an event­ful day. The five were then whisked away in the stretch limo the way celebri­ties are on the night of, say, the Os­cars.