NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Centreville Community is a better place today, and will continue to be a better place in the years to come because of the contributions of former educator and long-time community builder Ella Lewis, Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell said.
Campbell’s comments came during the dedication and naming of the Computer Lab at the Centreville Urban Renewal Centre as the Ella Lewis Computer Lab.
Lewis served as an educator in the public school system for 35 years on the islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama before retiring in 2006. Her retirement from the teaching profession catapulted Lewis full-time into community service after joining the Urban Renewal Programme in 2007.
Born in the Centreville community, Lewis has resided in Centreville all of her life, tirelessly working towards the improvement of her community and its residents, particularly the youth and the elderly.
Campbell said: “Ella’s life, her service and her commitment to this community and this country is an example to be followed [and] memorialized. She was born and raised in this community and has decided to remain here in Centreville, not just as an observer but as an active participant in helping to play a role in advancing and upgrading this community — even though I am sure she has had, and still has, the opportunity to move away if she so desires.
“Today is a special occasion because we have come to recognize someone who is unassuming, someone who goes about the business of the work that needs to be done, not concerned about accolades and or awards, but someone who is simply concerned that there is a need for something to be done, and that somebody has to do it, and who has decided over these many years that she will be that somebody.”
The ceremony was the first of many that will be held at computer labs across the 23 Urban Renewal Centres around the country as a means of recognizing the work of community builders for their diligence and service to their respective communities.
Campbell called it a “small beginning” in that journey.
“I am satisfied that this is only a beginning,” he said. “I am satisfied that the availability of the computer labs will not only touch and enhance the lives of those children in our communities who do not have access to computers at home, thereby enabling them to complete their homework, their school projects, et cetera, but that they will also be inspired by the story of an Ella Lewis, as an example, who came, could have gone, but stayed, which may encourage them to stay and to build and to participate.”
