Celebration of the Duke of Edinburgh’s unique contributions to Education, Ecology, Engineering, Equality and Empowerment)
By Ms Hannah Lot – BAME leaders joined royalty from across the world and global leaders as the Queen makes a rare public appearance to honour her late husband, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At Westminster, Professor Chris Imafidon was interviewed by the leading media, including Press Association, Danish Tv and RAI Tv Media etc. In a viral tribute, Prof Chris Imafidon says “Prince Philip was really an educator at heart who believed that the talent in every youngster, irrespective of class, creed, or colour must be identified and developed” Prof Imafidon’s tribute has since gone viral again, re-echoed by leading media and websites. This captured the essence of the national service of thanksgiving held at Westminster Abbey to celebrate HRH Prince Philip. Prominent BAME included Baroness Scotland, Lord Paul Boateng, Sir Ken Olisa, Baroness Benjamin, Professor Chris Imafidon and Ms Adedoyin Sonibare
The tribute of #PrincePhilip, Duke of Edinburgh by Professor Chris Imafidon, Chair of Excellence in Education programme (www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk) for inner-city youths whose students participate in the Duke’s scheme. Professor Imafidon said “Prince Philip’s contributions to education was under-acknowledged. He (Duke of Edinburgh) didn’t need to worry about children, he’s not the education minister, but he put so much effort into the next generation. He dramatically impacted lives in a way people don’t realise,”
The televised service had uplifting music, with readings and tributes and an address by the Dean of Windsor. Rev Dr Hoyle. Dr Hoyle said “We’ll celebrate Phillip’s commitment to hundreds of causes, championing the armed forces, conservation, sport, youth charities, and other charities to of course, to do with technology and industry.
After the service, HM, the Queen personally thanked Ms Adedoyin Sonibare, a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holder for delivering a special tribute, describing how the Duke’s award scheme gave her opportunities which changed her life. Miss Sonibare, 28, addressed the royal family, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and charity workers gathered in Westminster Abbey in honour of Prince Philip, the Queen’s consort.
Prince Philip’s organizations representatives made up a bigger section of the congregation, than his biological relatives. The queen was joined by most of her family, by members of the Duke’s family who were visiting the UK at the moment, especially for this service, they’d been invited by her majesty and Royal families from other countries too.
Now outside the Abbey, no surprise that the world’s media gathered waiting inside and around Westminster Abbey waiting for the arrival of her majesty, who, as we know, has made a very few public appearances in recent months because of some health concerns. Some special guests who knew the duke worked with him. Indeed, who got to know the very big character behind the public image spoke and paid tributes. They represent the Greek and Danish and German branches of Phillip’s extended family.
BARONES FLOELLA BENJAMIN, one of the people from BAME community in Westminster
She said…“Prince Philip was a man with a good heart. He had an inquisitive mind. He wanted to know about people who was like a walking encyclopedia. I remember the first time we met was back in 1998, it was at a charity function for the young people in the environment. The organizers said to me, would I sit next to him? He’s only here for half an hour. He came in and he spoke to the person on his right for 25 minutes. Eventually he turned to me and said, so who are you? And what do you do? I said, I tell you what you tell me, who you are and what you do. And I’ll tell you all about myself. And he did exactly what you did. He just laugh at half an hour later, we were still exchanging stories. I found he was such a generous person because when I did my first marathon, he sent me a telegram”.
EMPATHY OF PRINCE PHILIP
“Whenever he turned up somewhere and I was in the room, he would always say, hello, hello. How are you doing? And he would never forget you. You know what I mean? He was very thoughtful and I found that we had lots in common. He and I, because I wrote a book called come into England and he read it. He said to me, this is my story too. Wow. He had great empathy with the story. He said, I, I was an outsider. I came to Britain when I was 10 from Trinidad. He said, I came from Greece. I was born in Greece. I came to Britain, age seven, went to a small school in Cheam. I knew what it was like to be different. I knew who it was like to be teased, but luckily I had good friends and relatives to help me become the man who I am today.
PROFESSOR CHRIS IMAFIDON
“Anyone who had formal or informal interaction with HRH Prince Philip got a very quick impression of his passion for education, ecology, engineering, equality empowerment and military service. He was always ahead of anyone in thinking about tomorrow. The country, the commonwealth and indeed the world has lost a multi champion of the under-represented and unrepresented. He was more than a prince, he was a down-to-earth practical individual whose faith and conviction shone through every time. He was a dedicated educator.”
Baroness Scotland, secretary general of the Commonwealth and Lord Paul Boateng was as a labour MP, vice patron, a book agent, a national former high commissioner of South Africa and the international council for the duke of Edinburgh awards.
BARONESS SCOTLAND : said “I think he was one of the main architects who really understood that were moving away from dominion into an association of equal states, 54 now eight when they started. I think his hand crafted so much of that, which made independence possible in terms of institutionalizing, the secretariat, which was created in 1965, but people were thinking, well, where’s the secretary going to be? It was the duke who suggested that he and her majesty should give a grand house, which had been the Queen’s grandmother’s home as the home for the Commonwealth. He personally was willing to make a great deal of sacrifice if he was able to do just a little good.
PRINCE OF COMMONWELATH…..
BARONESS SCOLTALND continued “The Duke’s commitment to the Commonwealth and his commitment to the minority and the diversity within it was absolutely unbending. I think we owe him an extraordinary debt of gratitude. He was an extraordinary man and he did extraordinary things. I mean, one of the most wonderful thing is he allowed others to do extraordinary things
LORD PAUL BOATING
“Well, he (the Duke) was a man of action and the award reflects that, but he was also a man of books. I mean, he loved books. He wrote 14 books, but what sums him up for me is something actually that appears, something that appears in a book, he wrote called “A question of balance”. Yes. In that he talks about political consciousness moving from the family, through the city, through the nation to embrace the world. He says, you need to link political consciousness with love and concern. I think that sums up the man, he loved the queen. He loved duty and he put duty and the queen before all else, but he was concerned. He was concerned for a shared humanity and concern for a shared planet. You saw that in every aspect of his own life and work. In South Africa, long before it was fashionable, he took a stand against racism and apartheid.
PRINCE WHO IMPACTED PRISONERS
“He said the award should never, ever be delivered in South Africa so long as the apartheid state existed. Subsequently he visited Pollsmoor prison because the award is big in prisons throughout the Commonwealth, not just in elite schools, as they say, but in difficult places like prisons and your formal communities, he visited prison with Nelson Mandela. I think that says something about the man, he transcended all issues of race. Classy was about the development of young people and the shared humanity.
PROPHETIC PRINCE ……
BARONESS SCOTLAND …added “Absolutely. Because if you think about the things that he was passionate about, climate change, fairness, democracy, the rule of law women, the environment, all of these things are absolutely at the core of what the Commonwealth is now doing today, right at the front. But, Prince Philip was fascinated by technological development. He was a radical thinker. He was typing on a computer himself before most of us had any of it at all. He was always ahead of his time. The Commonwealth also is ahead of its time. If you think about the issues that Paul’s been talking about in terms of racism, 1953, he talked about racism. The Commonwealth was the fulcrum of the fight against racism, climate change, 1989. It was the Commonwealth inland carwash in Malaysia, who said this poses an existential threat to the world now in terms of what we’re doing for digitalization, it’s the Commonwealth once again.
LORD BOATENG
“…the first larger than life statue of the Duke of Edinburgh is going to be unveiled in Ghana, outside of ward house in June in the Commonwealth. And that says it all.
LIFE OF SERVICE
According to the Dean of Westminster, In Westminster Abbey, where he made promises that defined a life of willing duty and spirited service. We get thanked for his Royal Highness, the prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh amount of rare ability and distinction rightly honored and celebrated. He ever directed our attention away from himself. He put privilege to work and understood his rank as a spurt of service, working at pace with so many claims on his attention. He encouraged us to focus as he was focused on the things that matter his was a discipline and character that seized opportunity and to overcame obstruction and difficulty, we recall with affection and respect the sustained offering of a long life lift fully acknowledging our loss. We turn to the God who is our help for, he will renew our hope in grateful remembrance of the prince Philip. We then commit ourselves to live as he lived in faith, in the service of her majesty and with a greater reverence for our world and our neighbors.
OPENING TRIBUTE AT THE MOST POWERFUL GATHERING IN THE ABBEY IN RECENT TIMES..
Excerpts of Tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh by Ms ADEDOYIN SONIBARE. She talked about the hallmark of the Youth programme of Prince Philip. It includes youth EXPEDITION, EXCITEMENT, EDUCATION, EMPOWERMENT, EMPLOYMENT, and raised EXPECTATION.
Miss Sonibare who was raised in Barking, east London said….
“Good morning, everyone. My name is (Doyin Sonibare) and I started the Duke of Edinburgh award when I was 15. I previously heard about the award, but I’d never applied until my mom encouraged me to. She’s strict and Nigerian. It’s very difficult to say no to her. I wasn’t completely sold on the idea at first, I was happy I could learn new skills and build upon interests, such as learning how to drive and playing netball. But I was worried about the expedition. I grew up in east London and I’d never been camping before. I also had a fear of climbing steep hills. I kept thinking I was going to trip up, roll down the mountain and it’s lights out for Doyin. Fortunately for me, that didn’t happen. My friend constantly said, you’re not going to fall. If you do, I’m right behind you. That was so comforting”
Ms Hannah Lot, is a graduate, an award winning and published author and a protégé of ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk. Also serves as CEO of VMTnews.ng. She is a blogger, features on podcasts and Public speaker on youth and women empowerment across commonwealth nations
Additional reports by Mr Peter Fola Ojo, who works with youths, education and employment groups in the commonwealth and founder of Lomolink educational foundation which champions new ways of understanding IELTS, among other programmes.
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