Written piece
On Threads and Thriving
Florence Rajoo
Trinidad and Tobago
About this piece
When contemplating on the theme of Thread I wondered what it meant to me. To the Commonwealth. It brought me to my childhood and my father's journey for meaning in a newly independent nation. Then to the commonalities amongst our nations as we look to shared goals and the future.
Thread.
I first learned of thread at age 5. Looking at the giant Singer sewing machine belonging to my father that imposed upon our living room, I recall spools of thread. Thread was the tool my father would eventually use to earn a living as a tailor, breaking free from a childhood of working sugarcane fields in the 1960s. Denied an education by parents suspicious of the changes unfolding within a newly independent Trinidad and Tobago, he thrived. With Thread.
Thread.
One cannot ignore the past from which we learn. We stretch. We grow. The cord of common cries for self governance stitched our shared struggles together. Marching toward sovereignty, many Commonwealth nations thread paths through the once evasive needle eye of freedom. Brave people. Bound by history. With the collective need to find a place of belonging. Of ownership. Now responsible for clothing their own backs. With thread.
Thread.
We fear apocalyptic changes in our world. An unprecedented and unpredictable future. My father lamented the need to shift from the comfort of crafting white Shirtjacks and bell-bottomed pants, to the oversized school trousers of the early 2000s style demanded by eager teenaged boys. Although uncertainty accompanied the passage of time, we, the Commonwealth nations, adapted. Change called for new approaches to our lives. With thread.
Thread.
Bonded to one another in the future's shared turbulence, the thread of collective action motivates. Uplifts. Challenges. Innovates. A family of nations, guardians of democracy and human rights, we weave fabrics of new hope with goals of sustainability, equality and inclusivity. Geographic boundaries blur through international partnerships and alliances. Diverse and vibrant cultures are forever joined. Many nations, many people. Our greatest achievements are forged in unison. My father overcame a difficult childhood through embracing his skills with thread, by recognising it as a tool for growth. What can we do? We can work toward greater connectivity, peace and prosperity. We can thrive. With the Commonwealth thread.