Two Cayman Islands students in the UK Ann Alecia Moore and Henry Hill were invited to attend the prestigious Commonwealth Day celebrations at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of Her Majesty and other members of the Royal family.
“The Commonwealth Day Celebration was a fantastic opportunity and I’m so appreciative to have been chosen to represent Cayman. Henry and I had a wonderful time meeting and interacting with the other young representatives of the other Commonwealth countries and heard many different strategies on how to establish a ‘Peace-building’ Commonwealth, which was the theme for this year.” Ann Alecia Moore.
Commonwealth Day Participation Report by Henry Hill.
Our day began by arriving at the Palace of Westminster where we were treated to an in-depth tour of the Houses of Parliament and were given details of traditional Parliamentary procedure. By participating in our Youth Parliament I knew a lot of the Legislative Assembly procedures but you realise how similar both parliaments are and you definitely learn where all of the procedures develop from. Being able to link my experiences from Cayman to the UK really showed how similar the Parliament system can be all around the world.
Throughout the day I met a lot of people but the most unforgettable connections came from other overseas territory citizens that I related with. People from Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, and Bermuda. Sharing experiences with them and connecting our cultures together showed all of us how small the world can be and how strong the bonds within the Caribbean community are, this made the experience all more inviting and worth wild.
Around the afternoon we started to speak on the Commonwealth’s theme for the year, which was “A Peace-building Commonwealth” and this was the point where we all learned the problems within each other’s country. We were asked questions such as. What we think a peaceful commonwealth would be? How can we promote and seek to have a peace building Commonwealth? And we discussed solutions, such as having a higher younger representation within parliament. We learned that Nigeria was far ahead with the issue of youth representation within their parliament and that their parliament was populated with mostly younger people rather than older.
Our day ended with a visit to Westminster Abbey in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and others from the royal family. This experience was truly special, as we were just feet away from the world’s current longest-reigning monarch. The event started with a wonderful opera version of the soulful Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and then continued with powerful and moving, poems, songs, and spoken word performances.
We then finished our day at the Iconic London eye where we saw amazing views of the River Thames and enjoyed the company of other like-minded youth people from around the world.
