POWA Launches ‘Keva J. Margetson Scholarship’

The Professional Organisation for Women in Antigua & Barbuda (POWA) proudly announces the launch of the annual Keva J. Margetson Scholarship, established in honour of its late sister and founding member.

The scholarship, which carries a maximum value of five thousand dollars (EC$5,000.00) per annum, is open to female citizens of Antigua & Barbuda who have been accepted to pursue studies at an accredited institution and who are majoring in the field of education, marketing, public relations, communications or culture – all areas in which Ms. Margetson distinguished herself.   Applicants must also have a history of community activism or volunteer service.

Applications are due by May 30 and will be evaluated by a five-member selection committee. The winner will be announced by July 15, and the scholarship cheque, payable to the relevant institution, will be handed over by August 15. 

Application forms, with further details, can be downloaded from the POWA website, www.powa-anu.org, or picked up at The Pink Mongoose on Long Street, St. John’s. 

Funds for this annual remembrance of Keva J. Margetson are expected to be generated by POWA’s annual variety concert, “Programme,” scheduled this year for the weekend of June 5th and 6th at the Cathedral Cultural Centre.

Award value: EC$5,000.00. Download your application today.

At its January 2009 Annual General Meeting, the Professional Organisation for Women in Antigua/Barbuda (POWA) elected a new executive for 2009-2010.   Joy-Ann Harrigan was voted president; D.Gisele Isaac vice president; Joan Underwood secretary; Wendy Nicholas treasurer; J.Valerie Hodge assistant secretary/treasurer; and Verlyn Faustin public relations officer.

The group, all of whom – with the exception of Faustin – have held executive positions before, held its first meeting last week and recommitted itself to the aims and ideals of the organisation.  No major changes are planned for the year, President Harrigan said, adding that her aim is to keep the agenda “achievable.”  However, priority will be given to two items: staging “School Call in For Parents,” which was postponed indefinitely last year, owing to the passage of Hurricane Omar and other considerations, and establishing a scholarship in honour of the late Keva J. Margetson, one of POWA’s founding members.

Other events on the annual calendar will include a post-election edition of the variety concert “Programme” and a new addition, an interactive forum aimed at making women aware of their legal rights.

POWA celebrated its 12th anniversary last month.

This week, in circulation on the Internet, was an article called “Mean Moms.”  The writer looked nostalgically back at the way childhood used to be, at the days when mothers dominated the universe.  We remember how it was, too, when those mean old biddies made it their duty and calling and business to know everything about our business, because nothing was more important than keeping us safe and growing us up right.

Reading the email, however, we forgot, completely, the number of birthday parties and school fetes they made us miss; the hours they kept us indoors teaching us “how to do things,” like cooking, sewing, and making beds properly; the so-called friends they banned us from associating with; and the boys they embarrassed us in front of.  What we remembered, clearly, was the love; the protection; the putting us first and, sometimes, second and third before their own needs.

We recall all this today because we were so very saddened to learn of the death of a 13 year-old girl who had barely begun tasting life; because of the grief and pain her mother must feel; and because we hope that by the recollection we can save, for tomorrow, another child’s life and another mother’s heartache.

These are the days that try women’s souls, especially when they are rearing children.  But, whereas so much has been improved in health care, in technology, in house-building, and in myriad other areas, still the best place to look when bringing up kids is to our not-so-distant past. Because, as unlettered as mothers might have been then, some never reaching the famous “Seventh Standard,” they knew how to read children; how to write the rules of their conduct; and, most of all, how to figure when one and one didn’t add up to two.