Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

The abolition of slavery in 1833 was a decisive point in the history of African Caribbean people. However, the slaver (British planters including the Church of England and their clergy) received the equivalent of £17 billion in compensation while the 700,000 slaves in the British colonies received a yard of land to exist on. This set the scene for the way the vast majority of ex-slaves and their descendants would live; hand to mouth, just eeking out an existence with no plan for the future.  

At the beginning of the 21^st century, many former colonial territories, such as Ghana (1957), Jamaica (1962), Sierra Leone (1961), Barbados (1966), Guyana (1966), Trinidad and Tobago (1962) and so on, are celebrating 50 years since gaining independence from Britain.

As African and Caribbean people and Christians, we need to call for reparation from the British Government for all these ex-colonies. The writer of Proverbs tells us that ‘when the thief is caught, he must repay back seven times what he has stolen’ (Prob. 6:31). We have caught the thief; the ex-colonies need to celebrate its jubilee.

The biblical model is for reparation, so that we can rebuild the ancient ruins (Isaiah 61:4). The most devastating ruin is the nuclear family. We can only rebuild this if we can start with our young boys; teaching and training them to take responsibility, to become priest of their homes and to uphold tenets of manners and respect that this materialistic society abhors.

Today let us put our faith in action and join the chorus for full reparation for the African and Caribbean peoples.