Yesterday a good, progressive young man - Stuart Valentine - passed away. Stuart was the leader of the Techier, Point Fortin, Village Council. He was a committed community worker engaged in positively uplifting his fellow villagers and young people in particular. Stuart was also a dedicated activist of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ). He offered himself twice as our candidate for the Local Government elections. In 2013, he contested the Newlands/Mahaica seat. In 2016, he contested the Techier/Guapo seat and got the highest number of votes of our MSJ candidates last November.

When someone who is such a dedicated activist passes away it is very difficult to come to terms with. When that activist is a young person it is doubly hard to do so. What is even worse and sad in the extreme is that just a week ago we had to bury another young, dedicated MSJ member and community activist- Anarisa O'Shaunessey. Anarisa was from the same village as Stuart - Techier. They grew up together and worked and struggled together. Anarisa was part of the team of young activists who led the Techier Village Council and was very active in Stuart's election campaign. To lose two bright stars - first Anarisa and now Stuart – in the space of days is painful.

On behalf of the entire MSJ family I express very sincere condolences to Stuart's family; to his fellow villagers whom he loved and struggled on behalf of; to his friends and comrades in the Techier Village Council.

We thank Stuart and Anarisa for their selfless contributions to their village, to Point Fortin and to the MSJ. Their example is one for all the youth of our nation to emulate. I also encourage the MSJ family and especially our Point Team to take courage at this time of difficulty.

I myself drew strength last night from the film "Suffragettes" about the struggle by women in Britain who were fighting for the right to vote, among other rights; and a preview of the documentary on the famous African-American writer in the civil rights era, James Baldwin, who said "Words like 'freedom', 'justice', 'democracy' are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply" Stuart and Anarisa in their own way knew what these concepts meant and sought to make them a reality for their fellow citizens. Nothing can be more honourable than that!

Stuart and Anarisa - you have both gone way, way too soon, but you are now with the angels. May you Rest