Ian Wace of the Gombolimbo Group, who was instrumental in the recovery of the Southern Grenadines following Hurricane Beryl, said on Tuesday that to lead is incredibly difficult. Wace praised Gonsalves leadership, stating that in the position, you have the responsibility of power, the responsibility for all of your people, the responsibility for finances, and the responsibility for everything and urged citizens Never, ever underestimate the burden of power, the burden of responsibility.
Wace said leadership is the most lonely place, especially in a crisis, stating that what we all have to do is to lean in and help the people who have to lead.
Wace said Gonsalves is a man who is unbelievably capable and unbelievably erudite. Wace said he is unbelievably proud because we did all of this together.
“I didn’t come down here with this firm idea of what we should all do. I didn’t have the view that we should redevelop this area here, the square, or that we should build shops, or that we should put up all. I came down and thought we had to put roofs back on. We have to rebuild this community. And we have to do it with love and with care and with spirit. And hundreds and hundreds of you have done this.”
“The reason I’m a man of few words is I don’t want it to be about me. I want it to be about us. I want it to be about the fact that. That we did something that is unbelievable. We have got the first, sorry, the strongest recovery of a hurricane ever. Anywhere, anywhere in the world. And the reason it is so extraordinary is because we did it quickly. When you do it quickly, you don’t waste money. You don’t waste time. And it was done so quickly, so well. And because it was coordinated with the government, everybody worked together.”
”We must never forget the amount of time there were people on the poles from Vinlec. We must never forget the number of boats operated by Bequia Express, the number of meals that were cooked, the number of roofs that were put on, and the number of trucks that came through. So everybody, everybody did something. This is everybody’s recovery,” Wace said.
