Congratulations to this lady. Someone who has been giving of her heart to others her entire life.

Always, always learning and growing in all her professions. All while being a mother, wife, sister, aunt and godmother.

Over the past nine years, she worked her way up from branch chairwoman to deputy chairwoman of the Progressive Labour Party. Then, early in 2017, she became senator, Member of Parliament and now, in 2020, she has become minister in Cabinet.

In the 2020 General Election, her constituents have given her more votes than in 2017, which simply says that they appreciate her work. She truly has paid her dues, plus more.

Bermuda will be well served with her as the Minister for Social Development and Seniors.

However, the Robin Hood Corner will miss her.

Please join us in congratulating minister Tinée Furbert.

Over the past few years, we have noticed a growing trend in Devonshire and, indeed, across the island.

A trend in which we see more and more Bermudians of Azorean descent reaching out to express not just pride in their own heritage but pride in being involved in all aspects of our society.

As further evidenced during the past two election cycles, many have openly stated that they want to see a more united island, and they have opened their homes to all who wish to represent them.

Essentially, they simply want to be good neighbours.

Many Bermudians are of mixed heritage: a large proportion have parents and grandparents of Afro-Caribbean and Azorean backgrounds. As such, they do not believe in division along colour lines. They simply want to be good neighbours.

So to them, we say this: muito obrigado por serem nossos vizinhos. Nós somos um Devonshire. (Much thanks for being our neighbours. We are one Devonshire.)

Take a moment and mentally rewind the clock to 2010.

As a country, we did not dare openly discuss the issues such as those with alternative lifestyles.

As a country, we did not dare openly discuss issues such as immigration reform.

As a country, we never spoke of cannabis use in the positive.

As a country, we did not dare openly discuss our wretched racial history.

Yet, here we are in 2020 with these topics and more being openly and proactively discussed and acted on in many different ways. So if anyone tells you that social media is not a driving force, just point them to where we were as a country ten years ago.

The winds of change are upon us and we are better off as a country for it.

Christopher Famous is the government MP for Devonshire East (Constituency 11). You can reach him on WhatsApp at 599-0901 or e-mail at carib_pro@yahoo.com