Hello fellow Cambridge alums, friends, and supporters, I welcome you to our July edition of the President’s Monthly Message. One of the highlights that took place last month was the CAAAI’s donation of $2,500 USD ($500,000 GD) to Nehemiah Comprehensive School, it’s partnership school in Guyana. Former Counsel General, and CAAAI Advisory Board Member Ms. Barbara Atherly proudly made the official presentation to Ms. Osman the school’s Founder and Director on Tuesday June 15, 2021.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all CAAAI members, supporters, friends, and well-wishers for your moral and financial support of the association’s main mission of ‘giving back’ to school children in Guyana; a mission that could not and would not be accomplished without your support.
Recently, in a conversation with a CAAAI member and supporter, I was asked the question, “...who was Nehemiah?” I am not a biblical scholar, so please excuse me if my response was not immediate. So I decided to do some research and briefly share my inconclusive findings with all of us. It is documented that the armies of Babylon destroyed the city and the surrounding walls of Jerusalem. Around the year 445-BC, Nehemiah, a Jewish Leader concerned with repopulating and redesigning the city, was instructed by God to rebuild the walls of the city to protect it from its enemies. He followed God’s instructions to the letter. Some say Nehemiah was a prophet, some say he was an engineer, others proclaimed that he was a governor of a small district called Judea, yet others say he was a lawyer because he won many legal battles about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in a court of law.
What do YOU say? Read the Book of Nehemiah in the Bible, and send us your thoughts. One thing we all know for sure is that Nehemiah was an obedient servant of God, who followed His instructions to build a wall in Jerusalem to protect the defenseless. In my opinion, the Nehemiah school in Georgetown functions with the same spiritual principles, to build a wall of defense to protect young students and their young minds against ignorance, inequality, intolerance, lack of hope, and loss of opportunity. Until next time, thank you, and please continue to be safe.
Submitted by,
Dr. Aubrey F. Bentham, President CAAAI
