VINCI honors social, political activist and journalist Renwick Rose, and Dr. Veronica Francois-Kydd

The Brooklyn-based Vincentian-American Independent National Charities, Inc. (VINCI) on Saturday honored prominent social and political activist and journalist Renwick Rose and Doctor of Clinical Nursing Practice (DNP) Veronica Francois-Kydd during its Anniversary of Independence and 41st Gala Luncheon at El Caribe Country Club on Strickland Avenue in Brooklyn.

The group also recognized Shafiqua Maloney, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first female Olympic finalist, who placed 4th in the 800m during the 2028 Paris Olympics Finals.
New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, the Haitian-born representative for the 46th Council District in Brooklyn, presented proclamations to the honorees, and a representative for U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke presented Congressional Citations to the honorees on behalf of the U.S. Rep., the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn.

“As a young boy, I’ve heard of Renwick Rose and his fight for the poorer masses in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” VINCI President Wayne Ragguette told the ceremony, attended by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States Lou-Ann Gilchrist. “He is someone who has stayed true to his cause throughout time. He is one of my heroes.”

Ragguette said he could not “say enough” about Dr. Francois-Kydd, stating that he has “seen her work and dedication to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines” and noting her “professional achievements and her dedication to supporting our Garifuna.”
He was also “happy to recognize” Maloney at the gala affair, with former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Health and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Douglas Slater as Master of Ceremonies.

Ragguette also said he was “pleased” that Maloney could attend the event.
“We are very proud of you and wish you continued success on your journey,” Ragguette told her.

Kamal Rose, fifth from right, holds proclamation, flanked by Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, sixth from right, holding citation, Amb. Lou-Ann Gilchrist, third from right, U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke’s representative, second from right, and members of VINCI. Photo by Nelson A. King

VINCI noted in the souvenir journal that Rose, affectionately known as Kamara or Buelo, obtained his formal education at the Kingstown Methodist School in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and later at the St. Vincent Boy’s Grammar School, where he received his Senior Cambridge Ordinary level and London A-level subjects.

“Although he never attended a university, he is a self-taught intellectual,” said VINCI about Rose, who taught at the Kingstown Preparatory School, as well as lectured at the Teachers’ Training Centre and then at the Bishop’s College, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Following his teaching career, which ended in 1973, VINCI said Rose was later employed as an assistant accountant with the Development Cooperation.
Afterward, he became a political and social activist, founding the Black Liberation Action Committee (BLAC), a political organization that “made people aware of the causes of the problems that affected their lives, especially those people living in poverty in the ghetto (Bottom Town) and showed them how they can better their living standard,” VINCI said.

It said Rose organized sporting and social activities, such as netball, Panorama, and adult educational classes, and provided scholarships to needy children.
Years later, VINCI also founded the Youlou United Liberation Movement (YULIMO), which championed the cause of people with low incomes and called for genuine independence, people’s ownership, and control.

At that time, VINCI noted that St. Vincent and the Grenadines hadn’t gained its independence and was “still controlled by England.”
VINCI said this organization then joined two other activist groups to form the United People’s Movement (UPM), “where he (Rose) contested the 1979 General Elections as a candidate.”

During his political career, VINCI said Rose organized many demonstrations, marches, rallies, and meetings throughout the country.
He also led campaigns relating to liberation struggles worldwide – “Anti-Apartheid struggle,” VINCI said.
It said some activities included African Liberation Day, Workers Day, and International Women’s Day celebrations.

VINCI said Rose was involved in meetings to highlight the issues regarding poor housing and health conditions, lack of proper education and sporting facilities for young people, and inadequate infrastructure, such as roads.

VINCI said it further established links with other regional political organizations and parties, including in Guyana and Cuba.
It said Rose was selected as president of the St. Vincent/Cuba Friendship Society, coordinated the activities of cooperation between the two countries, met with Cuban Government officials, and organized scholarships for Vincentian nationals to study at universities in that country.

As a journalist, VINCI said Rose played “a very important role in informing the public on many issues of national, regional and international interests, and brought to the attention of governments to make changes in their policies, whereby the ordinary people can benefit.”
From the early 1970s to the present, VINCI said Rose had produced several journals and booklets, managed and edited three newspapers, Freedom, Justice, and Jusports, and then became a columnist with The News and later the Searchlight newspapers, the latter of which he is one of the leading columnists.

In addition, VINCI said Rose has contributed to many books and magazines on bananas and world trade issues.
Following more than a decade of voluntary service to his country, VINCI said Rose became employed in 1989 with the Windward Islands Farmers’ Association (WINFA) as a program officer. He coordinated exchange programs between the young farmers of Canada and the Windward Islands and worked with farmers in Martinique and Guadeloupe.

In 1996, VINCI said Rose was appointed coordinator of WINFA, which has a membership comprising farmers and agro-processors. He was responsible for managing the organization until his retirement in 2010.
During his 20 years with WINFA, VINCI said Rose became “a strong advocate” for the farmers of the Windward Islands, especially St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on international trade issues.

VINCI said Rose also received assistance from funding agencies, like OXFAM, to help further educate the farmers on how to market their goods better “so that they can receive fair prices for their crops, especially bananas, and how to lobby for financial and other support, especially during the hurricane seasons, when many of their farms were destroyed.”
“Farmers were given the opportunity to travel to Europe, Great Britain, Latin America, and other Caribbean islands to meet with key people in the banana industry,” VINCI said.

It said Rose also pioneered the Fair-Trade Initiative in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in the other Windward Islands “where farmers had to produced environmentally-friendly bananas, which means that no chemicals were used in production of the fruit which was exported, so the people who buy the bananas in the supermarkets in England paid more; with the extra money going to help the farming community to support projects which were needed to further develop those communities.”

VINCI said some of the projects had built and furnished preschools, provided science
laboratories for primary schools, scholarships for farmers’ children, school bus (Fair-Trade school bus still carries school children to and from Kingstown); sponsored sports teams, health aides for farmers; and upgraded existing community centers, which were used to provide skills through training, so that the farmers can acquire another skill other than farming.

VINCI also said Rose was elected chairperson of the Banana Action Committee in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the Restructuring of the Banana Industry, was appointed director and later chairman of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, and made representation to the CARICOM Heads of Government meetings.
Although retired, Rose was selected as president of the World Banana Forum, which held a major conference in 2017 of all the key stakeholders in Europe. He was also appointed governor of the Commonwealth Development Fund.

With a career spanning over 40 years as a teacher, political and social activist, and journalist, VINCI said, “Rose has remained committed in his quest for equal rights and justice, the rights of women.

From left Dr. Veronica Francois-Kydd, Jamal Rose, Amb. Lou-Ann Gilchrist and Shafiqua Maloney. Photo by Nelson A. King

“Regardless of what areas of development he is involved in, he remains committed to improving the lives of others,” it said.
Kamal Rose, Rose’s celebrated New York-based chef nephew, accepted the award on his behalf. Rose was unable to attend the event.
Kamal read his uncle’s acceptance address in which he expressed “a deep humility and sense of gratitude.”

“Your decision to make such an award to me is a most welcome one, and I view it as an indication of your own appreciation and the value of the lifelong work that I have been involved in for over half a century on behalf of the less fortunate people of my country,” Rose said. “People like me are not often honored by social organizations; for this, I want to thank you.

“Continue to do your work, and do not be afraid to look outside the box for others who make such humble contributions,” he added.

Dr. Francois-Kydd has been employed by Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx for 28 years in various departments, including the Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging and Theranostics, Nuclear Cardiology, and Nuclear Medicine as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), with privileges to practice in both the in-patient and out-patient facilities of the institution.

Since 2016, Dr. Francois-Kydd said she has been an adjunct/part-time professor at Monroe College, now Monroe University, as of August 2024, and has lectured at various higher institutions within the New York area.

Additionally, Dr. Francois-Kydd is a consultant on using Lexiscan (Regadenoson) for pharmacological stress testing with the drug company Astellas Pharma.
As such, she said her responsibilities are to educate prospective institutions (hospitals/clinics) about the use of Adenosine and Regadenoson/Lexiscan (drugs) in cardiac stress testing, how to administer the drug, monitor the patient, manage its side effects, and calculate the correct dosing for the patient.

She said her philosophy is “to provide holistic and effective primary health care” to her patients using evidence-based practice, “bearing in mind the patient’s needs, culture and values.”

Dr. Francois-Kydd, who serves as treasurer of the Brooklyn-based Garifuna Indigenous People of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (GIPSVG, Inc.), said her “greatest pleasure” is “to continue volunteering my services, doing medical missions and to increase the resources of the GIPSVG group for the betterment of Vincentians and the Garifuna communities north of the Rabacca Dry River (in St. Vincent and the Grenadines).

“I will continue with my passion for knowledge enhancement and the ability to use that knowledge to aid my students, my patients, or anyone who seeks it from me,” she said. “This knowledge that the Almighty imparts on me will allow me to continue functioning as a change agent to transform the way health care is delivered and the education of healthcare professionals through evidence-based practice and policy guidelines within the institution.”

She told the gala event that some of her best years in nursing were spent “taking care of the people in Fancy (the most northern village on mainland St. Vincent).”
Dr. Francois-Kydd also lauded retired Registered Nurse Celia Bramble, a Vincentian-born former nursing educator at the sprawling Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, for making “a difference” in her life and thanked VINCI “for recognizing me here today.”