His Amazing Memory

 

George Cadle Price (1919-2011), Prime Minister and author of Belize’s independence, was squatting in the dust in front of Minch’s Grocery Shop in San Pedro Columbia, Toledo, chatting with local schoolchildren when I met him for the first time in 1992. Price wore his signature Guayabera shirt and, hatless, he squinted in the sun.  His thick, black-rimmed glasses gave him an owlish, intellectual look. He was a bit stooped but seemed far younger than his 73 years as he straightened and leaned against a battered Land Rover. He had stopped in this remote village without fanfare, accompanied only by his driver. Emerging from Minch’s shop, I blinked. Could this be the Prime Minister? I hadn’t had much experience with heads of state, but once my US hometown had been honored by a visit from President Reagan and Secret Service had spent weeks sweeping the area beforehand. On the appointed day, the Great Man had swept past, invisible behind his tinted windows, invincible in his large motorcade. He certainly did not engage in casual conversations with schoolchildren. As I stepped forward to introduce myself to Price, I thought,  He must truly be a man of the people. 

Introducing myself, I told the PM about my problems obtaining citizenship. He did not turn away from me, although, like the school children, I could not vote. He suggested that my area representative could help me with that, and wished my luck. Price’s career was almost over then; his retirement from politics only four years away.  Belize elected new leaders, none of whom traveled the nation meeting people in dusty old Land Rovers, and none of whom were adored by the people as Price had been.

Price’s “peaceful, constructive Belizean revolution” had united the nation. He’d forged a new, inland capital, perhaps remembering how as a first-form student, he’d had to swim to escape the floating wreckage of the 1931 hurricane, which inundated the old capital.  Price welcomed refugees and immigrants, creating new villages to accommodate them. A College English 1 student in my class shared how her father, a refugee from El Salvador, had received Price in his tiny thatched house in Valley of Peace. Her mother had been embarrassed that the family had no chairs to offer the PM, but Price had happily perched on a pigtail bucket and shared a meal. He roamed the country, stopping to greet everyone, resulting in my favorite Toledo tableau, which shows Price solemnly shaking hands with a bare-bottomed child.

  Photo credits top: San Pedro Sun. left and right: Hector Silva

In 2012, as I walked along Front Street to take my children to Holy Redeemer, I saw a familiar face. It was Price, on his way to make a presentation at his former primary school. His stoop was more pronounced and he was surrounded by people this time. Our eyes met. “Good morning, Ms Kile,” he said. My jaw dropped, and I could not answer. How could he have remembered me? We’d only spoken once, ten years previously, and in a different district.  Did he have some sort of mnemonic device? Perhaps this was the secret of the man of the people: he learned their names.                   

                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                 

In 2016, I met another Prime Minister. Honorable Said Musa shook my hand and welcomed me to Belize. I explained to him that I lived here and had been a Belizean citizen for 12 years. 

“What do you do?” he asked.

”I’m a teacher”, I told him.

”Excellent, excellent”, he said, his eyes already on the next person in line. 

By chance, I met  Musa again two weeks later. 

“Welcome to Belize,” he said. 

Obviously, Musa was no Price. But perhaps the difference between these leaders isn’t so much the excellence of their memories. Perhaps it is a matter of priorities. Instead of limiting his communication to posturing on media platforms, Price took the trouble to talk to his constituents,  even children and immigrants. Price focused his attention on the people themselves rather than thinking of ways to manipulate them. Price paid attention, learning Belizeans’ names and responding to their needs.  We need another man or woman of the people today.