00:00From humble beginnings, Ferdinand Ferdi Ferreira became an accomplished public figure
00:06and a founding member of the country's oldest political party, the People's National Movement.
00:13Ferdi passed away at the age of 93, leaving behind a legacy of mentorship, integrity and public service.
00:21Ferdi Ferreira has held up a mirror to the politics of this country for over six decades.
00:30His acute knowledge of personalities and issues, past and present, is second to none and evident throughout his life.
00:40A foundation member of the People's National Movement, he was one of Dr. Eric Williams' political leaders
00:46and Prime Minister Antoine Twiggo's most trusted confidat.
00:51But he, being someone who put the country first, mentored many, like Anthony Smart,
00:57who recalls the giant of a man never cowering to being a blind loyalist.
01:03While he revered Dr. Williams, he was not a blind loyalist.
01:10His independence of thought pushed him to be publicly critical of Dr. Williams' undemocratic call
01:16for his PNM members of Parliament to sign and deliver to him undated letters of resignation from Parliament.
01:24According to his brother Roy, Ferdi's determination and fiery spirit were evident from a very young age.
01:31One evening coming through Woodford Street, I had a megaphone and so on.
01:36And I continued passing, a bench guy, he said, but you ain't going to enjoy any, brother?
01:43Well, I walk across, Ferdi with a megaphone, the megaphone bigger than him.
01:49And he talking about social this and social that, and the small man and the working man and things.
01:55I said, what the hell are you doing? What the heck is this?
01:57What the hell are you doing? I said, come, put that down. Let's go.
02:03A colourful life led him to be a man with so many stories to tell.
02:08The next day, he come with a pile of paper.
02:12He push it under the house. I said, where you going belong, the house?
02:17He said, ah man, that is material to be distributed, boy.
02:21We have to go to the people.
02:23I said, which people?
02:24Two police, my grandma. Where your brother?
02:28I said, he's not home.
02:30You see him bring anything here?
02:32I said, yeah, he brings some papers and took it under the house.
02:38One went and pulled all the papers.
02:41I said, look, tell your brother, the next time he come here, we go lock him up.
02:46At the port, Ferdy made transformative changes, recalls his colleague Roel, who met him in the 70s.
02:53Without formal education, he moved from messenger to acting GM and ultimately to a commissioner of the port.
03:00And he has always identified himself as a proud graduate of Doxford.
03:07Ferdy was very successful in course cutting and turning around the futures of the port in the mid-1980s.
03:15And in fact, was publicly complimented by the PUC.
03:18Co-author of his book, Portrait of a Patriot, Dr. Sheila Rampasar, described him as a voracious reader, thinker and writer.
03:28Reading made him an attractive conversationalist, if not always an agreeable one.
03:34It sharpened his mind and his focus.
03:39He was an incisive interpreter of people, a keen observer of events, a curator and, I dare say, a consumer of the best and worst of the capital city.
03:53He was a chief student who never stopped learning.
03:57Trade unionism ran in Ferdy's blood reflects SWWTU President Michael Anisat.
04:03During the last elections, he told, and I'm almost certain the person is here,
04:12why it is that the PNM do not have somebody in the labor movement in this election.
04:19That was a burning desire of him, and it did hurt him to see from where he came from, from Siemens Union.
04:30Some say we write to taste life twice, for Ferdy.
04:35Ferdy wrote so much that he ended up writing his own eulogy, and that is what Portrait of a Patriot is.
04:42Looking at those books now, in the harsh light of his death, they, like the man, grow even larger in stature.
04:49And for many, his legacy lives on in his writings, capturing life and politics for generations to come.
04:57He stood firm in principle, yet gentle in spirit, strong in conviction, yet generous in grace,
05:08a bridge builder in times of tension, a steady voice when calm was needed most.
05:15His legacy is not only written in books or speeches, but etched in lives touched.
05:22Very important.
05:24And it doesn't work, it does not work.
05:25You may well achieve the applies.
05:27For an opportunity to document something!
05:30I'm ready to adventures to come.
05:33Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock.
05:36ers, rock, rock and rock.
05:39Rock, rock and rock.
05:42Rock, rock, rock.
05:44Rock, rock, rock.
05:45Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock.
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