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| Hilarian author, Alison Southgate |
As cliché as it may sound, behind every great man,
there had to be a great woman. The son of two mothers, Moses the Israelite
hero, was arguably better than 'great'. But the women whose courage, sacrifice
and unending passion that made Moses' life possible have been disregarded over
time. Hilarian author, Alison Southgate tells their story in her book, entitled
“The Mothers of Moses”.
The tale of Moses’ separation from his Hebrew
mother, Yocheved is portrayed as a happy event on the River Nile in children's
storybooks. As a mother of two small children, Alison could only imagine Yocheved’s emotional
turmoil and the strength it took to allow her newborn to drift along the river
on a bed of reeds. “The Mothers of Moses” was written during a challenging time in Alison's life (her mother's battle with breast cancer). She says of Yocheved, "That character is very powerful for
me. I needed her to be strong, so I wrote her to be strong. That's why she's so
strong. But she's also human. Her practice of always going back to God for her strength is
something I try to emulate." Moses' Egyptian mother, Batya was the Pharaoh's daughter; she also demonstrated remarkable strength, in her defiance of her father through outsmarting him to help the people he oppressed.
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| The Mothers of Moses - front cover |
Alison remarks that Hilarians, too are made of a
certain mettle; determined to think independently, make decisions and follow
through. Not that there was an explicit lesson taught in valor, rather, it
simply is the ethos of the school. She fondly remembers in 1985, when the Queen
visited Trinidad and BAHS students were expected to attend a ceremony in her
honour. Lower school students set off for the event, under the supervision of
their sixth form prefects. Rain began to pour while they were walking, and
Alison recalls her prefects debating whether they should turn back towards the
school. They considered that sitting in wet uniforms at the event would surely
make the students sick, which meant missing learning opportunities at school;
they considered that arriving at the event drenched was no way to present as
BAHS girls, to honor the Queen. With that, they decided to return to school,
and to later justify their decision to then principal, Ms. Araujo, who positively affirmed the prefects' decision.
Following her graduation from BAHS, Alison enrolled in
the University of the West Indies, where she studied Natural Sciences. She graduated with honors, spent a year studying Behavioral Psychology, Computer
Sciences, and volunteering at the Institute of the Hearing Impaired. Alison earned
a scholarship and completed a Masters degree in Environmental Health Policy at
the London School of Hygiene and Tropical studies. She successfully completed
an internship in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Health Organization, focused on
strategizing the improvement of rural public health: the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, communities and individuals.
After returning to Trinidad, Alison applied her skills and experience to working for a UN affiliate, in planning science and math curricula for the Caribbean. Continuing work in the field of public health, Alison consulted with the Pan American Health Organization to work with community leaders in rural areas of Trinidad to strategize sustainable methods for public health change; from water and sanitation to food preparation to disaster preparedness. Later, she taught English in rural Japan. Alison's passion for helping others through public health and education likens her to Moses' Hebrew mother, Yocheved, who was a midwife and caretaker of her people. Moses' Egyptian mother Batya recognized the hardships and oppression of the Israelites and through raising Moses, gave hope to the captives. In our contemporary time of racial injustice, religious wars, and other hardships, Alison intends that readers of "The Mothers of Moses" will find the story of its strong women compelling enough to inspire the hope necessary to persevere.
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| The Mothers of Moses - back cover |
Alison remarks, "the best part of writing this book was the learning; my talent is with words and I discovered that. I started with a blank word document every day, and I filled it. I filled it with something that came out of me. Something that can help others."
