Governor General calls cultural museum “fantastic”
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Edgar Challenger’s daughter, Joan, greets the Governor General
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-ST. KITTS-NEVIS GOVERNOR GENERAL, His Excellency Sir Cuthbert Sebastian paid a visit yesterday (August 11) to the International House Museum and Edgar Challenger Library in downtown Basseterre, which he said demonstrated “a lot of hard work and dedication” on the part of the proprietor.
Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett, the aforementioned proprietor told SKNVibes.com that the visit from the Governor General gave the museum “a special impetus” in St. Kitts-Nevis’ 25th year of Independence.
While touring the museum, Nisbett explained his expansive collection of artifacts and documents to the Governor General as being a “comprehensive and unique” history of St. Kitts-Nevis, and a shrine to the integral contributions to the nation’s development by Edgar Challenger.
Since opening what he calls ‘The Real Historic and Cultural Awakening Independence Exhibition’, Nisbett said he has been pleased give tours to professors from around the world, St. Kitts-Nevis’ Ambassador from the Republic of China Taiwan, His Excellency Rong-chuan Wu and now the Governor General.
“It is a real honor to have all these distinguished persons come to see what we have here. By us doing this it will be much easier for us to get assistance.
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Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett and His Excellency, Sir Cuthbert Sebastian on the steps of the cultural museum
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“We just hope that this visit will help the public recognize what we have here. It is difficult right now because we’re scrambling for funding…but I am hopeful that this will give it sort of a boost,” he explained.
Also on hand for the special visit was Edgar Challenger’s daughter, Joan Challenger-Baeta, who by chance happened to be in St. Kitts on vacation from her home in Elk Grove, California.
“I am quite pleased with the work Zack is continuing on here because my father was pro-education and I know Zack really cared for him,” she said.
She informed SKNVibes that she has many fond memories of her childhood home and was glad to see that Nisbett continues to preserve it.
“Even though we didn’t have any money in those days, they were some of the happiest times of my life. I can remember climbing the old cherry tree here and running around on the roof while my dad worked inside,” she reminisced.
~~Adz:Left~~She added that she hoped one day someone would come along to fund a “nice, new building” for Nisbett’s ever expanding library.
“The thing about these artifacts is that you cannot get them back once they are gone, and that is why I am doing this,” Nisbett stated when asked about his dedication to the museum.
Persons who are interested in taking a tour of ‘The Real Historic and Cultural Awakening Independence Exhibition’ may do so during normal business hours daily until Independence Day on September 19th.
