Local PoF activist wins special royal award
(CNS): Caymanian activist Dejea Lyons (19), a founding member of Protect Our future, has received the highly prestigious Diana Award for her advocacy work for the environment. Established in memory of Princess Diana, the award is given to people aged 9-25 for their social action or humanitarian work. According to Tessy Ojo, the chief executive of the Diana Award, recipients are considered changemakers for their generation.
Lyons was nominated locally by Bill LaMonte, the science teacher at Cayman International School, and internationally by representatives of the Captain Planet Foundation.
A virtual ceremony was held on Friday to recognise this year’s winners, where Princess Diana’s youngest son, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, told the award recipients, “We need you to keep making a difference.”
Lyons, a firm believer in the power of intergenerational discourse, has been doing her best to make a difference for several years, and her work has highlighted many issues, notably the campaign to ban single-use plastics. She was involved in the campaign against the cruise port in George Town and helped develop a Caribbean Ocean Heros Boot Camp to connect young people in the Caribbean during the pandemic. She is also a co-editor and author of OH-WAKE magazine.
In 2021 Lyons was invited by the International National Trust Organisation to represent the Caribbean as the youth speaker for the region at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow and used this platform to demand action for a sustainable future for the next generation of Caribbean youth. Lyons continues to advocate for the future of Cayman and aims to see more young people involved in the decision-making process.
A spokesperson for Protect Our Future said the members were all very proud of Lyons’ accomplishment and encouraged more Caymanian young people to get involved in their local community.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Community, Local News, Science & Nature
Congrats Ms. Lyons. Awards like these are valid and appropriate, even if what they represent is miniscule in the global picture….every little helps.
Awards like those DG Franz Manderson doles out like candy to civil servants for just doing their jobs “well” are another story……
It is good to see our youth defending against threats to their future, threats and destruction of our environment that would be totally destroyed by greedy investors who only look at their short term personal gains, facilitated by corrupt politicians and civil servants who get rewarded to be facilitators.
Young Caymanians fight on to defend what you need and love, challenge and demand accountability at all levels in governance and the business community.
Thanks, Dejea! We need more citizens like you!
Well done, Dejea. You and your contemporaries represent the future of the Cayman Islands.
Your energy and bright smile give some of us elders hope. You seem much as we did, when we once had fire in our hearts. Good on you, lass. Much respect.