We would suspect that those Bermudian contemporaries like myself of the late Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego (Roosevelt Brown), if they were honest, will have to admit that we did not know the breadth and depth of this giant of a man until after his passing at age 73, a year ago, April 3, 2007, and most certainly, until being entirely engrossed in the exceedingly fine tribute commemorating his philosophy and work at Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel a week ago.

There is some truth in the old saying that first impressions are often the most lasting.

Fortunately, I was uniquely positioned to get several first impressions of Roosevelt; from his days as a student of "Skinner School", later Howard Academy. There's where the so-called rejects from the mainstream elite high schools were inspired to higher heights and deeper depths than their privileged contemporaries elsewhere.

"Skinners" or "Howard" produced the (Sir) John Swans, Kenny Richardsons, Dick Danes, (the Dr.) Dyers, Jean Foggos (Simon); Sturgis Griffins, Everard Davises and a whole heap of others. But there was always something significantly different about Roosevelt. To cut a long story short, I would put it down to his impetuosity. He was both ferocious and likeable. .

I saw those characteristics flare in the Universal Adult Suffrage Campaign, which secured voting rights for the masses in Bermuda. After he got elected to the House of Assembly he made many newsworthy interjections that riled the establishment.

And, finally, I was one of the few persons who witnessed Roosevelt, in a fit of utter disgust, break all of the rules of the House during a debate, refusing to take his seat when ordered by the Speaker. He stormed out of the Chamber with a burst of unparliamentarily and unprintable language with two-finger gestures to the Speaker and Sir Henry Tucker.

After that incident, he began cultivating his nationalist aspirations and international instincts in a different manner; not necessarily more diplomatically, but just differently and most effectively. He blossomed into the scientist, engineer, teacher, working on community, governmental and United Nations-sponsored projects in remotest parts of the world.

Many of those efforts were what brought us to the Fairmont on Thursday for that awe-inspiring joint effort of the Government of Bermuda and Batho Pele. The celebration took the form of dance, song, poetry readings, a power-point presentation and a keynote address by former Howard University professor and philosopher, Dr. Acklyn Lynch.

Batho Pele (People First) is an organisation whose primary purpose is to continue to uphold the philosophy of Dr. Kamarakafego. It is made up of a group who are driven to educate people about Dr. Kamarakafego about the amazing contributions he has made in Bermuda and throughout the world, and to continue the practicality of his work.

Officers of Batho Pele are Mrs. Lucinda Worrel-Stowe, president; Vejay Steede, vice-president; Sophia Muhammad, treasurer; Cindy Weeks, Zina Burrows, Judith Burgess, Corey Butterfield, Dianne Coddington, Baizum Kamarakafego, Margaret Mitchell, Donna Pearman. Liaising with the foregoing on behalf of Government were Mrs. Heather Whalen, Senior Community & Cultural Affairs Officer; DeAndrea Easton and Renee Thomas.

Photos: Many from abroad were among the hundreds attending the tribute to Dr. Kamarakafego who was captured in this photo (top right) by Ras Mykkal. Dignitaries seen below are Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation Dale Butler, Governor Sir Richard Gozney; Premier Ewart Brown and keynote speaker Dr. Acklyn Lynch. Top centre are Dr. Kamarakafego's sister Mrs. Irene Maybury with her husband Joe and their daughter and granddaughter.