servant sees some cause for optimism. By Maryellen Goodwin More than four decades ago Lowdru Henry Robinson left Bermuda owing to a lack of opportunities.

Yesterday the Human Affairs director left his post and will soon travel to China to visit his daughter and her family for a much deserved vacation after 21 years in the civil service.

The Royal Gazette interviewed Mr. Robinson days before his retirement and asked him to comment on his work with Government and the developments that have been initiated during his tenure.

Mr. Robinson has been employed with the Government since 1978 when he took up the post of Director of Community Affairs. The Department of Community Affairs was created following the findings of the Pitt Report in 1977 which stated that more should be done by Government in the fields of social integration and race relations.

After the General Election in 1993, Government decided to focus on race relations as a separate issue and so formed the Department of Human Affairs.

In 1994, Mr. Robinson became the director of this new department.

The Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE), The Human Rights Commission, the Consumer Affairs Bureau, Training and Employment Services and the National Training Board are all part of the new department.

"It was really a continuation of the work I had done in my previous job,'' Mr. Robinson explained. CURE was created to monitor and improve race relations. His role in this endeavour was to help identify the functions and mandate for CURE and to establish the administrative arm of the Commission.

CURE's legislation was modelled on the law of the UK, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Mr. Robinson explained that improving race relations was a generational issue.

"It won't happen overnight,'' he said. "CURE is in its infant stages and needs time for its impact to be felt.'' At the moment, the focus is on the business community. A Code of Practice was developed in 1997 by the department in conjunction with other Government departments, community organisations and unions to eliminate racial discrimination in the workplace. Next year, monitoring of the composition of the workplace will begin. Mr. Robinson has also been working with the Department of Education to improve the content of schools' curriculum to reflect the history of the Island's residents and improve race relations.

"Sharol Simmons, Chief Executive Officer of CURE, is working on multicultural and diversity programmes with the schools,'' Mr. Robinson noted. Recently, Asa Hilliard, co-founder of the National Conference on the infusion of African-American content in school curriculum visited Bermuda to speak on these issues and to assist Government reach its goals in this area.

CURE also offers workshops on racism awareness, training and the Code of Practice. Its aim is to assist business leaders to recognise institutional racism and its effect. "Institutional racism is a system, a pattern of behaviour which is based on community standards that are 50 years old,'' Mr.

Robinson said. "If you had told me when I left Bermuda in 1956 that one day I, a black man, would be the director of a Government department, I wouldn't have believed you.'' He added that he had left Bermuda back then because he did not see any opportunities for himself on the Island. He went to Canada to teach and attended classes part time to complete his university degree.

But Mr. Robinson is quick to point out that there has been significant progress since then and that the goal of CURE is to continue to press for change in the area of race relations. The Community Education Programme is another branch of the Human Affairs Department that Mr. Robinson has developed, originally in his role as director of Community Affairs.

The Pitt Report determined that schools and other Government buildings could be used to offer programmes of enrichment to the community.

Mr. Robinson explained that this programme was a major part of improving race relations.

"Bringing people together around an area of interest gives them the opportunity to see what they have in common rather than what their differences are,'' he said. These programmes enable members of the public to meet people with whom they probably would not otherwise socialise.

Since 1981 when the programme was formed, 61,450 people have enrolled in the courses offered by the department and as Mr. Robinson pointed out, this was "quietly'' improving race and community relations in Bermuda.

The Human Rights Commission is another important arm of the department. This too was originally part of the Community Affairs Department and moved with Mr.

Robinson to the Human Affairs Department.

Mr. Robinson explained that human rights was a dynamic and evolving area in Bermuda. His job has been to help in the preparation of the Human Rights Act and to identify areas where protection is required.

The Act has been amended four times since its original drafting to keep pace with the issues as they are identified. For example, the first draft did not protect the disabled. The Pitt Report recommended an access awareness week to highlight the needs of the disabled and ultimately the Act was changed to protect the interests of this group.

Mr. Robinson stated that there are now programmes in schools to heighten awareness of human rights and to demonstrate that today civil rights is an international issue and that around the world community norms and standards are changing.

He also noted that there was still work to be done and pointed out that, for example, the issue of sexual orientation needed to be addressed. Mr. Robinson said: "The Human Rights Commission has brought to the fore the issue of race and has helped to make it a community issue.'' On a personal note, Mr. Robinson said it had been a pleasure working with the various chairmen of the Human Rights Commission "who are dedicated to improving race relations and human rights in the community''.

"I have found working with the staff on the issues in general a challenging and rewarding experience,'' he said. When asked whether he had any words of advice for his successor, Mr. Robinson noted: "In this job you are working with people. This can be frustrating, but it can also bring great rewards. It is important to never lose sight of people's capacity for change as well as their capacity to want to do the right thing once they know what the issues are. "The goals of the department are not easy, but they are worthwhile.''