Nordia Henry, Staff Reporter
The Reverend Herro Blair. - Carlington Wilmot /Freelance Photographer
Our Celebrity Extra this week is the firm, frank and fearless Bishop Herro Blair, Political Ombudsman and chairman of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI).
HE WAS born on January 24, 1946 in Somerton, St. James, and spent most of his childhood there until he was old enough to fend for himself.
Life in the valleys and plains of Bull Pen, Somerton, with nine brothers and sisters, proved challenging for the Blair family. Bishop Herro Blair remembers that the going was rough because his father was a nomadic preacher and his mother a housewife. Sometimes he and his siblings would exchange uniforms to wear to school.
They remained in the humble situation until "God did something special" for them, moving them up in life. His sisters went into teaching and banking while the boys followed their father into the church.
PASTOR'S SON
"My father was a preacher, so every three or four years he was transferred by his denomination from Somerton to Maryland to Cave Valley in Hanover to Kinloss in Trelawny to Westmoreland to Cave and from Cave back to Cave Valley. It's been really a true nomadic life. As a result, it was very hard for the children, especially the boys, to get the initial education that was necessary to see us through.
"The girls were the lucky ones, they were pushed forward (and were forced to go to school by his parents)."
The boys, on the other hand, had to take a back seat and did not always make it to school, although some were successful in their Common Entrance Examinations or Local Government Examinations (in those days it was the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Jamaica Local Examinations).
Blair's involvement in the ministry did not come about from his father's influence. "What I saw happen during my early years, I did not want happen to me. My father was extremely committed to the ministry, he had a good job, gave up his job and went into preaching and on many occasions he would come home without money. From those days, many people think that to become a preacher, it is a free job. We had to depend on gifts from people in the community and so I pledged that I would never go that route in life."
HEEDING THE CALL
After graduating from the Montego Bay Technical Institute, Blair worked as a supervisor with the Montego Bay OmniBus Company because he decided that he wouldn't touch preaching with a long stick but be the entrepreneur of the family. Then in 1965, he received a call to become a minister and he accepted. "It was more of a personal call, more of a call that Moses got in the wilderness. I was in the wilderness of materialism and out of that wilderness I got a call and I drew nearer and listened to the voice that says, 'Go preach my word', and I've never looked back since."
Blair says being in politics and the ministry do not detract from each other, in fact, they work well together. "My primary role is the ministry, but my greatest challenge is to ensure that I leave footprints on the rocks not on the sands of time. On the other hand, my greatest challenge with regards to the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), is to move from where we're at to another level. We have been just trying to ensure that peace is maintained and in many cases, it's a stopgap a temporary move. I would love to see that there is an acceptability for disarmament and that the men and women in these communities can co-operate where we can see the guns coming in."
Herro Blair wears many hats, he is the founder/president for the Deliverance Evangelist Association, which has some 26 churches in Africa, United States, Canada, Haiti, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. He's also the vice-president responsible for The Full Gospel Churches Internationally, the Caribbean and South America, the Pastor of the Faith Cathedral at 104 Waltham Park Road, president of the Jamaica Association of the Full Gospel Churches with some 32 denominations, the chairman for the PMI and the Political Ombudsman.
WHAT HE WOULD GRAB
IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE
Passport... because it's the most single identifiable thing that you can have. It has the date and place of your birth and the right of your citizenship installed in it. Once you have that source of identification, then you have no problem.
Maybe I could get a birth certificate or something else, but then the passport would help me to move on in life and be identified, not withstanding my face is like a passport to many.
Cell Phone... because it has all the numbers I would like to call to tell people that the house is on fire but everybody is safe.
