WAYNISHA SAUNDERS
20 year old Waynisha Saunders is a budding activist and humanitarian in her country. She has a small girls organization called Girls in Faith and also leads a movement called World Changing Women. Waynisha is an
advocate for social justice and human rights, while at the same time having a great love for pageants. She is the former Miss Teen Bahamas 2017 and is currently attending college studying international law.
THE FLAG OF THE BAHAMAS
The symbolism of the flag is as follows: Black, a strong colour, represents the vigor and force of a united people, the triangle pointing towards the body of the flag represents the enterprise and determination of The Bahamian people to develop and possess the rich resources of sun and sea symbolized by gold and aquamarine respectively.
COURT OF ARMS
Upon a representation of the Santa Maria on a base barry wavy of four Azure and Argent on a Chief Azure demisun Or.
Crest: Upon a representation of the Royal Helmet of England mantled Azure doubled Argent on a Wreath Or and Azure. A Conch Shell proper in front of a Panache of Palm Fronds proper.
Supporters: On the dexter side a Marlin proper and on the sinister side a Flamingo proper; and upon a Compartment per pale Waves of the Sea and Swampland proper. Motto: “Forward, Upward, Onward Together”.
NATIONAL FLOWER - YELLOW ELDER (Tecoma stans)
Yellow Elder is a flowering perennial shrub of the trumpet vine family. Common names include Yellow Trumpetbush, Yellow Bells, Yellow Elder, Ginger-Thomas, and Esperanza. Tecoma stans is the National Flower of The Bahamas.
The plant is cultivated as an ornamental and blooms throughout the year. It has characteristic sharply-toothed, lance-shaped green leaves and large bright yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. It is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. The flowers attract bees (nb see below), butterflies and hummingbirds. Yellow Elder produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. The plant is apparently desirable fodder in fields grazed by livestock. It also readily colonises rocky, sandy and cleared land, occasionally becoming invasive.
NATIONAL BIRD - THE FLAMINGO
The scarlet, long-legged flamingos are found in three major nesting groups in the West Indian region, Great Inagua being one of them (the others are in Yucatan, Mexico, and Bonaire Island in the Netherlands Antilles.) The more than 50,000 birds inhabiting 287 square miles of Inagua wilderness are protected by wardens employed by the Society for the Protection of the Flamingo in The Bahamas through The Bahamas National Trust, a statutory body set up in 1959.