Life Less Ordinary is the podcast from the BBC World Service,

bringing you extraordinary personal stories from around the globe.

Search for Lives Less Ordinary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

We who have few caves,

we who have few caves, hills, mountains,

in which to hide, shut in by sea and ocean,

no piece of rock or earth to join us to another place. Walk far enough, nothing but water everywhere, everywhere.

And so we circle inward, become our own caves, relish the darkness, unmask, slough off the outward skin, feel the

damn air cruel the burn of public gaze, the too close scrutiny that claims is right to know to gauge the best

or worst of our intentions. We Island People, a poem by Miss Esther Phillips that will be hearing more of during this program.

If you're proud to be a man on, what are your flies up, what are your flies up? November 30th is an important day that marks two new beginnings for the island of Barbados.

First in 1966 when the nation gained independence

second in 2021 when Barbados became a republic

removing the British monarch as its head of state.

My name is Candies Brathwaite. I'm an author and presenter and a British-born woman of Barbadian heritage. I want to explore the Barbados transition to a republic, gaining firsthand insights into what that actually means,

and discovering how it fits into the island's evolving identity.

You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service

and this is We the People Are Barbados is home. It was the first place I was taken to once my family secured my passport

when I was eight months old and it's the place where I have returned to every

year since.

One thing that will always shock me is how every sense is stimulated once I come home.

The ripples of heat you can see as you descend the airplane stairs at Grantley Adams Airport.

...