Já passaram mais de quatro décadas desde a morte do seu pai, mas Cedella Marley ainda relembra vividamente um dos melhores conselhos que recebeu dele em adolescente.
“If you don’t believe you can become something, you’re going to work toward being nothing”, relembra em entrevista à “Boardroom”.
Cedella é uma das principais pessoas à frente dos projectos filantropos da Bob Marley Foundation. E, recentemente, tem estado envolvida no sucesso da equipa feminina de futebol da Jamaica.
As Reggae Girlz são a primeira equipa das Caraíbas a chegar aos oitavos de final. Cedella está a trabalhar com a equipa desde 2014, principalmente na criação de fundos.
A jogadora Deneisha Blackwood chamou-a de “fairy godmother”. Cedella atribuiu aos pais o exemplo dos valores que recebeu.
“As a daughter of Bob and Rita, I grew up with the living examples of both of them. My father’s passed now over 40 years, and my mother, thank God, is still here. For all these years, she had to be a strong woman. She’s a force, you know. She especially taught me that to have a powerful voice, you have to use it to amplify the things that you want to see change. It goes from society to human conditions. Growing up in Jamaica, my parents taught us that once we believe in — and I know it’s a cliche — once you believe in something, you can achieve it.”
Bob Marley era um ícone musical, mas também um amante fervoroso de futebol. O seu último impacto nos desportos jamaicanos levou à criação da Football is Freedom.
“Daddy loved football and he’s the one that created the slogan Football is Freedom. So he’s the inspiration behind the name. Football is Freedom takes everything that we’ve seen and learned through my work with The Reggae Girlz, and we applied it to the women’s game at every level, from grassroots through to college, career opportunities, and beyond.”
