Fri. 19/7/13- It is 4:35 in the morning. What I can hear in the background is the
soothing sounds of the waves. As usual,
I can hear the chirping of the birds and the crowing of my rooster; you see I
live in Barrio Paris, in Labuga, Guatemala.
It was this neighborhood that I came back to in year 1976, I was then
fourteen years old.
Yesterday I was able to meet Ruben Reyes and part of his
team, they made it to Labuga and the screening of Garífuna in Peril was
shown at ONEGUA’s headquarters on the same night of Nelson Mandela’s birthday.
Nelson Mandela turned ninety five years yesterday. Most people on this planet
know that Mandela fought for “freedom”. Most of us around my age, can remember
what they were doing the moment when they first heard about the release of
Mandela from prison after twenty seven years in the struggle for “freedom”.
Here is an excerpt from Drums
of Thunder that I would like to share with you and then I will get to the
point:
“A couple days ago, I was watching a report on YouTube about Garífuna- A Culture Close to Extinction. In a few days we could be watching the screening of a film by the name of Garífuna in Peril. The objective of their trip to Labuga is to share with us the same message they have manage to share with other Garífuna communities beyond borders."
One of the main roles in the film was the role of Shatuye
and the struggle for “freedom”. I was numb when I first heard the word freedom
in Garífuna. To be honest I am writing you live, therefore I don’t remember the
Garífuna word for “freedom” at this moment.
In this case, I hope to see Ruben and his team before they
leave today, sometime this morning. I want to thank them in person and to say
this in writing. You have managed to share with the Garífuna communities beyond
borders.
Au-Le
Lúbara Huya
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