2014
Tomás Alberto Ávila
Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya Bonilla
© José Francisco Ávila
Honoring a Woman who Loved Me like the Son she never conceived, Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya Bonilla February 8, 1933 - February 3, 2014. May You Rest In Peace Beloved Mama Nicha. - Honrando a una mujer que me amó como el hijo que nunca concebio, Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya Bonilla 8 febrero 1933 hasta 3 febrero 2014. Que Descanse En Paz.
Tomás Alberto Ávila Garifuna World avilatomasalberto@gmail.com www.facebook.com/tomas.avila
Tomﾃ｡s Alberto ﾃ」ila
February 8, 2014
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February 8, 2014
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Tomﾃ｡s Alberto ﾃ」ila
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Tomﾃ｡s Alberto ﾃ」ila
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Tribute To Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla Volume 149 ,
Number 87
Pages E1235
Fri, June 13, 2003
Rep. Edolphus Towns
Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla in recognition of her service to her local community and her native home of Honduras. Dionisia is proud of her heritage as a member of the Garinagu community, people who are descendants of West African slaves and Arawak Indians from St. Vincent who were deported to Honduras by the British in 1797. Dionisia was born in La Ceiba, Honduras Central America on February 8, 1933. She came to the U.S. in May 1964, and became an American citizen in 1977. In 1979, Dionisia decided to go to college, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education with high honors from Medgar Evers College. Later, she earned a Masters/Advanced Certificate in Guidance and Counseling from Brooklyn College. Dionisia's first connection with her community was through her church, St. Mathews Catholic Church where she has served for more than 22 years. When Hurricane Fifi struck Honduras in September 1974, many Garinagu, like Dionisia, got together to help their people back in Honduras. In 1990, after another tragedy occurred in the Garifuna community, Dionisia was there to help in any way possible. This time it was the Happy Land Fire. Her organization, Mugama, which was started a year earlier, named a scholarship fund in honor of a promising young Garifuna who died in the fire. Dionisia worked for the Board of Education for 16 years. She began as a paraprofessional, and would later go on to teach following the completion of her education. Ultimately, she became a school guidance counselor, a position she continued until her retirement in 1996. Dionisia's biggest role in the community is being the coordinator of Mugama's education program. Her importance to the community is reflected by how the residents refer to her, with comments like: Mamma, Madre, and Abuelita. Recently, people have taken to call her the ``glue'' of the community. Dionisia has received many honors in her life as a student, woman and community activist. During her college years, she was consistently on the Dean's List, and as a result, she was listed in the national Book of Excellent students. One of her greatest honors was meeting Isabel Arriola. Ms. Arriola is a Garifuna who survived Hurricane Mitch. The ultimate honor for her is being able to serve her community by working with Mugama. She says that the Mugama Advocacy Center is a dream come true. Being there daily and helping to empower people provides Dionisia with all of the satisfaction she needs. Dionisia has been married to her husband Alejandro Bonilla for 14 years. Mr. Speaker, Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla is committed to improving the lives of her community. As such, she is more than worthy of receiving our recognition today and I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring this truly remarkable woman. Source: http://capitolwords.org/date/2003/06/13/E1235-3_tribute-to-dionisia-amaya-bonilla/
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
"Mama Nicha" Has Left Us Carlos Gamboa February 6, 2014 "Mama Nicha" has left us for a better place. She was a Pioneer in Garifuna Women & People’s Rights in New York and Honduras. Ms. Nicha was an Educator, Counselor, Visionary, Dreamer, Community Leader, Friend, Tireless Fighter, Lover of Life and People, Follow of Jesus traits, the Catholic Faith and a Loving Mother to numerous "adopted" Daughters and Sons in both countries. She has left her legacy in Me and others that she has touched throughout her life time. She was our Mama Nicha. She hasn't gone, but remains in me and in all of us that she has Loved. Thank you Mama Nicha for touching my life 30+ years ago in Brownsville, Brooklyn NY and asked me a fundamental question that rings in me today... What are you going to do for your community and people, now that you have reached your educational goal?
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February 8, 2014
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Tomás Alberto Ávila February 3, 2014 Honoring a Woman who Loved Me like the Son she never conceived, Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya Bonilla February 8, 1933 - February 3, 2014. May she Rest In Peace. - Honrando a una mujer que me amó como el hijo que nunca concebio, Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya Bonilla 8 febrero 1933 hasta 3 febrero 2014. Que Descanse En Paz. — with Jose Francisco Avila and 12 others.
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Budari Isieni que descance en paz mi mas centido pesame amigo Tomas Avila February 3 at 12:29pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Allan Petteruto sorry for your loss my friend February 3 at 12:29pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Elvis Fabian May she RIP. February 3 at 12:31pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Pedro P. DelaRosa Que Dios la tenga en su gloria. February 3 at 12:33pm · Unlike · 1 10
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
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Anna Pastor · 19 mutual friends Que dios la tenga en la gloria, descanse en paz. February 3 at 12:51pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Lucy Sua Q Dios la tenga en su Gloria. Q descance en Paz mi querida doña Nicha.. February 3 at 12:52pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Tomas Avila Thanks Gracias Budari Isieni,Alan Allan Petteruto, Elvis Fabian, Pedro P. DelaRosa, Ana Anna Pastor, Lucy Sua February 3 at 12:53pm · Unlike · 4 ·
Zacarias Suazo Mi mas sentido pesame a los familiares y amistades de Doña, Dionisia Amaya Bonilla. por su fallecimiento QEPD. February 3 at 1:10pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Shonelle Carmichael Sorry for your loss Mr. Avila February 3 at 1:15pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Audelina White May she rest in peace !! February 3 at 1:34pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Eva C. Hulse-Avila May she rest in peace February 3 at 1:43pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Ana Vargas Amen, Descance en paz. February 3 at 1:45pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Lori A. Mello Very Sorry for your loss Tomas! May she rest in peace February 3 at 1:53pm · Unlike · 1 ·
William W. Scott R.I.P! February 3 at 1:57pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Catalina Oliva · 2 mutual friends Mi sentido pesame ella fue una bella persona February 3 at 2:16pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Henrietta White-Holder So sorry for your loss, Tomas! February 3 at 2:36pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Juan Elias Rosales Nuestro pésame a todos ustedes que me imagino serán una sola familia. Que descansé en paz y en gloria eterna ella se encuentre ahora al lado de nuestro Salvador. February 3 at 2:37pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Jackie Avila-Bey R.I.P. Dona Nicha, our condolences February 3 at 3:14pm · Unlike · 2 11
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
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Diosa Martinez RIP! P February 3 at 4:02pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Luis Del Rio I'm sorry for your loss, Tomás. RIP Doña Nicha. February 3 at 6:46pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Lynn J Corwin Very sorry for your loss. Prayers are with you. February 3 at 9:34pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Fiordaliza Then So sorry for your loss Tomas. February 3 at 10:40pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Sonia Clark · 60 mutual friends Descanza en paz mama Nicha,lo acompaño en su pesar senor Tomas Avila. February 4 at 5:30am · Unlike · 1 ·
Rosa De Castillo Nuestro más sentido pésame February 4 at 4:13pm · Unlike · 2 Rest In Peace! Que Descanse En Paz! Dionisia “Mama Nicha” Amaya-Bonilla. February 8, 1933 - February 3, 2014 — with Jose Francisco Avila and 10 others.
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
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Martinha Javid She was born and left on the same month.... May she be at peace... February 3 at 12:41pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Arnaldo Jr Pabon R.I.P. February 3 at 12:46pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Maria Nela Avila No hay palabras February 3 at 12:50pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Tomas Avila Thank you Martinha Javid, Arnaldo Jr Pabon, Maria Nela Avila February 3 at 1:00pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Charline Barnett · Friends with Irma T. Alonzo siento mucho tu perdida( es la misma que le decian Dona peca ) o es una senora February 3 at 1:15pm · Like ·
Alicia Rochez Castillo · 50 mutual friends Oh wow, may she rest in peace! Wonderful Garifuna Warrior. February 3 at 1:18pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Elida Calderon · 10 mutual friends My deepest condolences, RIP Dona Nicha:( February 3 at 1:29pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Janet Güity-Sabio Our deepest condolences to the family, R.I.P. doña Nicha. February 3 at 1:37pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Maria Norales · 36 mutual friends Que descanse en paz doña nicha February 3 at 1:44pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Don Cuellar WURI HADAN WURIÑAN.... QUE EL DIOS PADRE LA TENGA EN SU SANTA GLORIA.. *GUERRERA EDUCACIONAL NATA* ....MAY SHE REST IN PEACE....****MUGAMA*****.... OH,KATEY*SSAA!!!! February 3 at 1:45pm · Unlike · 2 ·
Dolores Ramos · Friends with Anamin Ramos and 4 others Mis condolencias para la familia , y para Doña Nicha un eterno descanso en paz February 3 at 2:11pm · Unlike · 1 · ·
Owen Baptiste pls in box me when the funeral service will be held wanna be there February 3 at 3:33pm · Unlike · 1 ·
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Irma T. Alonzo Dios mio Doña Nicha wow no lo puedo creer mis mas sincero pesame a su familia y ruego por su descanzo eterno.....Descanse en paz Doña Nicha y resignacion a sus familiares. February 3 at 3:34pm · Unlike · 2 ·
Mark Kravatz I had the great opportunity and privilege to meet and stay with Dionisia while traveling in Honduras. I can easily say that the world has lost one of the kindest and wisest souls I have ever met. However, I am confident that her spirit will carry on in all of the people she touched in her life. Tomas Avila and Jose Francisco Avila, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families especially during this time. February 3 at 4:29pm · Unlike · 3 ·
Marcia Gomez Our deepest condolences to Mama Nicha family, que descanse en paz Doña Dionisia Amaya Bonilla. February 3 at 4:39pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Wendy Martinez · 23 mutual friends Dios la tenga en su gloria, Wow K triste...Dona Nicha R.I.P! February 3 at 7:34pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Norma Cacho · 31 mutual friends Mama Nicha Wau una lider y luchadora de nuestra cultura. Una gran perdida mis sentido pesame a sus familiares R.I. P. February 3 at 7:52pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Rene Avila · Friends with Jacob Solano and 2 others Que la tenga en la gloria. February 3 at 9:12pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Jose Ballesteros · 11 mutual friends Que dios te resiva en su pesevre y resinnacion a los dolientes descansa en paz February 3 at 10:06pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Olga Colon Bennett RIP Beautiful lady... February 4 at 9:15am · Unlike · 1 ·
Eva C. Hulse-Avila RIP Nicha, may God keep you in his Glory February 4 at 11:37am · Unlike · 1 ·
Elsa Blanco Suazo QEPD tia Nicha February 4 at 1:52pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Denia Caneddy · 5 mutual friends Descanse en Paz. Y que Dios la Bendiga. February 4 at 2:29pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Reina Isabel Taracena Que en paz descanse ..... siento mucho su pérdida Tomas Avila 14
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
February 4 at 4:12pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Ana Cristina Dolmo Guillen · 44 mutual friends Lo siento mucho Ana Amaya, tengo bellos recuerdos de Tia Nicha descanse en Paz. 15 hours ago · Like ·
Linda M. Lino · 117 mutual friends RIP Doña Nicha I was bless to meet you during my teen years and admired your outspokeness, kindness. Long live a Garifuna pioneer woman you left us a great legacy. 5 hours ago · Like Dionisia “Mama Nicha” Amaya-Bonilla-The Matriarch of Garifuna Empowerment. - La Matriarca del Empoderamiento Garifuna. February 8, 1933 - February 3, 2014. Rest In Peace! Que Descanse En Paz!
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
RIP Mrs. Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya-Bonilla
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Pinto Jnk · Friends with Tesla K. Peri and 6 others Descanse en paz doña Dionicia Amaya February 3 at 10:49pm · Unlike · 1 ·
Alba Guity DESCANSA EN PAZ February 4 at 3:38am · Unlike · 1 Maria Nela Avila
February 3 near New York, NY Doña Nicha la mama de Tomás Y Jose Francisco Avila Ha dejado un gran legado Fundadora de la órganisazion Mugama te vamos a extrañar Mama Nicha , señores una gran mujer Sólo eso digo pero ya le toco, 16
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Like · · Share · Budari Isieni, Jane Alleyne, Ivan Moreira and 6 others like this. ·
Mary Solis Que Dios la tenga en su santa gloria. February 3 at 10:18am · Like ·
Jane Alleyne Hay Nela - que not te oiga mi Mami - porque tu saves como ella mesquina a sus gemelos Pero si - Que en paz descanse Mama Nicha - va a ser extranada por muchos! February 3 at 10:56am · Like ·
Audelina White Que descansé en paz y que Dios la tenga en su santa gloria. February 3 at 10:59am · Like ·
Hilcedarlena Bejarano Descanse en paz February 3 at 11:04am · Like ·
Maria Nela Avila Rossi tienes razón ella mama Nicha pidió hasta permiso con mama Felipa Para qué no se pusiera celosa de sus gemelos . February 3 at 11:09am · Like · 1 ·
Lorena Martinez Q en paz descanse dona nicha mis mas sentido pesame a dona bange su hermana February 3 at 11:35am · Like · 1 ·
Elida Calderon Descanse en Paz y que el Senor la reciba en su Santo Seno. February 3 at 1:24pm · Like ·
Hilcedarlena Bejarano De parte de la familia Bejarano mi más sentido. Pésame February 3 at 1:40pm · Like ·
Nancy Elizabeth Ordoñez Lamentando la muerte d Doña Nicha q Dios la tenga a su lado,muy querida x las q la conosimos así como se gano el amor don Tito Avila. February 3 at 2:13pm · Like ·
Nancy Elizabeth Ordoñez Saludes a Doña Felipa February 3 at 2:16pm · Like ·
Dinorah Pezzati Dios Tenga a la Sra Nicha en su Gloria. Amen February 3 at 3:50pm · Like ·
Ada Celeste Ordonez Mi màs sincero pèsame!See Translation February 3 at 3:51pm · Like ·
Julia Addison que Dios la tenga en su Gloria su legado es enorme y muy valorado February 4 at 9:25pm · Like ·
Kenia Solis Mi más sentido pésame. Dios de el bálsamo del consuelo a toda la familia. February 4 at 11:20pm · Like 17
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
José Francisco Ávila February 3 Dionisia Amaya Bonilla "Dona Nicha" February 8, 1933 - February 3, 2014 Rest In Peace! Que Descanse En Paz! — with Maria Nela Avila and 9 others in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
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Jocelyn 'Josie' Aranda RIP Nicha! You will be missed. February 3 at 10:55am · Like · 1 ·
Krystalee S Blanco my madrina February 3 at 10:57am · Like · 1 ·
Sara Nunez Logan Que en paz descanse! My condolences Jose Avila... Thank you for introducing me to such a lovely woman... February 3 at 11:03am · Like · 1 ·
Shamala Lopez May she rest in peace I watched her on YouTube February 3 at 11:05am · Like · 1 ·
Selina Herrera QPD, God bless her soul February 3 at 11:05am · Like · 1 ·
Maria Nela Avila Hay Dios que perdida tan grande la comunidad Garifuna ha perdido. February 3 at 11:07am · Like · 1 ·
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Miriam Avila Descanse en paz Mrs. Nicha mi maestra de ingles, siempre vivira en mi corazon February 3 at 11:08am · Like · 2 ·
Jane Alleyne Que en Paz Descanse Mama Nicha! Bendiciones! February 3 at 11:12am · Like · 2 ·
Mary Solis RIP Mama Nicha, you will be missed. February 3 at 11:15am · Like · 1 ·
Rubén Güity Bernárdez Tia Nicha . . can't believe I'm finding out through FB . . Rest In Peace.... February 3 at 11:19am · Like · 1 ·
Maria Garcia-Baltazar QUE LA LUZ PERPETUA BRILLE SOBRE ELLA February 3 at 11:23am · Like · 1 ·
Tania TanGee Guity I love you Tia!!! February 3 at 11:28am · Like · 1 ·
Evelyn Arauz-Chamorro My condolences Jose Avila & Tomas Avila, I know she was like a loving mother to you guys. February 3 at 11:28am · Like · 1 ·
Jose Francisco Avila http://capitolwords.org/.../E1235-3_tribute-to-dionisia.../ Tribute To Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla capitolwords.org Capitol Words explores the most popular words and phrases used by legislators in...See More February 3 at 11:34am · Like · 2 ·
Ernesto Martinez Que Dios la tenga en su gloria mamá Nicha. February 3 at 11:35am · Like · 2 ·
Jose Francisco Avila Ms. Nicha in Yurumein!See Translation
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
February 3 at 11:46am · Like · 1 ·
Jose Francisco Avila May You Rest In Peace!
February 3 at 11:47am · Like ·
Jorge Arana MAY YOU REST IN PEACE DONA NICHA. GOD BLESS YOUR SOUL FOR ETERNITY. February 3 at 11:49am · Like · 1 ·
Erica Miguel From my JUGAMA days to even my MUGAMA days she has been like an aunt to me. RIP mother Nicha. Always loved never forgotten. February 3 at 11:50am · Like · 2 ·
Marina Avila descansa en paz February 3 at 11:59am · Like · 1 ·
Renan O. Güity Descanse en paz (RIP) Tía Nicha. Glad we got to see you when you visited Boston. February 3 at 12:03pm · Like · 2 ·
Lalito De Las Flores Mama Nicha como yo le decia cuando llegue a Usa en 1974 Era para mi como mi segunda Madre por sus consejos y el cuidado que me daba.Cuanto siento tu partida amiga mia(RIP Dioniosia Amaya Bonilla que Dios la guarde en su Santo seno.Mis condolencias a las familia..Descanse en paz Nicha!! February 3 at 12:19pm · Like · 1 ·
Martin Francis Chavez May she Rest in Peace my teacher in P.S. 13 back in the late 80's February 3 at 12:40pm · Like · 1 ·
Wilfredo Moreira Doña Nicha Thank for legacy that You leave to our community RIP. February 3 at 12:42pm · Like · 1 ·
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Maxine Garcia-Davis I still can't believe... February 3 at 12:44pm · Like · 1 ·
Gloria Nuñez QUE BELLA DOÑA dIONISIA, TUVE LA DICHA DE CONOCERLA EN HONDURAS, DIOS LA ACOJA EN SU SENO, DESCNSE EN PAZ February 3 at 12:45pm · Like · 1 ·
Edward Arzu Alegria Descance en paz Doña Nicha. February 3 at 12:46pm · Like · 1 ·
Norma Brooks May YOU R.I.P Dona Dionysus! February 3 at 12:52pm · Like · 1 ·
Carlos Valencia que dios la tenga con el mi sentido pesame ala fmilia amaya February 3 at 1:16pm · Like · 1 ·
Negil Castro Nicha (RIP )a solo dos semanas de haber compartido en el cumpleanos de mi tia. Descanza en la paz del senor. February 3 at 1:19pm · Like · 2 ·
Sulma Arzu May the Lord hold this angel high! true hero! February 3 at 1:48pm · Like · 1 ·
Aquina Valentin I still remember when we went to Yurumei and she said that after that trip she could r.i.p. if that was god will for her. Omg am still speechless. So I am sure she would rest in peace because she accomplished her goals in this life. February 3 at 2:18pm · Like · 1 ·
Zwadie Castro RI H Nicha. February 3 at 2:25pm · Like · 1 ·
Cozbi A. Cabrera My mother just told me earlier. It broke my heart. Doña Necha was a giver, a lover, a warrior in the truest sense of the word. She sacrificed all she had so that women could learn to read and have a chance for their families. She occupies a space in my heart and in the hearts of so many I know -- she will never be forgotten. She was the tallest woman in the room. May she rest in peace, knowing well done! February 3 at 3:01pm · Like · 1 ·
Centeno Montero Mitsu She was a Garifuna Pride.. who open the doors for so many of us.... Rest in peace Dona Nicha... February 3 at 3:41pm · Like · 1 ·
Edmundo Cayetano Que Dios la tenga en su gloria tía Dioni February 3 at 4:04pm · Like · 1 ·
Irma T. Alonzo My sincere condolences to Doña Nicha's family in this sarrow day in their life may she's rest in peace. February 3 at 5:27pm · Like · 1 21
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
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Marcia Gomez Descance en paz Mama Nicha siempre te recordaremos especialmente de nuestro viaje a Sant Vincent, paz a su alma. February 3 at 5:57pm · Like · 1 ·
Bernard Martínez Un gran ejemplo de mujer, madre y hermana Mama Nicha que Dios ya la tenga un su santo seno !Descanse en paz Dionisia Amaya! y resignación cristiana para sus familiares. February 3 at 6:26pm · Like · 1 ·
Eudy Perez I felt so sad with this news...RIP mama Nicha!! February 3 at 8:21pm · Like · 1 ·
Aznaran Cesar descanse en paz en nombre de la familia aznaran laveriano mis mas sentido pesame a los familiares amaya bonilla February 3 at 8:27pm · Like · 1 ·
Rose-Anne Tifre I will be your Mugamita forever. You are a Garifuna Legend. Thank you for your great legacy Nicha. May you rest in peace. February 3 at 9:26pm · Like · 2 ·
Rose-Anne Tifre Thank you Jose Francisco Avila for posting this beautiful picture of Nicha. February 3 at 9:27pm · Like · 1 ·
Prisca T. Sabio I am speechless, we lost an icon of our Garifuna Community. Miss Amaya great counselor that she was at PS 81, I remember when she saw my last name at that time she immediately ask me about my relatives and she was amazed to find out that my late father - in law was her cousin therefore we were family, it was the beginning of a great relationship. As I traveled to Honduras I used to go visit her and she was always happy to see me . She was a great person we will miss her .May she rest in peace. February 3 at 11:50pm · Like · 1 ·
Jose Lopez RIP Mama Nicha, You Made An Impact In So Many Lives!!! February 4 at 1:08am · Like · 2 ·
Celso Castro Rest In Peace Mama Nicha! Your legacy will live on... February 4 at 10:10am · Like · 1 ·
Randolph Enriquez Itarameme lan Ougienti abayarahabu Sierri Itu. I know you will continue to work in Sierri Numada. February 4 at 12:09pm · Like · 1 ·
Gilberto Amaya Que el Señor de descanso a su espíritu y bendiga su memoria y el legado que deja entre nosotros. February 4 at 1:50pm · Like · 2 ·
LA Secre Solano Que Dios la tenga en su gloria; descanse en paz Dona Nicha February 4 at 3:34pm · Like · 1 22
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
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Horacio Martinez Calix Mama Nicha, un tremendo y hermoso valuarte de la negritud hondureña. QQDDcon todo su saber y experiencia February 4 at 7:04pm · Like ·
Alfonso Cayetano Bold woman with vision who lived her dream. It is never too late to go to school, never too late to teach and never too late to organize women to fight illiteracy. May you rest in peace. We will keep up the struggle. February 4 at 7:59pm · Like · 1 ·
Rosita Alvarez My sincere condolences to the family of Ms Nicha. May her soul rest in peace. about an hour ago · Like · Tania TanGee Guity My Tia!!! My beautiful tia!!! We spent a wonderful week a couple of months ago. All my love is with her. February 3 at 11:20am · Like · 1 · Jose Francisco Avila http://capitolwords.org/.../E1235-3_tribute-to-dionisia.../ Tribute To Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla capitolwords.org Capitol Words explores the most popular words and phrases used by legislators in...See More February 3 at 11:32am · Like · 1 · Anamin Ramos May she rest in peace!! February 3 at 2:31pm · Like · 1 · Maria Suazo Guillen Gracias Mr Jose Francisco Avila for share with us se fue una Barauda QDEP mis condolencias a su familia y a usted que compartio con ella February 4 at 11:28pm · Like · 1 · Raymond Martinez I remember Jose, I had a long conversation with her at that time, she told me that it was her dream to one day visit Yurumei, she was very excited about making that pilgrimage. I know she rests in peace. February 4 at 11:53pm · Like · 1 · Raymond Martinez Mr. Avila I was thinking, that the Garifuna coalition, could expanded a event during the celebration of garifuna heritage month, particularly around the 12th of April, a date that she and her organisation helped champion. Yesterday at 12:03am · Like · 1 · Maria Nela Avila Descanse en paz. February 3 at 11:01am · Like · 1 · Selina Herrera Wow she was heavy, good write up, primo February 3 at 11:13am · Like · 1 · 23
Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Raymond Martinez Rest in peace queen, you were pilar, of your community, a true leader a mother to so many, your organizations vision, continues, to be part of our present and forever will be part, of our future, May GOD and the ancestors, celebrate your home coming, you'll for ever be in our heart and soul, good bye queen till we meet again. February 3 at 11:21am · Like · 1 · Jose Francisco Avila Prima Selina Herrera, she was indeed a true personification of Barauda, thanks. February 3 at 11:33am · Like · 1 · Barbie Lopez May she rest in peace February 3 at 12:02pm · Like · 1 · D-good Oliva May she rest in peace! February 3 at 1:29pm · Like · 1 Clelia Sabio-Gonzalez
February 3 Con gran tristeza hemos recibido la noticia de el fallecimiento de nuestra Querida Doña Nicha. "Mrs. Nicha ", '' Mama Nicha'' o "Doña Nicha" como cariñosamente le llamabamos, fue fundadora de Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha (MUGAMA) . Su ...See More — with Mujeres Garinagu En Marcha and OC DE MA.
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Carlos Gamboa February 3 This morning, Monday February 3rd Dionisia Amaya 'Mama Nicha" passed away. An incredible Women in the Garifuna community. A force full of Love, grace, tenacity, giving, intelligence, perseverance, and a gift for caring for others. She will be missed. I always called her my 2nd Mother. A title that she would respond... "You are the Son that I never had." — with Jose Francisco Avila and 33 others at August 2012 at Our Lady of Mercy.
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Yolanda Coleman What an incredible woman and loss to humanity. Let us all learn from the life of women like Mama Nicha. February 3 at 12:00pm · Like · 1 ·
Nixon Ricardo Arauz Melendez We will continue to build on the legacy left us all Mama Nicha! February 3 at 12:02pm · Like ·
Teofilo Colon Jr Sakuritina wafedirunu würi to, Carlos Gamboa. February 3 at 12:03pm · Like · 2 ·
Escolastico Arzu Lamentable Noticia se nos Adelanto mama NICHA seguro que Dios tiene un sitio especial en el cielo para Ella February 3 at 12:32pm · Like ·
Jorge Roca Que descanse end paz y resignacion para sus familiares February 3 at 12:36pm · Like ·
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
Roy Cayetano Tameragua lidan lidarangilan Ougienti hama hahari wayunagu. Gumutali tuwadigimari. Anhein anihein lubéi tígirun, wagíali lun wagumuchuni. February 3 at 1:46pm · Edited · Like · 5 ·
Sonia Warren Mujer virtuosa y admirable. Que honor haberla conocido. February 3 at 2:33pm · Like · 1 ·
Cheney Dohmo Tameragua lidan lidarangilan Ougienti hama hahari wayunagu. Gumutali tuwadigimari. Anhein anihein lubéi tígirun, wagíali lun wagumuchuni. February 3 at 2:55pm · Like · 1 ·
Nan Humes So very sorry to hear. My thoughts, prayers and spirit are with you xox February 3 at 3:27pm · Like ·
Jorge Amilcar Ellington Daranquilu la tameragu luma waguchi Bungiyu,sandinumuti luagu wafeidirunu,BUNGIYU TUMA TAFURUGU!!!!!!!! February 3 at 5:55pm · Like ·
Sonia Zuniga So very sorry to hear. My thoughts, prayers and spirit are with you ChefZuniga February 3 at 6:57pm · Like ·
Ramon Sanchez My condolence go to her family and people that knew her may God have her body and soul rest in peace February 3 at 7:15pm · Like ·
Vilma Guity Zuniga May you rest in peace dear freedom fighter. February 3 at 7:22pm · Like · 1 ·
Garifuna Queen Que descanse en Paz Dona Nicha y que nuestro señor la tenga en su Gloria. En el poco tiempo que la conoci vi en Ella una persona humilde, motivadora y dedicada a la Comunidad su perseverancia y su inteligencia fue digno de almirar. Mis mas sentido pesame a sus seres queridos y que Dios le de fortaleza a Ellos para lidiar y aceptar esos momentos dificiles y de tristesa. February 3 at 9:29pm · Like ·
Vilma Guity Zuniga Nizjoni and I had the pleasure of sharing the same plane from Honduras to New york 2 years ago. Dona nicha was the real deal. February 3 at 9:42pm · Like ·
Judy Guest My condolences to you and your family. February 4 at 12:54am · Like ·
Teofilo Colon Jr I hope that this posting is accurate and helpful. http://beinggarifuna.com/?p=430 (With VIDEO) Garifuna Community Activist DIONISIA AMAYA ("Doña Nicha" or "Mama Nicha") Passes... beinggarifuna.com 26
Tomás Alberto Ávila
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Copyright 2014 by Teofilo Colon Jr. (a.k.a. “Tio Teo” or “Teofilo Campeon”) All...See More February 4 at 1:30am · Like · 1 ·
Sandra A. M Bell Absolutely beautiful, generous person, it was honor to know & work w/ her. May your Soul rest in Eternal Peace, Ms. Nicha! February 4 at 6:40am · Like ·
Carlos Gamboa I just arrived in La Ceiba, Honduras to pay my respect to this incredible Women. My "second Mother"... Mama Nicha. Tonight is the viewing. February 4 at 5:19pm · Like · 2 · Write a comment...
Carlos Gamboa
February 4 Just arrived in La Ceiba, Honduras for Mama Nicha's viewing tonight. Her burial is tomorrow. This is going to be difficult! For those who know Nicha, I'll try to give details of today and tomorrow — at La Ceiba Barrio La Isla. Like · · Share · Wilfredo Moreira, Irma T. Alonzo, Rose Ordonez Jenkins and 33 others like this. ·
Charlene Jablow Sorry for your loss, Carlos. February 4 at 5:01pm · Like ·
Carlos Gamboa Thanks, Charlene Jablow February 4 at 5:09pm · Like ·
Edith Rochez Thanks for sharing Carlos. Stay strong.. February 4 at 5:26pm · Like · 1 ·
Carlos Gamboa Will do Edith. You know what Miss Nicha meant to all of us. February 4 at 5:46pm · Like · 2 ·
Abelardo Guerrero Thanks for sharing big bro! We could always caught on you to shed light. February 4 at 5:55pm · Like ·
Arlex Castillo Estas en Honduras carlos???? February 4 at 6:43pm · Like ·
Elvia Negron-Perez R.I.P Mama Nicha. Prayers for your family February 4 at 7:03pm · Like ·
Louis Maresca So sorry for your loss my friend. Love and prayers to you. February 4 at 7:19pm · Like 27
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Star Rios Sorry for your loss! Prayers for comfort for you and have a safe trip! February 4 at 8:06pm · Like ·
Raymond Martinez Thank you for representing us Carlos Gamboa, please tell Nicha we'll never forget. February 4 at 8:30pm · Like · 1 ·
Deysi Guity wow,, memories and tiers are what I have after meeting an extraordinary woman,,, I wish we can go back to summer 2009 to say I love you,,, and I will miss you mama. February 4 at 8:33pm · Like ·
Maria Nela Avila Dios te lleve con bien Carlos February 4 at 10:51pm · Like ·
Walter Krochmal My condolences to the grieving family and community Carlos. February 4 at 10:55pm · Like ·
Rose-Anne Tifre Glad you were able to make the trip. You are an amazing friend. February 4 at 11:09pm · Like ·
Chris Owens Condolences, Carlos! February 4 at 11:39pm · Like ·
Jeanmarie Sissy Bartlett Dawkins MY CONDOLENCES CARLOS MAY GOD BLESS YOU BE SAFE February 6· Like · · Edith Rochez Thanks again for sharing Carlos....May Mrs. Nicha R.I.P February 6 · Like · Garifuna Pablo Blanco Wow, RIP, i can imagine the conversations she used to have with Hector Melendez. Never knew her personally however i heard about the work Mugama has done. A big loss in the community February 6 · Like · Deysi Guity Feeling very sad... Mama we love you Mama . Thanks compañero Carlos. hours ago · Like · Tomas Avila Itarala Carlos Gamboa. A great legacy and multiple disciples to continue her vision and principle of giving back. Thanks for sharing and RIP Mama Nicha. February 6 · Like · Anna Johnson A great Friend, Mother and a Pioneer! R.I.P. Nicha! · Helen Martinez I remember her, she loved you so much. My deepest sympathy my greatest cuz from the bottom of my heart. Que dezcanse en paz y que el Todo Poderoso la tenga en la Gloria Celestial. Amen February 6 · Like
Rubén Güity Bernárdez February 6, 2014 28
Tomás Alberto Ávila
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Here's a very special Throwback Thursday pic,dedicated to my Tia Nicha RIP, who passed away this past Monday . . .She was a wonderful woman who treated her friends and associates like family, and her own family like gold and she so loved our Garifuna Community . . I seem to be pouting in this pic, but I'm sure it had less to do with posing with my auntie, and more to do with some gripe about play time, as my sibs and I were always super delighted, whenever we knew she was coming to visit .. . This Saturday would have been her 81st birthday...she'll always be remembered. . ~ In loving memory of Dionisia "Nicha" Amaya - Bonilla 02/08/1933 - 02/03/2014 QEPD
You, Janet Güity-Sabio, Sara Nunez Logan, Lucy Blanco and 56 others like this. ·
Loro Lalin My condolences. This is a true throwback. Was she was from Corozal too?? 6 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Cristina Aranda Dios te tenga en su gloria mi amada prima. 6 hours ago · Edited · Like · 1 ·
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Vilma Guity Zuniga awwwwwwwwwwwww I had the pleasure to travel on the same TACA plane from Honduras 3 years ago. May she rest in peace. Many years she also called me to teach her night class Mujeres Garinagu En Marcha, I was not able at that time. 5 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Leslie Guity tia fabulous.,rip 5 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Paula Lorena Güity I am going to cry now 5 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Maria Garcia-Baltazar WOW you're so fortunate to have this beautiful picture so as to remind you of the memorable times you spent with Doña Nicha. May she rest in peace. 5 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Brenda Vera Walker Aww nice pic 4 hours ago · Like · 1 ·
Ricardo Guity Blanco Saludos a todos que te esperen en la puerta de la profundidad tia .Ya no hay sufrimientos.Buidu la ban weiyasu 4 hours ago · Like · 2
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HONDURAS 2005
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MUGAMA'S Mujeres Garinagu en March a Pro-Education, Inc
TENTH ANNIVERSARY EVALUATION 420 Watkins Street . Brooklyn, NY 11212. (718) 485-6484
BY DIONISIA AMAYA
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Tomás Alberto Ávila
February 8, 2014
When, what and why of Mujeres Garinagu En Marcha, Pro-Education (MUGAMA, INC. as it is better known) had its beginning during a telephone conversation of three (3) friends, Lydia Hill, Mirtha Sabio and Dionisia Amaya. The gist of the conversation was the possibility of putting the Garifuna women achievers in the list of prominent women worldwide during March’s "International Women Month in 1989. Consequently, a meeting was called to discuss the idea of "Garifuna Women Recognition", which was attended by the following individuals: Lydia Hill, Mirtha Sabio, Ines Solano, Luz E. Guity, Manuela Sabio, Abelina Rochez, Maria Vilma Sabio, Dionisia Amaya and others. We presented the idea to the attendants and discussed the objectives behind it and by the end of the meeting the unanimous decision was a resounding "YES” to moving forward with the idea. How it got started In order to get started and proceed with the execution of the recognition event, each individual made a contribution of $50.00 as a base fund to star to working towards the execution of the event. The recognition affair date was set for March, 19th, 1989 at Our Lady of Mercy. Goals and Objectives of MUGAMA. 1.
To recognize and honor the Garifuna woman in the areas of: A. B.
Social, The Arts, Spiritual and Formal Education.
At that first meeting all the attending individuals were requested to bring a phrase that would complement the title MUJERES GARIFUNA" in order to name the newly born organization. The first two meetings took place in the basement of Mrs. Cristina Castro's house, located at 484 Thatford Ave. in Brooklyn, N.Y. During the second meeting at which we point we were to bring the complementary phrase to complete the organization’s name, everyone comply with the request and brought a phrase. Lydia Hill brought the phrase "EN MARCHA" And immediately proceeded to pronounce the acronym "MUGAMA, thus the organization was named MUGAMA and a new organization representative of the Garifuna woman was born and the initial Board of Directors was selected as follow: President: Lydia Hill Vice President: Mirtha Sabio Treasurer: Abelina Rochez, Secretary: Dionisia Amaya~Bonilla. Once the organization was established we proceeded to execute the activity, and the following individuals were recognized at the our first event: · SOCIAL ACHIEVEMENT: Mrs. Gloria Rochez, Angela Lino. · Spiritual Gain: Ines Solano, THE ARTS: Antonieta Maximo. · ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE: Santitos Avila. Educational Achievement: 80
Tomás Alberto Ávila · · · · ·
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AA Degree Daisy Calderon, BS, Yolanda Blanco, Ma. Vilma Sabio 4.BS and MA in science: Manuela Sabio, Mirtha Sabio, Lydia Hill and Dionisia Amaya PHD Ed. Guillermina Guity who traveled all the Boston mass to receive her recognition. According to her is the most important recognition she ever gotten. Last but not least a posthumous recognition was given to the first Garifuna teacher known to most of the members Profesora Minta_______________ .The program of such event is in our files.
ACTIVITIES: After the event concluded, Mrs, Amaya-Bonilla proceeded to asked the public "Now what? To which they responded: "let's continue, and continue we did. The first invitation letter and membership application was drafted by Ms. Carlota Tifre, who also loaned the organization her P,O. Box. Through the encouragement of Manuela Sabio and Mr. Alberto Sabio the organization members began to research our Garifuna history and as a result of such research our proceeding big activity after becoming a formal organization, was a Debutante Ball an event never seen in our community. During this activity our debutantes were the following individuals: Nancy Solano, Adalicia Melendes, Yamilette and Judith Montero, Sandra Blanco, Edith Rochez, Santitos Avila and Betsy I. Benedith. A $500.00 Scholarship was awarded to Miss. Sandra Blanco at this event, and also ingratiated our Dance Hall with 5 beautiful pre-debutante and $100.00 to Miss Lisa Guerrero. (Debutante #10 Adelina Mariano In 1990 during our planning and development of the organization, the membership brainstorm about ways and means for the organization to raise funds for the plan activities. At one of those meetings our President Mrs. Lydia Hill suggested the sponsoring of a Valentine's Day Dinner which was approved by the membership and the first one was held on Friday, Febebruary16th , 1990 at the Honduras Emporium. This event became so successful, that it became the organization's main source of funding and the organization will be celebrating the 10th annual celebration in February 2000, During this same period after extensive research and findings we learned about our exiled from our beloved mother country Yurumei (St. Vincent, W. I. on March 11th, 1797 and our uneventful arrival in Punta Gorda, Roatan, Honduras on April 12th, 1797. During the month of April of that year we promoted our first commemoration of our arrival to Central America The same month April 20th 1990 we launched JUGAMA (Juventud Garifuna En Marcha) and the pro-Education component was added to the organization’s name. The logo was artistically design by one of Mrs. Amaya-Bonilla’s students based on the emblem of the International women month. In May of the same year MUGAMA conducted community forum to name the explained an idea the members had developed about a Scholarship Fund, and to discuss the naming of such scholarship. During the meeting, Mrs. Amaya-Bonilla suggested naming the Scholarship in the memory of Juan Carlos Colon Jr. a promising young Garifuna student who died in the Happy Land fire where 87 Hondurans perished, and the name was unanimously accepted.
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The Inspire To Aspire Conference With E.J. Williamson theory that each person has a set of unique abilities and capabilities seeking to organize and maintain life, utilizing his unique traits and other experts conclusion that each individual is a product of the climate he or she is surrounded by as a rationale, Mrs Dionisia Bonilla-Amaya and Ms. Lynette Rogers elected to organize a career and Educational opportunities conference which they entitle Inspire to Aspire. The purpose of this conference was to inspire our youths from the local community to aspire at furthering their education by pursuing a college or vocational career, in order to improve their chances on the labor pool of the 21st Century. Mrs Amaya-Bonilla and Ms. Roger brought together a panel of local professionals from diverse fields in the educational system and other careers who have committed themselves in the development of our youths and contributed their individual efforts to support the academic and cultural advancement of our youngsters. On Saturday May 11, 1991 Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha in association with other local Garifuna organizations, organized and sponsored the Inspire to Aspire Conference. Mrs Dionisia Bonilla-Amaya open the conference and served as moderator of the conference on the absence of Ms. Roger, due to the death of her mother the day prior to the conference and was followed by the invocation by Monsignor James Spangler. What follows is a brief description of the subjects addressed by each of the participant during their individual presentation. Mr Angel Ortiz - (Religious Teacher) Open the conference by sharing his experience with the audience of how church help him change from a bad boy to a good boy and how he's been able to share his knowledge with other youths. Mrs. Lila Hanes - (Medgar Evers College) She delivered an excellent presentation about the different Financial Aid programs available to students, detailing the different requirements and the different amounts available. Hon Robert Hunter (Community School Board 16) Delivered the keynote speech, and share his experience of growing in Brooklyn's though neighborhood and overcoming the negative surroundings. He also share his experience of failing on his first try at a college career and being familiar with the distractions face by today's youth. He expressed the importance of family support as well as encouraging the youths to strive for economic power in their neighborhoods, by increasing their ownership of local businesses. Mr. Greg mayer (Coordinator of Black & Hispanic Institute, Medgar Evers College) Mr Mayers shared his experience as president of the student body at the state college level and how he had tried to bypass obtaining a college education while pursuing a brokering career in Wall Street, before realizing that it wasn't what he really wanted out of his life and deciding to go back to school and obtained his Bachelors degree. He also share his experience as coordinator of the transition of prisoners from jail to society as free individuals and advice the youths that it's easier to stay in school and obtain a degree or an occupation, than it's to deal with jail and the streets. Tomﾃ｡s Alberto ﾃ」ila - (Mechanical Engineer, GE Boston) Opened the career session of the program, 82
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addressing the audience about what inspire him to aspire. He proceeded to relate his story of how his first job as a maintenance person during his High School days gave him the incentive to pursue a college, when he use to be emptying waste baskets and felt uncomfortable doing so. Although he was young, he realized that the only difference with him and the people he was cleaning after, was a college degree. He also shaded light to his experience of being a contributor in the design and development of the GE's F404 and T700 aircraft engines that power the F18 Attack craft, B52 Bomber and the Apache and Black Hawk helicopters that had an outstanding participation in the recent Persian Gulf War. Mr. Carlos Gamboa - (District Manager of Op. Ameris Company) Mr Gamboa, made an excellent presentation about he's experience in growing up in Brooklyn's project and facing up to challenges of drugs gangs and tugs in the neighborhood and how he proved his high school counselor who had question his desired to attend the University Of New York as well as others who doubt him. Mr Gamboa's used of a overhead projector to show the audience the decline in the number of undergraduates and advance degrees obtain by the under-represented ethnic groups. He kept the audience inform and entertain, when he offered to show everybody how to make $16,000,000 a year without working too hard(not selling drugs either). After he concluded his presentation the audience was still wondering what was his point and after being asked by one of the participant, he responded, you must have a "SMART" Plan (it has to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). Mr Jose Francisco Avila - (Manager, FAXTAX Dallas, Texas) Jose had a short time to delivered his speech, due to the late start of the program and the fast advancement of time as the audience absorbed all the information being shared with them, but this didn't take away from his eloquent presentation in the short time allotted. He explained how this being the baseball season, he was going to show our youths how you can have 3 strikes against you an still not be out. He proceeded to explain strike no. 1, which was the fact of being born with a dark complexion, strike no 2 he continue was coming to this country and being a foreigner and belonging to a under-represented ethnic society. By this time the audience was edgy and curious to find out what was strike no. 3, which Jose proceeded to explained as being the loss of his right foot due to cancer at the tender age of 18. He continue to state that even with these 3 strikes against him, he overcame them all and shattered all the misconception the media has about under-represented children and how his theory in life has become to be, that handicap is a metal status rather than a physical one. Maralyn Parker - (Dean of School of Nursing Interfaith Hosp) Mrs Parker speech was addressed to audience, to clarify alot of the myths youngster have about the nursing profession, like how labor intensive it's, it's a female profession and the long hours put in by nurses. She gave a very good description of how important a career in nursing is, by stating that nurses is blessed profession because nurses are their when human beings arrive to this earth, during their growing development and they're there during our death. She encouraged the youngsters to consider a career in nursing and to forget about all the myths they've heard about it, because she's been in the profession long enough to know that it's all a myth. Mrs Vernalyn Blencowe - (Teacher's Ass. of St. Vincent) Mrs Blencowe's speech was very thrilling and very different than most of the other speakers, in that she removed the context of educational achievement and concentrated instead in attaining the basics of education in other to secure a successful journey towards the achievement of an education. She based a lot of her statement on her experience as teacher in Saint Vincent as well as her experience in this country. She advice the audience to work hard at becoming proficient in writing, 83
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because that way they'll be able to get their points across in a clear and concise manner and to get use to writing everything, because the more they write the better writers they'll become. Mrs Shirley Spillers (New York City Board Of Education) Mrs Spillers started her speech by informing the audience that she had been thrilled by all the speakers that preceded her and many of the points she had prepared in her notes had been addressed throughout the afternoon, but that she enjoyed that fact, because it let her know that everybody in the conference had the same interest in education and motivating our youngsters to succeed in it. She proceeded to addressed the crowed from her prepared notes, depicting the historical statistics of under-represented children throughout history and shared her experience of how she overcame all of these statistics by pursuing a degree and continuing her quest for higher goals. Participating Organizations There are several individuals and organizations involved in the planning of this conference and they are. Mrs. Lynette Lewis-Roger Youth coordinator Mrs. Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla Guidance Counselor Mujeres Garinagu En Marcha (MUGAMA) Nonprofit Organization Juventud Garinagu En Marcha (JUGAMA) Youth Organization Club Deportivo Lempira and it's female affiliates Mujeres de San Antonio A Community Organization Club Femenino Santafeno A Community Organization Inversiones Caribe An investment Organization Madres Cristianas de La Merced Catholic Organization Juventud Accion Catholica de La Merced Youth Organization.
The First Garifuna Summit Meeting In 1991 we were privilege to meet two young men in the persons of José Francisco and Tomás Alberto Avila who became avid supporters of MUGAMA Tomás Alberto. Developed and produced our Bylaws. These two individuals were responsible in organized the First Garifuna Summit Meeting which was celebrated in New York City on July 4-6. That meeting was attended by Garifunas from all social and economic levels and represented the majority of the countries with Garifuna population, with the exception of St Vincent and Nicaragua, a surprise guest was Mr. Celeo Alvarez Casildo, former president of the Honduran Medical Employees Union, who happened o layover in New York on his way from Europe . The Theme for this meeting was “Uwala Busiganu, Garinagu Wagia” translation, “Don’t Be Ashamed, We Are Garifuna”. We also chose the motto “Garinagu’s Path to the 21st Century”. What happened on Saturday July 6, 1991 at Medgar Evers College and at the Showboat in New York City, was a historical event. For the first time in the history of the United States, the Garinagu gathered as an ethnic group to discuss their concerns, experiences and future plans for a better understanding of the meaning of the American Dream concept. So many things happened in one day. Some of the highlights of the event were the eloquent participation of Anita Martinez, Dr. Jorge Bernardez, Melecio Gonzalez and Domingo Alvarez from California. The local representation of Mirtha Sabio, Felix Miranda, Erico Castro, Luis Velasquez, Celso Castro gave the Summit a fervor of delight, intellect and sense of history. They left the participants with eagerness of wanting to learn 84
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more about "what it is" to be Garifuna living in the United States and at the same time concerned about the social and political trials and tribulations of the Garinagu back in our home lands. The Summit gave the impression that all organizations involved in the preparation of such happening felt a good sense of accomplishment and the willingness to embark into the second venture of the next Summit, July 3 - 5 1992 in the West Coast. Inversiones Imperio headed by José F. Avila and Tomás A. Avila and other Garifuna organizations from the West, East coasts and other cardinal points of this great nation won the admiration and the endorsement of the many people present. The exhibition under the direction of Mr. Carlos Gamboa was very outstanding. Also the Garinagu can also be commended for having a fine dance group like WANICHIGU from New York. Manuela Sabio, director of the group presented a memorable performance shared by Mr. Justo Castro who delighted the audience with his melodies and vibrant voice. Another memorable moment of the Summit Meeting was the speech delivered by Dr. George Irish and Assemblyman Ed Griffith who both gave us a feeling of belonging. Yes, it was great! For those of you that were skeptical about the Summit and did not attend, you have another chance to enjoy listening to your own people delivering speeches at the highest point of an IQ can ever reach in California in 1992. Plan to be there! bring your organization, views and visions and plan a fresh future. Let's give us the opportunity, to be together to solve our migration or immigration problems regardless of where geographically we happened to be from. Remember the 1990's is for us, the Garinagu!
Accomplishments The First Garifuna Summit Meeting served as a catalyst for many important accomplishments in the New York Garifuna Community. “Many of us had a change of heart, we found our true identity while others chose to stop hiding behind other cultures” Among these accomplishments were the following: 1. October 1, Initiation of the English as a Second Language (ESL) / Graduate Equivalency Degree (GED) credited to the Youth Organization - Garifuna Education Alliance and MUGAMA. 2. HIV Workshops were offered by Mirtha Colón, Sandra Güity and Maria Marin. 3. A Group of concerned Garinagu met with Dr George Irish from Medgar Evers College to discuss ways to educate teachers on the Garifuna culture, remind the Board of Education and the Bilingual Department of the need to provide cultural training; design a training program to prepare Garinagu teachers for state certification; employment of Garinagu paraprofessionals to help our kids function better in the school system. 85
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4. November 19 - History was made by the United Garifuna Association when the Honorable Sylvia Flores, Mayor of Dangriga, Belize received the stroll declaring this day as "Garifuna Day" 5. The students at City College in New York organized a Garifuna club which they named Libaña Baba. The goal of this club was to bring together the Garifuna students of the different institutions of higher learning. The club's objective were to encourage community involvement by the Garifuna students once they've achieved their professional goals. They felt that it is very important that one give back to the community once the person is in a position to do so. 6. The Lumalali Garifuna radio program began broadcasting over WNYE, 91.5 FM in New York City every Sunday from 4 - 5 PM. The program's host is Felix Miranda, a member of the United Garifuna Association who has been a catalyst in the Garifuna community of New York. MUGAMA’s Educational goals and objectives were drafted and presented to the School district 23 by Dionisia Amaya and Lydia Hill (see attached) Because of the April celebration our ancestors began to take notice Of our oraganization and our meber Manuela Sabio was called to serves the ancestors and MUGAMA was dedicated to the spirit of our ancestors. Through this experience, many signs were depicted on this reality as Yolanda Blanco and Luz E. Guity can attest to that fact. The Educational Program also became a reality at Our Lady of Mercy 2 nights a week initiated by Dionisia Amaya, Manuela Sabio and Luz E. Guity and Mrs. Cozbi S, Cardona. Two individuals completed all requirements and obtained their G.E.D. Diploma during this first class. From there the organization moved to St John Cantiuos Church on the invitation of Dr. Abraham Pinter who was conducting a neighborhood college educational Program at the site, and 29 Garinagu received their GED diploma. Our social contact continue with much acceleration. MUGAMA was becoming the ways and means for the Garifuna community to achieve the American Dream through education opportunities. Although we were not too popular amongst the Garifuna people whom claim that our organization wanted to send every body to school. MUGAMA's Incorporation Ms. Carlota Castro advised the membership that we consider the legal incorporation of the organization and suggested seeking the advice of Legal Services located in Jamaica Ave. to begin the process the incorporation. Later, Erico Castro introduced Mr. john Uzemeri to start the papers for the 501-C3. Due to the confusion of the name Garifuna and Garinagu, Education and Educacion the process of incorporation lasted 4 years to complete, and was finalized by Legal Services in August of 1996. The organization's bylaws also needed to be modified from Garinagu only to Black women, and Mr. Uzemeri made the necessary changes. By the time all this legalities had been completed Ms. Divina Gaskin had joined MUGAMA in Sept, 1994 and proceeded to introduced the organization to Mr. Nikos Valance an expert in proposals writer, who wrote the first proposal for the organization in promoting Economic Development Program which was unsuccessful. However. he wrote a second proposal for the purpose of MUGAMA opening an Advocacy Center for the Garifuna community which was successful in obtaining funding for the organization to establish a permanent presence in the community. The main purpose for the organization to open the office was to put MUGAMA's name in telephone directory and become known to the public and by such time the organization's 501-C3 had become effective. 86
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In Sept. 1996 The Educational Program was looking for a space and Mrs Dionisia Amaya called every where looking for space without any luck, until one afternoon she called JH5275, and was radvised to call a Mr. Negron, Director of the Beacon /PAL Center operating at JHS 275 which in our opinion it was God sent and the rest is history. Afterwards, we needed a place to operate, and Ms. Amaya once again called Mr. Negron and he gave the organization space to open the office the following year on Jan 2nd 1997, where we operated for about 18 months. Due to Mr. Negron's moved to another position he asked us to look for a space elsewhere by June 30th, 1998. We found office space in the Riverdale Towers and we have been operating there since June 15,1998. Ms. Divina Gakin applied for the job to work as an organizer for the organization and this created a lot of conflict due the fact that she is not a Garifuna and according to the members, she would not known how to handle Garinagu related problem. Despite all the conflicts confronted, Ms. Gakin was hired with funding provided by the New York Foundation.
Garifuna Bicentennial Committee Proposal On October 4, 1993, Tomás Alberto Avila submitted a preliminary proposal to the Garifuna organizations in New York City, proposing creation of a planning committee to coordinate the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Garifuna people to Honduras.
Rational The rational of the proposal was to promote a high quality commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Garifuna people to Central America, and to raise awareness to the global community, we'd plan and execute a memorable and exciting Bicentennial commemoration in Honduras on April 1997. According to Mr. Avila’s proposal, It's our responsibility to confront the challenges of executing this activity, with the highest and utmost quality in order to demonstrate our ethnic pride, promulgating our honor and satisfaction of being Garinagu as well as highlighting our achievements since our deportation from St. Vincent to Central America in 1797. To fulfill the above responsibilities, Mr. Avila proposed that we start working on the plan as soon as possible, by organizing several planning meetings in the near future, in order to recruit responsible individuals and organizations that would be interested in participating, and establish a planning committee composed of these individuals and organizations, that would be responsible for the initial establishment of all the goals and objectives for the event. The planning committee would be representative of the different nationalities that form the Garifuna global community, including Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, St. Vincent and Nicaragua. The committee would serve as the vehicle responsible for the preliminary organizational and promotional undertakings while also researching the legal requirements of the organization. Despite the proposal submitted by Mr. Avila, in 1993, it was June 10th 1995 when the Bicentennial Committee Pro-Commemoration of the Arrival of the Garinagu to Honduras was organized. This event took place at a meeting held at St. John the Baptist Mission Church, located at 948 East 156th Street, Bronx, NY 10455. 87
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During this organizing meeting, the following officers were elected: President: Tomás Alberto Avila Vice President Dionisia Amaya-Bonilla Secretary: Luz Francisca Solis-Rey Treasurer: Mirtha Cacho-Sabio Advisors: José Francisco Avila, Juan Laboriel, and Felix Miranda In addition, the following committees were created: Finance: Marketing: National Coordinator International Coordinators:
Daisy Calderón Hector Vera and Dimas Arriola Luz Estela Arzú and Heriberta Laboriel Mirta Colón and Antonieta Máximo
On September 27th, 1996, Articles of Incorporation for The Bicentennial Committee Pro-Commemoration of the Arrival of the Garinagu to Honduras, Inc., a Domestic (Not-For-Profit Corporation) are filed with the New York State Department of State Division of Corporations and State Records by Mr. Rejil Solis, Vice President of the Committee. On October 25, 1996, the Committee sponsored the visit of Mr. Céleo Alvarez Casildo, president of the Central American Black Organization to New York City. A reception was held in his honor at Mi Casa Restaurant which was well attended and where Mr. Alvarez Casildo spoke about the status of Blacks in Central America. WHERE ARE WE NOW. Right now we are in need of more members. Those of us who are still here we are doing our best and those whom have gone lam sure there is still essence of emotional attachment to MUGAMA, which we ought to respect.
The Board of Directors President Luz E. Guity Vice president Eloina Thomas Treasurer: Isidora Benedith Recording Secretary Martha Solis Valvere Public Relation Secy: Dionisia Amaya Executive Director: Divina Gaskin.
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We urge to the present members not to forget the main purpose of MUGAMA Which Is To RESPECT, Recognize HONOR AND SUPPORT THE ACHIEVEMENT OF OUR PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY OUR WOMEN. MUGAMA' 5 ACHIEVEMENTS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6
8 years of successful ES.L./GED Educational Program An office with a full-time person 31 GED Diplomas 4 Graduates 1 AA and 3 BS 5 Fathers of year (Vidal Melendez, Mariano Garcia, German Noralez and Felix Miranda) Open Houses
Therefore, MUGAMA has proven itself to be an agency dedicated to the service if its community and deserves recognition for its services to the Garifuna community and the community at large. HUMAN RESOURCES Teachers, Guidance Counselors, Nurses, health Workers and you. Our present active members are: Luz E. Guity, Eloina Thomas, Isidora Benedith, Martha Valverde, Aida Alvarez, Liduvina Guerrero and Dionisia Amaya. The inactive members and who are much needed. Luz Solis, Carlota Castro, Yolanda Guity, Sonia Gamboa, Yolanda Blanco, Abelina Rochez, Maria Vilma Sabio, Mary Castillo, Manuela Sabio and Maria Velazquez. Some of these people are supporting the organization in one way or another. We need to bring them back! In conclusion, sisters let's not forget the main purpose of MUGAMA's exi stance TO HONOR, RECOGNIZE, RESPECT AND SUPPORT OUR PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY OIR WOMEN. Last but not least, our newest member, Mary Gotay who is doing an outstanding job as the ESL coordinator in the Bronx.
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New York City Public Schools Bilingual Program Development & Improvement JOSEPH A. FERNANDEZ CHANCELLOR MARIA SANTORY GUASP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (718)935-3891 FAX: (718)935-6115 MEMORANDUM April 11, 1991 TO: D1STRICT T BILINGUAL PROGRAM COORDINATORS FROM: John Acompore, Directors Bilingual Program Development & Improvement SUBJECT: Garífuna It Has come to my attention through Community School District 3 that there are LEP student populations in the city who speak a language called Garífuna. Garífuna speaking families come primarily from Honduras, but also Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize in Central America. Although these are to some extent Spanish or English speaking countries, many children, unless enrolled in schools where Spanish or English was taught, speak only Garífuna. Therefore, despite Spanish surnames, the primary home language is Garífuna which contains elements of the Bantu (Africa) and Arawak (West Indies} languages. In New York City, the Garífuna people are apparently concentrated on the west side of Manhattan (CSD 3), the south Bronx (CSD, 7, 8, 9, 12), and East New York/ Brownsville BrookLyn (CSD 19, 23). With regard to entitlement to bilingual/ESL programs, and classification of Garífuna LEP students is "Consent Decree" or "Lau", the following guidelines apply: 1. Garífuna speaking LEP students are entitled to bilingual and ESL programs.
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2. Garífuna LEP students whose home language is Garífuna but who are proficient in Spanish based upon the Spanish LAB score may receive Spanish/English bilingual instruction and be classified "Consent Decree LEP", these students may also receive instructional and/or support services in Garífuna . 3. Garífuna LEP students who are not proficient in Spanish should receive Garífuna /English bilingual instruction, if there are sufficient numbers to mandate a bilingual program, and be classified as Lau LEP. 4. All Consent Decree, Lau Plan, and State Part 154 regulations apply to the identification of and bilingual/ESL programs for Garífun speaking LEP students. Also, for further information and technical assistance concerning Garífuna speaking students, you may contact Mr. Felix Miranda, United Garífuna Association of New York at (718)935-3910. For any clarifications concerning regulations and program entitlement or planning, please contact me at (718) 9353910.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Approved: Maria S. Guasp Executive Director
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February 8, 2014 By-Laws of the Corporation
Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha Pro-Education Inc (MUGAMA Inc)
Article I
The name of the Corporation is Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha Pro-Education Inc (MUGAMA Inc.).
Purpose The purpose of MUGAMA Pro-Education Inc. is to promote the highest quality of education and community awareness about educational opportunities in the New York area, by providing a vehicle in which concerned parents and friends can come together and discuss educational opportunities for our Garinagu children and develop scholarship programs and family assistance in educational matters as well as other programs related to educational opportunities for children and to solicit, collect and otherwise raise money or scholastic awards for career scholarships to support the educational goals of worthy Garinagu applicants who have graduated from High School and wish to further their post High School education in their chosen career. Article II Membership The membership of the corporation shall consist of Garinagu women or women married to a Garifuna male who are committed to the intellectual development of themselves and our children and have contributed their individual and collective efforts to support the academic and cultural achievement of our Garinagu youngsters and shall continue as such. 1. Each member will be asses a monthly contribution to the corporation, which will be use towards the establishment of scholarship programs and to sponsored recreational and informative programs for the Garinagu youths. 2. Each member of the corporation is expected to participate fully in all activities sponsored by the corporation whenever possible, to suggest items of business to be brought before the board and to develop and execute activities to raised funds. 94
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Article III Board of Directors 1. Directors: The property, affairs, activities and concerns of the corporation shall be managed by a Board of Directors. The members of the Board shall, upon designation, immediately enter upon the performance of their duties and shall continue until their successors shall be duly elected. 2. Number: The number of Directors constituting the entire Board shall be Ten and no more than 20. The number of Directors may be increased or decreased by action of a majority of the entire Board subject to the limitation that no decrease shall shorten the terms of an incumbent Director. 3. Term: No Director shall serve more than five consecutive two year terms (plus if applicable, a one year term for those initial Directors so designated) Any Director who fails to attend three consecutive meetings of the Board without a satisfactory excuse during his/her term in office, shall upon written notice given by the Board be removed as Director. Thereafter, the terms of office shall be for two years. At the expiration of any term of office, any Director may be re-elected. 4. Powers: The Board of Directors shall have and may exercise all the powers of the corporation, except such as are conffered upon the members by laws and these by-laws. The board shall in general have the responsibility for establishing reasonable policies and procedures to ensure the fulfillment of the purposes and programs of the corporation, in accordance with these by-laws, the laws of the state of New York and the Federal government. 5. Enforcement: Any member may enforce the membership provisions of this article, or require explanation of any particular financial matter, by written complain to the secretary. A written reply to such complaint, approved by the Board shall be given any such complaint within 30 days of it's receipt.
Article IV Meetings 1. Regular Meetings - Regular meetings of the Board of Directors shall be held the third Saturday of each month at such time and place within the state of New York as the Board of Directors of the Corporation or the President may prescribe. 2. Special Meetings - Special meetings of the Board of Directors may be held at such times and place within the state of New York as the President may from time to time prescribe, whenever such a meeting is called in writing or by telephone by at least one-third of the Board Members or the President of the Board. 95
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Minutes of prior meetings and an agenda of the meeting shall as a matter of practice, accompany all notices of meetings. 3. Notice of Meetings - Notice of the time and place of the meeting and, in the case of a special meeting, of the purpose for which and by or at whose direction such special meeting is called, shall be mail at least seven days before the meeting or by telephone at least three days before the meeting. An emergency meeting may be called with notice to the Board members by telephone the day of the meeting or one day prior to the emergency meeting. 4. Quorum Voting - A majority of the Directors in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the Board of Directors. A majority of the Directors present, whether or not constituting a quorum, may adjourn any meeting to another time and place. The act of the majority of the directors present at a meeting which a quorum is present shall be the act of the corporation, except as otherwise provided by law. A meeting at which a quorum is initially present may continue to transact business, notwithstanding the withdrawal of nay director(s), if any action taken is approved by at least a majority of the quorum required for the meeting. 5. Action without a Meeting - Any action required or permitted to be taken by the Board of Directors may be taken without a meeting if all members of the Board, individually or collectively consent, shall have the same force and effect as a unanimous vote of the Board. Such written consent(s) shall be filed with the minutes of proceedings of the Board. 6. Resignation or Removal - Any director may resign by written notice to the President of the Board. Except as may otherwise be provided by law, any director may be removed for cause by unanimous vote of The Board of Directors. 7. Vacancies - Any Vacancy in the Board of Directors may be filled by the Board of Director at its next meeting or any other duly convened meeting of the member. 8. Compensation - Each Director shall be entitled to receive from the Corporation reimbursement for the reasonable expenses incurred by him\her in connection with the performance of his duties. Nothing contained in this section shall preclude any Director from serving the Corporation or its subsidiaries in any other capacity and reasonable compensation therefore.
Article V Committees 1. Standing Committees - Standing committees shall be: Executive, Programs planning, Nominating, Activities. All committee meetings are open to the general membership. 96
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2. Special Committees - The Board may designate from time to time from among it's members special committees of the Board to perform special functions in carrying on the work of the Corporation. Special committees shall have only the lawful powers specifically delegated to them by the Board. 3. Committee Procedure - Unless otherwise provided in subsequent sections, all committee appointments shall be made by the president with the approval of the Board. The President shall be ex officio a member of all committees, except the nominating committee. Each committee shall elect its own Chairperson. In the event that a committee does not adequately perform its function, the President may reform that committee with the approval of the Board. All committees designated by the President and each of the members thereof, shall serve at the pleasure of the Board. Any committee may adopt such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the Certificate of Incorporation or by the By-Laws or applicable laws or the resolution of the Board designating such committee as it may deem proper for the conduct of its meetings. 4. Minutes of Meetings - The Executive Committee and all other committees shall keep regular minutes of all it's meetings and proceedings. The minutes shall be open to the inspection of any director any time. 5. Quorum - A majority of the members of each committee shall constitute a quorum of that committee. 6. Executive Committee - The executive committee shall consist of the president, any vice-president, the secretary, the treasurer and three members (or four if required to create a committee with an odd number of members) of the Board. During intervals between regular meetings of the Board, The Executive Committee shall possess and may exercise all the powers of the corporation in respect to the policies of the corporation except as the matter set forth in section 712(a) of the Not-For-Profit Corporation Law. All actions of The executive Committee shall be reported back to the Board at its next meeting succeeding such action. 7. Program Planning Committee - This committee shall consist of members of the Corporation. The committee will serve as a forum to all members to bring their ideas for the development of fund raising activities. The committee will evaluate all suggestions and recommend to the Board those considered appropriate for action. 8. Nominating Committee - This committee shall consist of representatives of the Board and the general membership in a manner to be establish by the board. The committee shall publicly solicit suggestions for nominees for the scholarships sponsor by the corporation and shall prepare a slate of nominations for presentation to the Board. This committee shall also be charged with the responsibility of taking nominations for the election of officers and prepare a slate of candidates to such positions. 9. Activities Committee - This committee shall be charged with the responsibility of managing and executing all events recommended by the program planning committee and approved by the board, as well as planning fund raising activities. Article VI 97
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1. Officers - The officers of the Corporation shall be a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, and such other officer as the Board at its discretion appoint. All officers shall be Directors. All officers shall be elected bi-annually by each new Board of Directors. Any officer elected or appointed by the Board may be removed by the Board with cause. 2. President - The President shall preside over all of the meetings held by the Board of Directors. He/She shall be an ex officio member of all standing committees and shall in general supervise and mange all of the business and affairs of the corporation, subject to the control of the Board of Directors. He/She shall have power to sign and execute all contracts and instruments of conveyance in the name of the corporation, to sign checks, drafts, notes and orders for the payment of money and to appoint and discharge employees and agents, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors. He/She shall perform all the duties usually incident to the office of President. 2. Vice-President - The Vice-President shall in the disability or absence of the president perform the duties and exercise the power of the president. The vice-president shall have such powers and perform such duties as may be delegated to him/her by the president or prescribed by the Board of Directors. 3. Secretary - The secretary shall keep the agreement of association, an attested copy of the article of organization and articles of amendment of said agreement of said articles of these by-laws. He/She shall keep the minutes of every meeting of the Board of Directors and also unless otherwise directed, the minutes of committees in books provided for that purpose. He/She shall give, or cause to be given notice of all meetings of directors and all other notices required by law or by these by-laws, and in case of his/her absence or refusal to do so, any such notice may given by any person thereunto directed by the president or the board of directors upon whose requisition the meeting is called He/she shall have custody of the seal of the corporation and affix the same to all instruments requiring it when authorized by the directors and attest the same. He/She shall file all written requests that notices be mailed to members at an address other than that which appears on the record of members and he/she shall in general, perform all the duties incident to the office of secretary. 5. Treasurer - The treasurer shall have custody of all funds, securities, evidence of indebtness and other valuable documents of the corporation; when necessary or proper he/she shall endorse on behalf of the corporation for collection checks, notes and other obligations and shall deposit the same to the credit of the corporation in such bank or banks or depository as the Board of Directors (or the finance committee) may designate. He/She shall receive and give or cause to be given receipt for monies paid in on account of the corporation and shall pay out of the funds on hand, all just debts of the corporation of whatever nature upon maturity of the same; he/she shall enter or caused to be entered in books of the corporation, to be kept for that purpose, full and accurate accounts of all monies received and paid out on account of the corporation and whenever required by the president or the directors (or the finance committee) he/she shall render a statement of his/her account. He/She shall keep or cause to be kept such other books as will show a true record of the expenses, losses, gains assets and liabilities of the corporation; he/she shall at all reasonable times exhibit his/her books and accounts to any director of the corporation upon application at the office of the corporation 98
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during business hours. He/She shall perform all other duties and acts incident to the office of the treasurer and shall give the corporation security for the faithful performance of his/her duties in such sum with such surety as the Board of Directors may require. 6.Vacancies - If the office of any officer becomes vacant, the directors may elect any qualified person to fill such vacancy, who should hold office for the unexpired term of his predecessor and until his successor is elected and qualified. 7. Conflict of Interest - No director or officer of the corporation shall be interested, directly or indirectly in any contract relating to the operations conducted by it, nor in any contract by furnishing services or supplies to it, unless such contract shall be authorized by the Board of Directors and unless the fact of such interest shall have been disclosed or known to the Board of Directors at the meeting at which such contract is authorized. Article VII Miscellaneous Signing of Obligations - All checks drafts, notes or other obligations made, accepted and endorsed by the corporation shall be sign by two persons, one of whom shall be the treasurer or the secretary and the other, the president vice-president or any other director delegated such responsibility by the president or the Board of Directors. Disbursement of funds of the corporation shall be made in check form, except for the authorized petty cash disbursement not to exceed fifty dollars. Real Property - No purchase, sale, mortgage or lease of real property shall be made by the corporation except upon the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the number of directors then in office. All contracts or agreements, mortgages, leases, deeds, transfers and other conveyances of the real or personal property of the corporation shall upon the authorization of the Board be executed by two persons, one of whom shall be the president, vice-president, and the other shall be the secretary or the treasurer. Fiscal Year - The fiscal year of the corporation shall begin on January 1 and end on December 31 of each year. Annual Statement - The Board of Directors shall cause to be prepared a statement of the physical and financial condition of the corporation, including a consolidated balance sheet showing the assets and liabilities of the corporation and a profit and loss statement certified by independent public accountant. Indemnification - The Corporation shall indemnify any person made a party to an action by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact he/she, his/her testator or intestate, is or was a director, officer or employee of the corporation against the reasonable expenses, including attorney's fee, actually and necessarily incurred by him/her in connection with the defense of such action or in connection with an appeal therein, except in relation to matters as to which such director, officer, or employee is abjudge to have breached his duty to the corporation. In no event shall indemnification include the amount paid 99
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in settling or otherwise disposing of threatened action or a pending action, or expenses incurred in defending a threatened action or by pending action which is settled or otherwise disposed of without court approval. The corporation shall indemnify any person made, made or threatened to be made, a party to an action or proceeding other than one by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgement in its favor, whether civil or criminal, including an action by or in the right of any other corporation of any type or kind, domestic or foreign, or any partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, which any director, officer or employee of the corporation served in any capacity at the request of the corporation by reason of the fact that he/she, his/her testator or intestate, was a director, officer or employee of the corporation or served such other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise in any capacity, against judgements, fines, amounts paid in settlement and reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees actually and necessary incurred as result of such action or proceeding, or any appeal therein, if such director, officer or employee acted in good faith, for a purpose which be reasonably believed to be in the best interest of the corporation and in criminal actions or proceedings, in addition, had no reasonable cause to believe that his/her conduct was unlawful. The foregoing right of the indemnification shall not be exclusive of other rights to which he/she may be entitled. Article VIII Amendments These by-laws may be amended, repealed or altered in whole or in part by a majority vote of the members of the corporation at any regular or special meeting of the corporation, called for the purpose of which the notice shall either specify the articles to be affected by or the subject matter of the proposed alteration, amendment or repeal. The proposed change shall be mailed to the last recorded address of each member at least 10 days before the time of the meeting which is consider to be change.
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February 8, 2014 Estatutos de la Corporacion Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha Pro-Educacion Inc (MUGAMA Inc) Articulo I El nombre de la Corporacion es Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha Pro-Educacion Inc (MUGAMA Inc.). Objetivo
El objetivo de MUGAMA Pro-Educacion Inc. es de promover la mas alta calidad de educacion y concientizar e informar la comunidad Garinagu acerca de las oportunidades educacionales que existen en el estado de Nueva York, proveendo a los padres y amigos de nuestra juventud la oportunidad de unirnos, discutir y divulgar todas estas oportunidades educacionales, como tambien desarollar programas de becas y asistencia a dichas familias en asuntos relacionados con estas oportunidades educacionales para nuestra juventud Garinagu y solicitar, y recaundar fondos monetarios para sustentar las metas de nuestros jovenes.Garinagu meritorios de esta distincion, que se hayan graduado de una escuela secundaria y desean continuar su educacion superior en la carrera de su predileccion.
Articulo II Miembras Las miembras de la Corporacion, debe consistir de mujeres Garinagu o mujeres casadas con un hombre Garifuna cometida al desarollo intelectual de si misma y de nuestra juventud Garinagu y que contribuya sus esfuerzos individuales y colectivos a soportar los logros academicos y culturales de nuestra juventud Garinagu y continuar de tal forma. 1. Toda miembra debera contribuir a la corporacion una cuota mensual, la cual sera aportada hacia la creacion de programas de becas como tambien a la sufragacion de los gastos de la corporacion en fomentar programas informativos a la juventud Garinagu. 2. Toda miembra de la corporacion debe participar en todas, las actividades auspiciadas por la corporacion, sugerir sus ideales y programas que consideren y deseen sean desarolladas con el proposito de recaundar fondos para nuestro ojetivo, o actividades recreacionales
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Club Tragedy an Awakening for Garifuna By Edna Negron New York Newsday Sunday August 18, 1991 A tropical breeze permeated the air in the East New York housing complex where activist Felix Miranda and Dionisia Bonilla greeted the group of black women congregating in the court yard of the Riverdale towers. "¿Ida biña nidugeñu?" Bonilla asked. "How are you, my family?" Bonilla a native of Honduras was speaking Garifuna, a patois of Indian and African root languages which indigenous to the Caribbean coastal towns of Central America and makes use of some Spanish and French words. Miranda and Bonilla are members of an emerging immigrant community in New York City known as Garifuna or Black Caribs. Although Garinagu have been migrating to the United States in search of a better life since the 1930s, the community was virtually obscured in New York until the Happy Land Social Club fire. Fifty nine of the Happy Land victims were Hondurans. More than 70 percent of the Honduran victims were also of Garifuna descent. An estimated 50,000 live in the South Bronx, Brownsville and East New York of Brooklyn, and on Manhattan's Upper West Side. As the trial of Julio Gonzalez unfolds in the Bronx, Garifuna leaders say the community is becoming more vocal and visible in New York. "Happy Land was an awakening", said Bonilla an educator and founding member of Mujeres Garifuna En Marcha(MUGAMA), an organization of Black Carib women. Black Caribs are racially mixed people who are descendants of 18th Century Carib Indians and African FreeSlaves. After they reveled against the European colonization during the late 1700s, they were deported from the island of St. Vincent by the British. They later settled in beachfront villages in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua. While they share Roman Catholic religious belief, Garifunas maintain practices of their own culture, such as the traditional dance called Punta, which is danced after nine days of praying the rosary and is dedicated to the souls of the deceased. For months, members of MUGAMA and the United Garifuna Association have been surveying Garifuna families in an attemp to identify their housing, education and business needs. They grant Garifuna students who are eligible for English as a second language and bilingual services in the New York City public schools, and to establish an all purpose community center. For the most recent Garifuna immigrants coming from economically strained Central America, it is the younger men in their 20's and single women who face harder economic times- often working menial jobs here to support family members back home. 104
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The impetus to organize, leaders say, was the pain and confusion family members experienced when they tried to get help after the Happy Land fire. "One of the problems was that the people didn't understand how the system works, how to get assistance" said Josﾃｩ Francisco Avila, a Texas based national activist. So last month, for the first time in New York, Garifuna leaders held a conference at Medgar Evers community College, at which they outlined an agenda to unite the community, including long range plans to build a Garifuna enclave of businesses and homes. "We want economic participation" said Miranda a member of the United Garifuna Association, a Brooklynbased organization. "But we have a great number of High School dropouts." The Board of Education alerted school districts by memo about the growing number of Garifuna children, many of whom are Spanish-speaking; while some from remote towns in Honduras speak only Garifuna. In the school system, teachers discovered these group of children who were black, had Spanish surnames but who did not speak English or Spanish. "They spoke a different language" said MUGAMA President Lydia Hill. "These Garifuna children were not receiving services in the school system." Meanwhile in the East new York apartment where Bonilla and Miranda conducted their survey, maintenance worker Enemesio Mauricio, a father of four, said Happy land was still a learning experience for the community. "We talk about it a lot then, and we still talk about it. Every time we meet in a restaurant or hall we always remember the tragedy," Mauricio said. "From then on,
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Points of Entry: New York's Garifuna For New York’s Garifuna, 203 years of exile is cause for a party--and cultural pride. By Laura Ciechanowski |
Saturday, Apr 1, 2000 http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/2702/points-of-entry-new-york-s-garifuna#.UvNkxbSAnyA The Riverdale/Osborn Towers in East New York, four brick buildings arrayed around two concrete walkways, are as drab and unwelcoming as any high-rise housing project. Inside, however, hides an unexpected treasure: cozy, low-ceilinged offices festooned with colorful posters and banners. This is the home of MUGAMA, an organization founded to stitch together and support the scattered members of one small and obscure Caribbean ethnic group, the Garifuna. “To tell my people that nothing is impossible, that the American dream is attainable--that has been my goal,” says Dionisia Amaya, one of MUGAMA’s founders. Amaya’s people are the Garifuna--a marginalized ethnic group in Honduras and Belize that has quietly settled in New York City over the last 60 years. MUGAMA, which stands for Mujeres Garinagu en Marcha, or Garinagu Women on the March, aims to help Garifuna New Yorkers succeed in their new country. (Garinagu is plural for Garifuna.) In borrowed classrooms at schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx, MUGAMA offers GED and English instruction, and provides small college scholarships. The organization offers something else, too: A means for a speck of 50,000 people among New York’s welter of immigrant groups to find a balance between the need to assimilate and the desire to preserve a distinct cultural heritage. On April 12, MUGAMA is holding its annual celebration of that heritage and the unlikely events that ultimately brought the Garifuna to New York. More than two centuries ago, their ancestors waged a 40-year war with the British, who tried and failed to enslave a group of Africans on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. The British, unable to subdue these feisty people, drove them off the island instead, giving rise to the Garifuna’s proudest moment. They celebrate Garifuna Survival Day with music, dance and commemoration. These festivities bring Garifuna from different countries together, says Felix Miranda, an expert on Garifuna history who works as an administrator for the New York City Transit Authority. That way, this minute ethnic grouplet prevents its identity from being “watered down,” he says. New York’s Garifuna are well aware that most New Yorkers don’t know anything about their culture or even that they exist. Being part of a tiny group in a big city isn’t easy. “The United States believes in numbers,” Miranda observes. “The greater your voice is in the city, the greater the chance is of getting things done.” Isidora Benedith of the Bronx agrees that invisibility is difficult. “I see many very large groups of people who can move the city with parades and all that stuff,” she says. Benedith volunteers teaching a GED preparation class for MUGAMA, with the idea of helping her people take some of their first steps toward visibility and power. “I think we are almost anonymous people doing small things. But it’s worth it,” she laughs.
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Garifuna first came to New York in the 1930s. A seafaring people, they arrived as merchant marines during World War II. Today, they live in the South Bronx, eastern Brooklyn and Staten Island. Most first-generation Garinagu have footholds on the first rungs of the economy, working in long-hour, low-pay jobs like home health care, housekeeping and construction. The children of earlier waves work as school teachers, police officers and other professionals. But until three teachers founded MUGAMA in 1989, New York’s Garifuna did not have an institution to tie them together. They have no restaurants, shops or community centers of their own where people can gather. “This is our acculturation,” Amaya shouts over blasts of furious percussion at a February benefit for MUGAMA’s scholarship fund, held at a Jamaica, Queens, banquet hall. She motions toward the women gathered around her, all wearing formal dresses as they dance to a live band playing traditional Garifuna music. Nearly 150 guests danced until 3 a.m., with couples young and old taking the floor, laughing. The women were invited to model their dresses for the crowd, forming a conga line fashion show. Over the loud music rose shouts in Spanish and Garifuna--a mix of African Bantu, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Like any immigrant group, the Garifuna have to make hard choices between preserving their heritage and embracing assimilation. In their history, they have a particularly compelling reason to look both ways, into both the past and the future. Garifuna ancestors include Bantu tribespeople brought to St. Vincent by British slave-traders. There, the Bantu surprised their captors by taking refuge with the island’s indigenous residents, with whom they soon intermarried. Though the British spent decades trying to enslave the Garifuna, their attempts failed bloodily. In 1797, the British threw them off the island. “They couldn’t stand that this group of people refused to be controlled,” says Amaya proudly. “So they decided to deport us.” After a long sea journey, most ended up in Honduras, while others settled in Belize and Nicaragua. There, they faced marginalization, discrimination and worse. In 1937, a government-backed massacre tore through Honduran villages. More recently, officials have used Hurricane Mitch as an excuse to displace Garifuna from beachfront areas with lucrative tourism potential. “We need to get a better understanding of what these people suffered,” Miranda says. “When you think about the little things we take for granted, you begin to realize how important that is.” MUGAMA’s attempts to reach out to Garifuna New Yorkers are essential to maintaining the community’s cohesiveness, says J.A. George Irish, director of the Caribbean Research Center at Medgar Evers College. “[MUGAMA] are very well organized, and they are community-based,” Irish says. “They have a strong sense of connection with the average working-class person. They are not one of those paper-based groups.” Despite their perseverance, New York’s Garifuna still face difficulties common to immigrant groups, including financial struggles, language barriers and jobs with little room for advancement. MUGAMA was founded to offer them a better chance.
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Amaya, a retired guidance counselor with a master’s degree from Brooklyn College, wanted to see other Garifuna succeed in the U.S. The most important step toward that, she says, is education. With this organization, “we are opening up to any woman who wants to excel,” Amaya says, “and help our community, especially our youth. I wanted to tell [other Garinagu] that if I was able to achieve all of these goals, everybody else can.” MUGAMA began with next to no resources or experience. When it was first starting up, the group met in Amaya’s Brooklyn basement and used her home answering machine to take the organization’s phone calls. Its English as a Second Language and GED classes, offered mainly on weekends, are still taught by teachers working pro bono, help Amaya says is becoming harder to find. The organization’s small budget, she says, prevents MUGAMA from offering as many classes as they had hoped. The group hopes to expand to offer social services like employment aid and health information. It has grown slowly, however, not unusual for a grassroots organization serving lower-income people. Since 1996, MUGAMA has been largely funded by a grant from the New York Foundation, which provides $35,000 of the group’s roughly $40,000-a-year budget. Maria Mottola, a program director for the foundation, says she was impressed with MUGAMA’s ability to remain close to its base. While the organization used the bulk of its funding to hire a staff coordinator, it continues to be led and run almost entirely by volunteers. Mottola says that Garifuna were much more comfortable getting services from organizations staffed by people from their own community. “MUGAMA is filling a need that larger groups don’t,” she says. “It is their own organization: They are the leaders of the organization, the founders of the organization and the staffers of the organization. They are serving members of their own community--that’s where their strength is.” As they become more integrated into city life, New York’s Garifuna are increasingly aware that they have to work to keep their culture and language alive. “Assimilation is always there,” says José Avila, president of a company that provides financial and immigration services. “The younger generation tends to assimilate; the youth tends to identify more with being black.” Avila says that he became aware of the significance of his Garifuna heritage only after he began researching it as a student in his late teens. But with a spike in immigration in the 1990s, young Garifuna are increasingly embracing their identity, says Irish. “When you’re small in numbers, the easiest thing to do is to blend in. The increase in immigration to the U.S. has been helpful [for the Garifuna] to see themselves as a distinct group.” One sign of that revival is the formation of Libaña Baba--a group of Hunter College students who work to promote Garifuna awareness. Felix Miranda agrees that the rebound of Garifuna pride is extremely important. But he also points out that it’s just a starting place. “Certain situations bring people together and make us cohesive,” he says. “What we need now is to galvanize the cohesiveness in order to make a mark.”
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Cassava Nation For the Garifuna people of coastal Honduras, coming together to cook the foods of their ancestors provides a sense of identity and continuity that transcends borders By Betsy Andrews Nov 7, 2012
http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Honduras-Coast-Garifuna
Photos Credit: Penny De Los Santos
The fish, rubbed with garlic and cumin, was frying, and the coconut milk was bubbling on the stove when Mama Nicha walked through the room. "Now it smells like a Garifuna kitchen!" she proclaimed in Spanish. At 75 years old, this tireless community leader presides over a busy household and language school in the seaside city of La Ceiba, Honduras. She was getting ready to teach a lesson to youngsters who were hoping to add English to the Spanish and Garifuna they already spoke. 113
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Dionisia "Mama Nicha" Amaya-Bonilla and her students are Garifuna, descendants of Africans and Native Americans who live, a nation within nations, along the Caribbean coast of Honduras as well as in neighboring Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and, nowadays, several U.S. cities. The most common story of their origins tells of slave ships that sank in the early-17th century, and of the Africans who escaped the wrecks and swam to the island of St. Vincent, there to mix with the indigenous Carib Indians and to thrive for more than 100 years, their numbers reinforced by other escapees of the region's slave plantations. The Garifuna fished; they grew cassava and other Carib crops, as well as colonial imports like plantains, which they used in a dense mash akin to African fufu. They skirmished with the French and the British, resisting subjugation until 1797, when the British defeated them and exiled thousands of Garifuna to the island of Balliceaux. Starvation and illness decimated their numbers. Later that year, survivors were deported to the island of Roatán, off Honduras. From there they migrated to the mainland, eventually spreading out along Central America's Caribbean coast. The Garifuna brought their culture and language with them, living off the bounty of the shore. Though modern times have seen the Garifuna squeezed out of many of their valuable beachfronts, they remain fierce in their identity. "We were deported from St. Vincent because we refused to be enslaved," Mama Nicha explained to me. "They deported us to nowhere, hoping we'd die. But we didn't. It's been 215 years, and we are still here." In the kitchen beside Mama Nicha's classroom, her niece, Mirna Martinez, a big woman in a maroon dress and matching headwrap, was deftly cubing cassava and sweet potatoes in the palm of her hand with a dull kitchen knife. I knew the knife was dull because her cooking partner on this day, Robinson Chimilio, complained about it. A young chef in Coke-bottle glasses, Chimilio, like many Garifuna men, often works on cruise ships or abroad. He had arranged the mise-en-place just so for his dish—green banana dumplings called alabundigas, served with meaty turbot steaks in a coconut milk-based sauce. After a while, Martinez set out her tapou, a fish, green banana, and root vegetable stew emboldened with plenty of garlic and crimson achiote paste. We dug in, eating silently, scooping leftovers off of each other's plates, picking fish from the bone with our hands. "Semeiti weigie, idia?" said my guide and friend, Lina Hortensia Martinez, and then she translated from Garifuna: Our food is delicious, right? "Our food is survival food... We will not die of hunger if we have banana, fish, coconut, and we know that." Indeed it was. I could understand why Chimilio and Mirna Martinez took such pride in their cooking. Elemental yet opulently flavored, these dishes said a lot about who the Garifuna are, and how, in a changing and challenging world, they manage to hold fast to their identity. "Our food is survival food," said Mama Nicha after lunch. "We will not die of hunger if we have banana, fish, coconut, and we know that. You go to the sea and fish, and there are coconuts on the beach. You don't need money." Of course, nothing, really, exists separately from money, not even the Garifuna culture. So I found the day I met Lina, a year before my trip to Honduras, at a food festival in the Bronx, where many of New York City's estimated 200,000 Garifuna live. Lina was in New York promoting her business of exporting cassava bread made by Garifuna women's cooperatives in the municipality of Iriona, in Honduras' remote northeast. For these women the starchy flatbread, a Garifuna staple, offers a potential livelihood and therefore a way to keep their coastal lifestyle—one based on communal fishing, farming, and cooking—intact. I was so compelled by the down-to-earth beauty of the Garifuna foods I sampled that day that I called Lina afterward; without hesitation she invited me down to Honduras. And that's how I ended up here, among the 114
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February 8, 2014 Garifuna in and around La Ceiba, Lina's home, eating delectable Garifuna food. At Chef Güity, a restaurant overlooking La Ceiba's pier, we savored a creamy soup chockfull of tender hunks of conch, and another made with briny she-crabs bursting with roe. In the nearby Garifuna town of Corozal, we hung out beneath the pavilion roof of Restaurante Corozal, where proprietress Maritza Centeno maintains a museum of Garifuna folk objects, many of them cooking utensils. Of the enormous wooden mortar and pestle called a hana, used for pounding plantains, Centeno said, "This is African culture." There was a grater called an egi, fashioned from bits of jagged stone embedded in a board, and a ruguma, the woven sleeve used to squeeze the juice from grated cassava. A group of young musicians from the local church slapped out Garifuna rhythms on their drums, and we devoured platters of fried conch, kingfish, plantains, and rice and beans. Though the lunch included foods eaten, as well, by the country's mestizo majority, the predominance of seafood reflected the Garifuna's coastal palate, and the rice and beans were sweet from cooking in that quintessential Garifuna ingredient, coconut milk. Lina and I walked off lunch, strolling past concrete-block houses wedged between the highway and the Caribbean Sea. "When the road was built," Lina said, "people felt the land had been cut in half, so they moved to the beach side and sold the other. Now the Garifuna live shoved up next to one another, with health, water, and housing problems."
Among other challenges facing the Garifuna along this coastline, there are the land-grabbing tourist developments in Trujillo, two hours east of Corozal; the palm oil plantations threatening to swallow up Iriona; and the encroaching pan-American drug trade. Then there's lethal yellowing disease, which ravaged Honduras' coconut palms in the 1990s. For the Garifuna, who use coconut profusely—frying fish and plantains in its oil; making soups, stews, and breads with its milk; cooking its grated meat with ginger and unrefined sugar to make a fudge-like sweet called dabuledu—the loss was devastating. Though disease-resistant coconut palms have been introduced, "these are not the ones we're used to," Lina explained. "They have less oil." Not that I would have known it from the wonderfully rich alabundigas and tapou and seafood soups I sampled. These Garifuna recipes are strong enough to have weathered the storm—despite the availability of fast foods and supermarket conveniences. "In the city, things have changed because of jobs and school. We have left that kind of cooking for the weekends, but we haven't lost it," said Lina's friend Teofila Valerio, a law student and gifted home cook, as she peeled plantains in the kitchen of her house in La Ceiba. "The lifestyle has changed, but the culture of the Garifuna will not change. The food will not change."
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We savored a creamy soup chock-full of tender hunks of conch, and another made with briny she-crabs bursting with roe. We had come to watch Teofila, who goes by Teo, make the most beloved of Garifuna dishes, hudutu. Prepared traditionally, many Garifuna dishes take a while and some effort to complete. But none match the labor intensiveness of hudutu. Both sweet, ripe plantains and unripe ones, which add a starchy consistency, must be boiled and then pounded—and pounded and pounded—to a smooth, dense paste. The paste is served alongside of, and as a utensil for, the fish and coconut stew that completes the dish. Often, Lina said, while the plantains are boiling, "men take a nap and expect to be awakened to do the mashing." Since we had no men with us, the job was delegated to Lina. "When they hear the pestle hitting the mortar in the community," she told me, "people pass by your house and say, 'Oh, you're making hudutu!' That's a special sound." While Lina mashed, Teo prepared the stew. She started with coconut. If this were another dish—if she were making the Garifuna's sweet coco bread, for instance, which requires the richest milk—she might have stopped at what they call "first water," squeezing the grated fruit with only a small amount of water so as not to dilute its aromatic compounds. But for the stew she soaked and strained the grated coconut repeatedly to extract the milk. To that she added cumin, allspice, and a sofrito, or flavor base, of diced and sautéed aromatics—garlic, bell peppers, basil, culantro, and oregano, all pulled from her garden. Then, into the pot went thick kingfish steaks marinated in lime. Along with the pounded plantains, the finished stew made a hefty meal. I mopped up the last, luxurious drops with a sleek, sweet-savory hunk of the plantain mash and thought of the man I had met the day before in Corozal. "After I finish hudutu," he had told me, "I go to sleep." The following morning, Lina, Teo, and I made the four-and-ahalf-hour drive to the municipality of Iriona, traversing highways, forging rivers, and bumping along on country roads walled with coconut palms. Along the way, Lina serenaded us with Garifuna songs: "Meiguada la tia bere, meiguada la, meiguada la." May your strength not fall, may it not fall, may it not fall. When we reached our destination in Iriona, the village of Ciriboya, women were gathered around a thatchroofed hut that serves as a communal kitchen. "The Garifuna community does everything around feasting and food. If there's no food, they will highly complain," said Lina.
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The occasion was the 40th birthday of Mirna Ruiz, a taut-muscled, lively woman who is a member of a cassavaproducing cooperative that Lina works with. We found Ruiz and her friends at her sister's house, finishing up breakfast—coco bread and cups of porridge-like adulu, made with coconut milk and cassava flour, flavored with unrefined sugar and cinnamon—and assembling a few stews. As they cooked, the women bantered in both Spanish and Garifuna, a language derived from their Carib ancestors' but with plenty of African and adopted European words. Like their language, their cuisine has borrowed from the dominant culture around them, while retaining its distinctly Garifuna character. I was handed a pot of ariran guisou, a spicy-sweet, mestizo-style chicken stew, and instructed to carry it down the road to the thatch-roof hut, where one of the women slid it into wood-fired handmade clay oven. Lina carried the darasa, green banana paste steamed in banana leaves harvested from the women's yards. "We call these traveling tamales," Lina said. "They can take away your hunger if you are walking a long distance." The women here are used to journeys on foot; every week, they trek with their machetes to the steep hillside where they farm cassava. From the long, muddy path up to their high patch of land, the view of their pristine beach is breathtaking. It's easy to see why others would want to take it all from them. But as their men and children leave the village to find work elsewhere, the women have fought to hold on to this land, for cassava's sake. "Ereba nanibei weiyei," said Ruiz. Cassava bread is my husband. "Whenever I need some money, I know cassava bread will feed me." While we celebrated, sitting at tables in the shade of a nance tree and feasting on guisou, rice and beans, darasa, and caramelly, dense banana and pumpkin breads, the women took turns working over a clay stove inside the thatched-roof hut. Using a hand broom fashioned from shrub branches, they spread cassava flour on a hot iron plate, patted it down with a wooden press, and when the starch had bound the disk-like bread together, they flipped it to toast the other side. Then they swiftly trimmed its edges with a machete, creating a big, bronzed, perfect circle. "God made people in his image, and he made us Garifuna with our qualities," one proficient breadmaker told me. "When we dance and when we sing and when we eat, we show the world who we are, and we are content. We believe in our ancestors, and they have left us a lot of things: the cassava bread, all our foods." She handed me a piece of the freshly cooked bread. It was nutty and chewy and smoky; it tasted wonderful. Then we all stood in a circle beneath the nance tree holding hands. Lina led us in prayer, asking God and the Garifuna ancestors for the wisdom and strength they would need to prosper as a community, and giving thanks for the gift of the meal we had all shared.
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