Proud to Be Garifuna

I must credit my mother Jacinta Palacio for setting the foundation for my cultural pride. She created an environment in which her children grew knowing who they were and where they came from. We ate Garifuna food and she taught us how to prepare them also. We listened to Garifuna music. My older sisters were involved in a youth group called Igemeri which means light. My eldest sister Florence taught me several Garifuna songs and she used to host a program called Garifuna half hour on Radio Belize. There was a group of musicians - led by a man named Rene - who came to our house when I was a child and played live Garifuna music. During Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations, my mother would take me to the festivities and allowed me to join in the circle with her and other women as they sang and danced to various Garifuna songs. My mother also baked bread and johnny cakes on a make shift fire hearth in the back of the yard where we lived on 38 Sittee Street in Belize City. Many evenings our neighbors would line up in the yard for bread and johnny cakes fresh and hot from the baking pot. Developing pride in one's culture comes from living it. My mother set a good example by living Garifuna culture with pride and passion.