Saving the Garifuna Language Through Music  

A charity to save the Garifuna language, sponsor a track for the youth in Stann Creek and uplift commendable elders in the community have all been planned for the next ten days. The Yurumein project is hosting a concert, ball and walkathon all in the name of community. News Five’s Britney Gordon spoke with the organizers of these events to learn all about it. Here’s that story.

 

Jeremy Cayetano, Managing Director, Belize Yurumein Project

“The Yurumein project was formed in order for us to lift the Garifuna language. What we would like to see is for the Garifuna language to become prevalent in all Garifuna communities again. And so we do things like teaching Garifuna. We encourage speaking of the language within and among ourselves. And it’s something that we’re really pushing this year. As a matter of fact, we’re launching a campaign to get folks to practice to speak and so that we could we could lift our language. That’s the main thrust of the year.”

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

International Director of the Belize Yurumein Project, James Cordes hails from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He explained the significance of the Garifuna language to his country and why he wishes to help preserve it.

 

James Cordes, International Director, Yurumein project

“This project is important to me because first thing we have a Garifuna components here. Our people’s exile. You might have heard it many times. 1797 there was exiled to British Andrews wrote on. And so that’s half of our family. Over two thousand persons made it here. And so I’ve always known that I have brothers and sisters here. And when we excel in track and feel in terms of bringing Saint Vincent on the forefront of track and field, I felt like we shouldn’t leave Belize behind. So we came in search of young stars with talent, and then we’ve exposed them to the Penn Relays as well from 2018 to now.”

 

Cayetano explained that several events will be hosted over the next ten days.

 

Jeremy Cayetano

“Our first concert symposium is going to be at the Civic Center on Tuesday the 19th of March, and then we’ll be at Stann Creek Ecumenical College on Wednesday the twenty-eighth, Independence High School Thursday the twenty-first, and Toledo Community College on Friday. We also have our run for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which is another fundraiser on Saturday morning in Dangriga, starting at the Ecumenical College. And then on Sunday night, we have our ball. Our ball, for the first hour of our ball, we’ll be honoring ten elders from the Dangriga community. That is something that we do that we do every year and then following that we have a ceremony and then we have the Melisizwe brothers will perform”

 

Special guest performers are the Melisizwe brothers, Seth, Marc, and Zacaray, who earned the title of most talented family in America a few years back. Their parents are also from Saint Vincent and inspired a desire to contribute to the preservation of the language in them.

 

Marc Melisizwe

“I’m most looking forward to, you know, interacting with, you know, the youth of Belize and just coming to do the symposium most importantly. And also get to interact with our culture, which is the Garifuna culture, which is here in Belize because our parents are, our parents are actually from Saint Vincent and the Garifuna culture. And Saint Vincent is related. The Garifuna are actually originally from Saint Vincent. So, being here again, getting to interact with the culture and the language again, is really a treat for me.”

 

Cordes is a primary sponsor of the Penn Relay Program in Belize and noted a need for a track and field facility in Stann Creek.

 

James Cordes

“We have guys like Usain Bolt, all these guys attended it. Right now we have a female from St. Vincent, her name is Shafiqa Maloney, who came to my program as well since she was 13 years old. She is now the fastest, the second fastest, second, second. She’ll be the fastest soon. She’s the second fastest female in the 800 meter track category. And we also have a young man handle robe and he holds the, the records all time, 800 meter high school record at the Penn release. So this program actually bring children to their perfection when it comes to track and field. And it also provide them with a path, an educational path. We’re using sports as an academic and an economic vehicle. And so we have a number of students, over 15 students since 2011, that has graduated with either a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. And we have seven students currently in college in the United States through the program.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.