Greetings

We are pleased to report that on the 1^st of Mosiah, Stop The Maangamizi Campaign Coordinator-General, and Executive Director of the Maangamizi Educational Trust, Sista Esther Xosei was the international guest speaker for Afrikan Emancipation Day Commemorations organised by the UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF), chaired by Sista YaYa Marin Coleman. This trip was a vital component of glocalising and strengthening the building of the International Social Movement for Afrikan Reparations (ISMAR) in link with the Peoples Reparations International Movement (PRIM) in Belize and the wider Caribbean and Abya Yalan region.

The Maangamizi Educational Trust operates as the educational arm of the Stop The Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/Ecocide Campaign (SMWeCGEC). We recognise that education is a critical aspect of the community preparations that are being undertaken in furtherance of effecting and securing holistic Afrikan Reparations. Furthermore, education can play a key role in preventing the Maangamizi by providing methods and strategies for addressing the impact of Maangamizi Crimes and violations while promoting the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and cultural change that can contribute to preventing repetition of group-targeted atrocities and injustices.

MET is dedicated to building narrative and cultural power to move society toward a vision of holistic reparative justice as Planet Repairs, (the interconnection of cognitive justice, reparatory justice and environmental justice), required due to the continuum of the Maangamizi. Accordingly, MET seeks to build the public imagination and cultural will to counteract the Maangamizi and its pervasive impacts through advancing public education and narrative change which supports taking action to counteract the Maangamizi in the process of effecting and securing holistic reparations.

Wake Up Belize Show & Meet & Greet

On the morning of the 31st July, Sista YaYa, Sista Esther & Brother Menyelek appeared on Wake Up Belize (WUB) Mawning Vibes Talk Show the XTV Morning Talk Show.

On the evening of the 31st July, Sista Esther attended a ‘meet and greet’ session in Belize City which also featured the launch of an art exhibition produced as part of the Breddah Cliff Augustine and United Black Association for Development Educational Foundation (UEF) Summer Youth Film Photography Camp 2024.

Libation, Drumming & Petal Release Ceremony & Free Yuh Mind Community Reasoning

On the morning of the 1st of August, UEF hosted a Libation, Drumming, & Petal Release Ceremony in Belize City which featured Garifuna Youth Drummers from Seine Bight Village in the Stann Creek District of Southern Belize. The recording of the ceremony on XTV can be found here and below.

In the evening, Esther was the international guest speaker at the ‘Free Yuh Mind’ Community Reasoning where Sista Esther was given a special gift presentation by Sista YaYa Marin Coleman, UEF Chairperson. Sista Esther’s presentation was broadcasted by XTV and Krem Radio.

The following video is a snippet of some of the drumming done by the Garifuna Youth Drummers from Seine Bight Village where Sis YaYa is serenaded by one of them

The following news report is what appeared in the Amandala Newspaper print copy 2nd August and online 4th August 2024.

Visits to Afrikan Heritage Communities

The trip to Belize also consisted of visits to historic Afrikan Heritage Communities such as Punta Gorda, Dangriga and Gales Point Manatee.

Punta Gorda is the southernmost town in Belize, and the administrative capital of the Toledo District. It was founded as Peini by the Garifuna people which is the accepted Garifuna name of PG. Peini means point in the Garifuna language. A Garifuna elder shared with Sista YaYa and Sista EstherPunta Gorda (PG) is between 2 points, when the Garifuna speaking people populated Punta Gorda 1832-1900, they were not English speakers.

The Drums of Our Fathers Monument, located at the entrance of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize, is a monument designed by the Nigerian sculptor Stephen Okeke, honouring Garifuna history, culture and its beliefs

Finally, Esther visited Gales Point Manatee in Belize District which is home to a longstanding Afrikan Maroon Community where she heard from Breddah Liston Myers, community historian about the Afrikan Maroon history in Belize.

Meeting at the Institute of Social & Cultural Research

Below are some picture that were taken that documents the visit to Belize were two main meetings occurred.

The first meeting was with Breddah Ronaldo Cocum, Director of the Institute of Social and Cultural Research (ISCR-NICH), Breddah Giovanni Pinelo, Senior Research and Education Officer at ISCR-NICH and other staff.

The Institute for Social & Cultural Research (ISCR-NICH) aims to advance research, safeguard Belize’s intangible cultural heritage, and deepen the appreciation of the country’s rich history and culture. It is a division of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), which is Belize’s premier cultural institution dedicated to the safeguarding, promotion, expression, conservation and sustainable development of culture in all its diversity in collaboration with the people of Belize.

The following is a report from ISCR NICH about our meeting:

Meeting at the Intercultural Language Institue – University of Belize

The second meeting was with Delmar Tzib, Director of the Intercultural Indigenous Language Institute, Egbert Irving, Director of Institutional Advancement and history lecturer, Jineen Roches, all at the University of Belize where talks were held about the necessity to develop reparations educational initiatives in association with UEF and the MET which compare, contrast and advance Afrikan and Mayan reparations struggles.

Visit to Hummingbird Farm in Toledo District

Sista Esther & Sista YaYa took a trip to the celebrated Hummingbird Farm in the Toledo District prior to Esther’s return. Hummingbird Farm is a 113 acre Hummingbird Farm committed to the principles of permaculture, conservation and family life. One of its key features is Rochochil PehPem (Butterfly House). Visiting the farm gave Esther an opportunity to see a land rematriation initiative in process.

Sista Esther could not leave the country without touching base with legendary land surveyor Elder Roque Marin (84), the father of Sista YaYa Marin Coleman.

Sista Esther extends her warm thanks and appreciation to Sista YaYa and the Marin Family for their hospitality during her stay in Belize.