July 8, 2025 • 54 mins
The destruction of Grenada's Carriacou Museum during Hurricane Beryl reveals a critical vulnerability in Caribbean cultural preservation that goes far beyond one building. When Majella Mark witnessed the museum's roof torn away, she saw decades of irreplaceable historical artifacts—from ancestral diaries to rare photographs—exposed to the elements, threatening to erase community memory overnight.
Majella Mark is a Caribbean creative, researcher, and strategist deeply involved in preservation and sustainable development. She sits on the board of the Carriacou Museum, co-founded the Eco House Collective in Brooklyn, and is a founding director of the Caribbean Futures Forum. Her work bridges climate resilience, community planning, and cultural storytelling.
In this episode, Mela shares her bold vision for preserving Caribbean culture and building a sustainable future—from Carriacou to Brooklyn.
Links mentioned in the episode:
- Majella's website - https://www.majellamark.com/
- Carriacou Museum - https://www.carriacoumuseum.gd/
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A Breadfruit Media Production
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of
Carry On Friends, the CaribbeanAmerican experience, and I'm
excited to have this person onthe podcast because I'm going to
try to pronounce our name andthe name still should be Majella
, right?
Yes, it's a pretty name, but wehave to make sure that we, you
(00:22):
know, learn to pronounce thename properly.
But, welcome to the podcast,Majela how are you Thank?
you, I'm good.
I'm good, all right.
So why don't you tell ourcommunity of friends a little
bit about who you are, caribbeancountry you represent and the
work that you do?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So I'm representing Grenada.
I am very, you know, small butmighty island.
My mother's from Guam, myfather's from Krosu, so, like
true and true, I'm, you know,grenadian and the work I do is
it has layers to it.
So I guess well, one I'm on theboard of directors handling
(01:03):
international relations andspecial projects for the Karakum
Museum that is currently on itsway of rebuilding.
I'm project lead to help getthat done after Hurricane Beryl.
Also on the founding board ofdirectors for Ika House
(01:24):
Collective, which is kind of afocus on sustainable co-living
in urban spaces or urban cities,really trying to create the
(01:45):
dream of actually, you know,owning a home, while also
directing on connecting withcommunity and also focusing that
on the whole initiative ofsustainability.
And then, lastly, I am thefounding director of the
Caribbean Futures Forum ThinkTank under the Institute of
Caribbean Studies here inWashington DC, where I currently
am.
I just end up attending theannual legislative forum under
(02:07):
the Institute of CaribbeanStudies speaking on disaster
resilience and sustainabilitydevelopment for the Caribbean.
So that's my focus.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah and true to form , I'm a Caribbean person, one by
the things on the list ofthings to do, but I do.
I am familiar with theinstitute of caribbean studies,
um, I was the chair for the 30on the 31 year and I did, did.
I did see um dr nelson a coupletimes in passing, um, so you do
(02:42):
.
The museum in um grenada, sothe caracool museum and ika, is
that also in grenada or is it usbase?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
uh, so you mean ika as in uh, the other thing that
you said, the house collectiveyeah eco house collective that's
based in brooklyn.
Um, it was a group of friendswho came together because we all
thinking is, it's expensive tolive in New York, but we want to
own a home, right?
So then we thought like, well,okay, what does that look like?
(03:12):
And, of course, a lot of us waskind of thinking like how do we
support the initiative for the2050 Sustainability Initiative
in New York City and somehow owna property?
So our task was and we met, youknow, every other Sunday for
two years speaking on how to buya property together and then
(03:37):
kind of living in our own unitsand then looking at what does
that mean?
What does that look likelegally, you know, when it comes
to mortgage broker, when itcomes to taxes, what's called,
you know, comes to all thatBecause Brooklyn is expensive
now.
We haven't noticed.
Brooklyn is very expensive nowand really look at what does it
mean to try to attain theAmerican dream, especially in
(04:14):
Flatbush, where I live, andtrying to figure out how do we
still able to just live where weare with the rents going up.
You know just that, not eventhinking about just owning
something.
Just how do we just maintainour lives?
As you know, things keepskyrocketing.
So we're now very focused on howdo we go ahead and make sure
(04:37):
that we create some kind ofinitiative that is spoken of
sustainable co-living, where itcould be multi-generationals in
one community or building or itcould be multiple families,
where this idea of beingself-sufficient, with you know
solar panels and a rain catchsystem and everything in a city
(04:59):
so you could cut costs onutility bills and if you have a
food co-op, that also helps withsaving costs, and if you have
multiple families in onebuilding, that saves costs on
babysitters because you knowsomeone can take your child in
the building and they feel safeto have your child with them.
So it's just this idea ofreally focusing on how do you
(05:23):
really create a village in aspace where a lot of times,
especially in urban cities inthe US, there's this isolation
kind of epidemic.
So that's really what we weredoing, twofold for that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's so interesting that you're having this
conversation and I also see thethrough line with the work that
you're doing.
Um, I'm in the middle ofreading paul marshall's I don't
know if it's pronounced paul orpaulie, but it's paul marshall,
she's of barbadian heritage herbook brown girl, brownstone and
it's about, you know, it'sreally focused on the Bayesian
(06:03):
community and how they're allworking to buy brownstones and
all the characters who areliving in this brownstone.
And very interesting read.
So you know what you'resuggesting or proposing.
With this eco-living, it is notnew, it's just that we departed
from it.
Departed from it, you know,it's something that I feel like
(06:28):
it's foundational to usmulti-generational living.
I think we just kind of movedaway from it because, you know,
families moved to differentstates, we were a little bit
more spread out, a little biteverybody wanted space, which is
fine, and I think we might haveto come back around to this
multi-generational or co-livinglifestyle, you know, to make
(06:51):
life or living sustainable, youknow, and not go broke.
So it's very interesting.
I recommend reading it.
It's a very interesting read.
But all these characters, butreally the you know everyone's
coming from Barbados.
This is really early in the1900s, it's around 1920, 1930,
and they're all working veryhard, they're renting these
(07:12):
brownstones, but the goal is tobuy a brownstone, um, and then
you have all these charactersliving in this house.
So it's very interesting.
So, switching to the museum inKarikou, talk to me a little bit
.
How did you get to that, so weunderstand how you got to
eco-living?
I live in Brooklyn, I live onthe other side and, trust me,
(07:33):
brooklyn, as we said, deer, it'sdeer bad.
Everybody left Manhattan.
Come drive up Brooklyn Price.
That's another forum for theBrooklyn community board, but
you know that's another forumfor the Brooklyn Community Board
and I thought they would leaveFlatbush alone, but nope.
No, they, no, sir, nowhere is,nowhere is Unscathed, Unscathed,
(07:56):
yes, basically Everything,everything is everything.
I even feel like people fromLong Island will come back to
Brooklyn.
I'm like what is going on?
But all right, enough of thelocal talk, let's go back to the
museum.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Let me know how did you get to be in that role at
the museum.
So I was in Grenada forHurricane Beryl and I was there
with my sister in our home, sowe had to experience it
ourselves and we decided to stayin our home rather than going
to the community center becausewe figured, you know, we have a
downstairs, we can, you know,kind of, you know, buckle down.
And one thing I realized afterthe storm was Karakul and
(08:39):
Pitimatnik is smaller islandsand I know that they have a
different system is smallerislands and I know that they
have a different system, eventhough in the mainland of
Grenada, you know we got ourpower up after a couple of days
and you know we were able to getthe water system up.
I know Karakou and Pink Manichave more.
You know they don't havestreams on the islands.
They don't have.
(09:00):
You know they have septic tanks.
They have, like rain catchingsystem, so they don't just
necessarily have the differentutility companies that they
would just kind of come aroundand pretty much revive the
communities.
My first thought was the museumitself.
I know that I work as aresearcher by trade or historian
(09:21):
.
So my first concern was youknow what happened to our
history?
And so, of course, I went andsaw the museum itself and saw
the whole top floor was gone.
It was really devastating tosee how, just within a couple
(09:45):
hours, you can see the historyof Grenada, and specifically the
kayak people, completelydisappear with one storm.
So what I did was I thought I'djust send some emails out.
I sent emails out to the MuseumAssociation of the Caribbean.
I sent emails to otherorganizations just saying hi,
just letting you know, after thehurricane, the Carribean Museum
(10:07):
is definitely going to needassistance.
So at the time, you know, withthe instability, of course, I
expect everybody is reallyfocused on rebuilding their
homes and trying to get theirlives back together.
So I wasn't expecting them toreally focus on the institutions
.
You know it doesn't have to bethe hospital.
It's more important than youknow, than the museum itself,
(10:28):
you know, which isunderstandable.
So what I thought was me justsimply sending some emails was
didn't turn into me applying forgrants, didn't turn into me
putting strategic plans together, which didn't turn into me
meeting with different peopleand then going into and to
(10:49):
connect with people inconferences.
And so I'm very blessed that Iwas able to get a grant to be
able to reestablish a digitalpresence for the museum through
Blabook it's a company based inCalifornia in the US spreading
museum um through playbook it'sa company based in california,
in the us um, and then with that, now we have a website, email
address, social media up.
(11:10):
Then I was like, okay, now fromthere we look you know legit
again with, you know, a digitalpresence.
So when I apply for grants, um,they can actually look
something up.
So then I'm very grateful wheresomehow the massive amount of
emails and me, pyongyang,pyongyang people actually led to
some grapevine.
(11:30):
Someone said, oh, your emailwas forwarded to so-and-so and
so-and-so and got back to me andconnected me with an
organization called the CultureEmergency Response and then they
handle a lot of thepreservation and the salvaging
of cultural sites after naturaldisasters especially.
(11:51):
So through that I was able togo ahead and get a grant and I,
you know, of course, for thepeople in the community,
especially the KarakulHistorical Society, I made sure
they kept track of everything Iwas doing.
And then, as of last week, Imade sure they kept track of
everything I was doing and then,as of last week, we had a board
meeting where they had toestablish a new board and I
(12:19):
guess it just made sense for meto be on the board to handle a
lot of the internationalconnections, since I've been
doing that.
I attended the GlobalSustainable Islands Summit and
St Kitts last week of May andwent to different conferences.
Again I'm here in DC speakingon disaster relief for the
Caribbean and it obviouslysnowballed into me really
getting into this space where Ihaven't before.
So I guess you could say Ifound my calling somehow within
(12:43):
the last year.
So now that I'm on the board Ireally am focused on being a
project lead of rebuilding thismuseum and really hoping that it
becomes a catalyst for the restof the island and for Piedmont
Nick to really see like OK, wecan rebuild, we can rebuild
better, we can rebuild, we canrebuild better, we can rebuild
(13:11):
sustainably, we can rebuild withthe notion of focusing on
hurricane and natural disasterresistance so that we can go
ahead and actually survive.
I mean the US aid which againwith this administration, no
longer exists.
They only provided 4.5 millionfor the Caribbean and a million
of that went to Grenada, amillion went to St Vincent and
$2.5 million went to Jamaica andunderstandably, grenada did
(13:33):
receive about $44 million fromanother entity and then was able
to go ahead and, through theHurricane Clause, was able to
erase $30 million out of theiractual debt, and that's
including debt they owe to theUS.
So there is some kind of relief.
But what I spoke in the Capitolbuilding yesterday was this
(13:54):
notion that the small islands,especially in the Caribbean
region which is on the hurricanebelt, they are not the key
players in the term climatechange issues.
My face is throwing you off.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Let's just make it clear we are not the perpetrator
of the climate issues thatwe're having, but we are the
ones who are at risk.
We're experiencing the risk ofit, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So I think what I was speaking on was.
What I was speaking on was thisnotion that we need to stop and,
to be quite frank, this saviorcomplex of being reactive, my
girl, oh God and be preventative.
So it's nice where you go aheadand you want to send some money
(14:44):
down after the storm happened,but having actual investment
through green tech jobs, throughactual infrastructure, through
actual entities, something assimple as like an actual
insurance fund, so then we don'thave to keep on and I can speak
on that.
(15:04):
But you know, this idea of theWestern world coming in and kind
of having these assessments andhaving all these NGOs come in
doing their assessments andserving food, and I am truly
grateful and I'm sure everyonein Caribbean is truly grateful.
But we have a lot ofintelligent people architects,
(15:25):
engineers, people who work forNGOs, people who are more than
capable, those who are militaryveterans, who are more than
capable of helping their countryespecially as we're in the
Caribbean diaspora and be ableto contribute back to their
country if they just got thesupport they needed and not just
being enabled or kind of beinggaslit with this notion of you
(15:49):
know like, oh well, we know bestbecause we are developed versus
developing.
I'm not jealous girl.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I mean, where do I begin?
Because I acknowledge yourexperience through the hurricane
, the, the, the.
The biggest hurricane Iexperienced was 1988, hurricane
Gilbert, and last year Irecorded an episode but I had to
(16:20):
edit it because I got someinformation at the.
I didn't know this existed.
So last year during burial,it's the thing that annoys me.
Let me just take a step back,because I can't even gather my
thoughts the way I'm excited.
It's the thing that annoys me.
Every time a hurricane happensin the Caribbean, as a people,
(16:42):
as a diaspora, we are veryreactive and about 3 billion
people that's collecting moneyand there is no insight.
I just feel like there's alittle bit more organization
that needs to happen around thecollection of the money and
where it's going.
It is not a disrespect to allof the people doing an effort.
It's what we do.
You're going to action mode,but we need to put some
(17:05):
structure and organizationbehind the momentum and the
volume of people we have.
And it was frustrating lastyear because I saw it.
And what people don't see isthere are other people.
You have people who areengaging and say, yes, they're
giving.
Well, what people often miss isthere's also a very large group
(17:27):
of people who are observing andseeing that too many people are
collecting money.
Who do I trust to give money to?
How do I know?
Is my money going spending theright place?
What kind of report am Igetting?
Like no, there are a bunch ofpeople who are asking that
question.
Right, when you go, think likeno, there are a bunch of people
(17:48):
who are asking that question.
And I recorded a solo episode.
I'm like is there anorganization?
Then I forgot.
I remember that there wasanother organization that
existed, but it was associatedwith CARICOM and they don't
really accept public funds.
And I'm like wait one thing.
And so people have reached outto me and they're like hey,
what's a trusted organization Ican donate money to?
(18:10):
So, while there's collectionand donations happening on one
end, what people overlook islike businesses and
organizations.
They want to see a trustedplace that they can give their
money to and they want to beable to get an insight as to did
my money go to the museum?
(18:32):
How is this money being spent?
And we hamper our efforts, ourrecovery efforts, when we don't
have a process in place on thediaspora end.
I don't live in the region, sothe region have the region
system, but on the diaspora end,we need something in place to
(18:56):
do that.
As a result of that, I recordedan episode recently with
Caribbean Philan philanthropicAlliance and talk about what
they're doing in the region.
But here you come againhighlighting another issue that
we have, just kind of continuingthe conversation.
There's a chance that when thisepisode release, it's still
(19:19):
going to be hurricane season,cause that's the thing Hurricane
season happened every year,every year, and so can we shift
from being reactive to proactive, right?
So, yeah, so my question foryou, then?
We don't have to go into all ofthat.
I think the question and theconversation that we want to
(19:40):
have here is let me, as you weretalking, is let me, as you were
talking I wrote this down, Iwant to make sure I read it.
When culture, culturalartifacts, lives in buildings,
right, what happens emotionally,psychologically?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
when they are destroyed by natural disasters,
Because this is something wedon't talk about.
Yeah, so it's quite unfortunatewhere there has been a bit of
destruction and, by all means,when you don't have the
infrastructure in place, if youdon't have funding, that's, you
know, in a bit of a cushion,it's hard to be able to make
sure you have the properequipment, the proper skilled
staff, etc.
Hard to be able to make surethat you have the proper
equipment, the proper skilledstaff, et cetera, to be able to
maintain this.
And I'm talking about it's noteven just statues or maybe some
(20:35):
arrowheads that has beencollected on the land itself.
I'm talking about people whodonated their diaries that was
from their great-grandparents.
I'm talking about photographsthat people have taken from the
1930s, where it's not properlystored because, again, the
resources weren't there.
But again, at the same time,when you don't have the diaspora
and again I'm not saying thateverybody needs to go ahead and
(20:58):
pitch in and feel like they feellike an obligation, but when
the diaspora doesn't contributeto the preservation of their own
history, it becomes quitestrenuous and devastating when
things like this does happen andthen they're wondering what
happened and why they didn'ttalk.
It's just to say it's fine whenwe're doing all these galas and
(21:20):
you want to dress up and youwant to do you know, you want to
, you know look nice and youwant to have a nice, you know, a
nice line and like a nicelittle classy fat and what have
you.
But at the same time, we haveto think about we need to also
have those types of events wherewe're able to actually do some
planning, actually having somelawyers involved, having, you
(21:42):
know, experienced curatorsinvolved, having experienced
architects involved, havingexperienced engineers and
technologists involved, where weactually come up with actual
solutions, as so many times Isee, like a 10-point plan.
Carrickham has a 10-point plan,I see, as has a 10-point plan,
everyone has a 10-point plan.
But it's like how we actuallyand how we actually executing
(22:04):
the 10-point plans.
It seems like there's aconstant talk of things, whereas
we need to be able to actuallyhave a timeline to actually get
things done.
Now, I know we have a history ofa barrel economy that's what I
call it where you have those inthe diaspora who they kind of
(22:25):
just give what they can and theyput in their barrel for
whatever relatives, and evenrelatives they don't even know,
those generational tradition ofyou know, being able to give
what you can or what have to,especially as these small
(22:46):
islands are seeing a lot moreimpact, not only by natural
disasters but by politicalturmoil, by this notion of
reparations as we keep ontalking about it and talking
about it, Thinking about, youknow, the younger generations
who they can't find work on theisland, so of course, after they
(23:06):
finish school they're goingback to Canada and UK and US and
they don't see a future onthose islands.
So then there's no people there,especially those who may have
skill sets to be able to pushsociety forward on these islands
.
They're not there on theislands themselves and then they
don't see a future there, sotherefore they're not going to
(23:27):
contribute.
So it's really a challenge, aswe see the museum itself and how
a lot of times it's verychallenging to maintain them.
But the reason why it's hard tomaintain them is because the
funding is not there.
It's because you have those whodo have skill sets who are not
willing to go back to their homecountry to actually do the work
(23:49):
to maintain these institutions.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
So, yes, go ahead, I have one better for you.
Funding cannot be there ifpeople aren't aware that they
are there.
Yes, because I don't know ifyou know this, but I also
produce, strictly Facts a guideto Caribbean history with
Alexandria Miller, and I waspleasantly surprised about the
(24:13):
museum in Barbados and I'm likeI didn't know that, I did not
know that I didn't know aboutthis museum in Carriacou, so one
there needs to be awareness.
Awareness not just from atourism standpoint, but a
diaspora standpoint.
Right, we are returningvisitors, we're returning, you
know, citizens, right, and theyshould, you know.
(24:36):
You know, a lot of times peoplesay you go back to Jamaica.
I have not discovered everycrevice on Kana, jamaica, so I
can go to Jamaica every year andgo someplace different, and I'm
okay with that.
And I think you know, as a, asan awareness, some people just
don't even know that this exists.
(24:56):
So let's step back and talkabout the museum.
Before the hurricane, what wasthe museum?
What was the the most popularthing in the museum?
What was the museum?
You know, housing in terms of,you know, grenada, caracos,
history and all of that.
So let's take a step back there, because this is an opportunity
to tell people about the museumhow long it's been around,
(25:19):
right, because somebody mightsay box me, never know, you know
.
So let's talk about the museumin that way.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So the museum has been around since the 1970s and
in this current building it'sbeen around since the 1980s.
Now again, because of the fewpeople who have been trying to
maintain it.
You have to understand that alot of the displays and a lot of
the different, you know, makeupat the museum is not your
(25:48):
moment in the US, it's not your.
You know Smithsonian here in DC.
Yeah, so it really is kind ofthey're working with what they
got.
Yeah, you have Ms ClemenciaAlexander.
She's been with the museum as acurator for 50 years.
January makes 50 years and oneof the discussions I've had,
which is a painful discussion, Iknow our elders are very stuck
(26:09):
in their ways and they'recomfortable and they do their
job and they like to handlethings.
But discussing a secession planis even a bit of a challenge.
And then understand that a lotof the organizations and
institutions that's in theCaribbean, whereas secession is
quite challenging.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
It's not just in the Caribbean, it's in the community
, diaspora included.
So let's just you know.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah, there's a generational disconnect of and I
spoke about this on manyoccasions this notion of the
elders being very comfortablewhere they are and they either
don't know how or they're justnot willing to because they're
very comfortable to pass thebaton.
(26:57):
So it's become a bit of afrustrating battle when we have
this notion of like.
So where's these institutionsgoing to be in 50 years,
especially if you can't engagethe young people to even just go
into these institutions?
So even though, yes, the museumwas there before the hurricane,
(27:19):
but to get young people to goin, there was just not happening
.
It was just not happening.
There was just not happening,it was just not happening.
So I know that with the futureof the museum, the plan is to be
able to find a way to engagethe youth, if it's through like
actual video work, if it'sthrough like workshops, if it's
through different notions ofengagement, to actually let them
(27:42):
be excited about their ownhistory and let them be a part
of it, help them build thefuture.
I think participation isabsolutely necessary and I think
that's one of the challengesfor a lot of the museums and
institutions that's inthroughout the Caribbean.
I've spoken to directors withthe Cayman Islands and I've
spoken to a few you know what Imean where a lot of it was
(28:03):
either shocked that there'syoung people who's willing to
work, or they just don't expectyoung people to even want to do
it.
Therefore, they're not going towaste their energy, even trying
to engage them.
But I keep on trying to remindmy community and remind people
especially as I get into moreand more in these conversations
is there has to be a future forthese institutions and there's
(28:29):
no reason why we have to go backto the starting line.
And that's and I and I saidthat multiple times in multiple
different people there's noreason why.
I think it's quite unfair toexpect the younger generations
to go back to the starting linebecause you struggle and they
didn't send you to school to doX, y, z, or you know the, you
(28:50):
know this government and that,the, you know infrastructure.
That's in that and we don'tcover for race.
It's like no, like how do wemake sure that you are confident
and capable of passing thebaton to the next generation?
So one they feel a sense ofparticipation and involvement,
(29:10):
but also they feel confident toactually take on the tasks.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
You know, there was a guest German and we were
talking about Louise Bennett andit really works like this.
He's like she did the work.
So these elders have done thework and we have to do a
transition.
When they are energized, theyhave the energy, they have the
(29:42):
health.
You know, to do this for thevery reason that when the
transition happened, they're notgoing back 30 steps, they're
just maybe going back five steps, 10 steps to continue.
I agree, and it's very hardbecause I've also said, like I
(30:04):
can tell the health of any ofour community organization based
on the makeup.
So if you have too many eldersin there and not enough young
people, we know that that is um.
Preservation is at risk.
Let's use the word at risk,right and um at the same time.
If there are too many youngpeople, there is also longevity
(30:28):
is at risk because we don't havethe wisdom to kind of help,
guide and anchor some of thethings that are happening of
preservation, intangibleartifacts and museum.
It is also, you know,intangible and even if you think
(30:54):
about eco-housing, all of thisis around how we continue, you
know, like we don't.
I don't want to say die off,but you know we continue.
Each generation is building onthe next generation and and
making advancements, and I thinkthat is what you're trying to
(31:14):
do.
I mean, you're talking aboutGrenada but, as you pointed out,
this is not isolated to Grenada.
This is a regional thing and Iguess, I guess I want to go back
, or maybe our conversation isgoing regional thing and I guess
I want to go back, or maybe ourconversation is going off
tangent.
How much of this is governmentenablement?
(31:37):
Because the diaspora can dowork, but how much of this is
government enablement andpriority?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So, for example, the Caracom Museum is run by the
people.
So it was started by the peopleand is run by the people.
So there is not government run,it's not a satellite museum to
what's happening.
So it really is theresponsibility of the community
itself.
And there's a lot of cases likethat, where it is grassroots
(32:12):
communities that are reallytrying to build something within
the island, not only in thesense of just wanting to have
something for the future, butit's a sense of pride, a sense
of understanding of like okay,where's the future leading us
and how do we make sure that weare at the same pace and we're
(32:34):
catching up?
I know that we have a lot oftechnological advances that, I'm
sure, is just more than capableof really helping these islands
improve just basic things.
But if we don't havegovernments that are willing to
(32:58):
take action, and take action ina timeframe that really makes
sure that these nations do notget held back, we will face
those challenges.
Something that could have beeninvested in years ago could have
prevented the destruction of 80to 90 percent of Karakum and
(33:20):
Petit-Matnik after HurricaneBeryl.
Now, if there wasinfrastructure that was put in
just a year prior, maybe wewouldn't have such destruction
that hurt.
Maybe with the differentmuseums and institutions that
are in place, maybe there wouldhave been opportunity to
(33:41):
actually kind of engage theMinistry of Tourism or to be
able to engage those nationswhere we have ties to.
I think and I won't say whichrep, but yesterday it was made
very clear like, do not expect abill to get passed.
(34:02):
Now I know here in the US therewas an act put in place since
2017 where the US is supposed toupdate those of the Caribbean
on actual relations between theUS and the Caribbean and it
hasn't been done for quite sometime and to then take into
consideration this notion ofpossibly having a hearing so
(34:24):
that reps do have to talk aboutyou know what's happening in the
Caribbean and what is theircontribution.
Because, again, the Caribbeanis in the Americas, right, and
again we have established thatthere are many different
countries in Europe, in the US,who still have Commonwealth-like
(34:47):
ties to a lot of the islands,but we don't see consistent
support.
We just don't, and it's quiteunfortunate.
So then when we see a lot ofthese governments who are saying
like, well, we're going to goahead and just wait until we get
some aid in, and then they justhave the money sit there and
(35:09):
then their solution is to giveout loans to help people rebuild
their home.
It's like so what are you doingwith the money that was given?
And those are questions that Iknow people are asking.
But, at the same time, onething about Caribbean people I
love our people, but they're notthe type to go ahead and start,
you know, protesting andmarching in streets.
They're more of just having,you know, discussions about
(35:30):
things and and and trying togauge politically through voting
, um, but to say that they,they're going to be an uproar
and uh, is very rare.
It's very rare for to take veryaggressive statements or
aggressive action to havesomething change.
(35:51):
So, at the moment where we havea lot of these issues of if it's
in Haiti again that was a bigdiscussion yesterday in what's
happening, in the violencehappening there or how Jamaica
is in concerns of becoming aHaiti that seemed to be a big
topic yesterday as well wherethe violence happening there or
how Jamaica is in concerns ofbecoming a Haiti that seemed to
be a big topic yesterday as wellwhere the violence is extruded,
(36:11):
I don't think they take intoconsideration that we cannot
rely on these bigger or morequote-unquote developed
countries to give support and asa diaspora as a diaspora we are
, as private citizens, we arenot only capable but it's
(36:33):
obligated, I believe, toactually do what we can to help
these countries develop, becausenot everybody can leave and go
to Canada or US or UK.
Not everyone could do that, noteveryone's going to get the
degrees or the certificates todo that.
So then, when you have privatecitizens who are willing to
actually say you know what?
I have this amount of years ofmilitary experience.
(36:54):
Let me go down to Haiti and beable to see what I can do to
help with the violence there.
Or I'm an architect, or justyou have individuals.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I think we can go on for days to this conversation.
I agree, you know a lot of ourtalent.
Everybody's talked about braindrain, a lot of that.
We.
You know there are many whostay, there are some who go back
(37:26):
, but there's a lot of cap.
You know human capital, peoplein the diaspora that can give
back to their country, theirhome country or country, a
heritage country, right, I stillmaintain that.
(37:46):
The fundamental challenge andthen we can talk more about this
in the after show Anybody cancome in at a community if you're
the after show.
But I think the fundamentalchallenge is process.
Right, if you have a line ofpeople out here to give money
but you have no way to collectthat money, what happens If you
(38:08):
have a line of people out herewho have shovels, spears,
buckets, whatever you know,hammer, drill, everything to
build, but you have no way oftriaging these things.
There's what you're going to doabout this.
So I still think that there isa process that's missing.
But, yeah, we're not going.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah but I do believe that government is not the
answer.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, I I agree, they can enable, meaning that they
support it, right, but that we,you know, and that's what I mean
, government enabled means that,okay, the, the government of
what's it, what's it,acknowledge that this
organization is doing so-and-soand that's fine.
But I don't.
(38:57):
I agree, we cannot depend onthe government, because they
have other priorities and thishas to be a separate thing.
I completely agree with that.
So we're going to talk aboutthat separately, because this
could be a whole three-daylecture.
But no, as we wrap up, I wantto make sure we get very
(39:18):
succinct and one like what arethe top three things that you
are raising the alarm about, theCaribbean largely, and your
three call to actions, likelet's do the sandwich technique,
the problem, what you think thesolutions are, and then your
(39:39):
call to action so I think theproblem is is that there is a
lack of support from thediaspora specifically coming
coming in to the Karakuspecifically, but the Caribbean
in general.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
So I think one of the issues is having the actual
diaspora more engaged andinvolved.
So the three action plans isone we need to be able to come
up and it doesn't have to bethrough CARICOM, it doesn't have
to be through them.
It's actually having an entitythat can handle, for example,
(40:18):
the way that you go ahead andsend money through Western Union
or MoneyGram to your people inthe islands.
That was expressed yesterdaywas if we was to put that same
money into an actual naturaldisaster fund so that actual
people could actually know thatgosh forbid another hurricane
(40:43):
come.
There's actual fund in place ofmoney that was already
accumulated to be able to helpout.
Number two, having actual and Iget it nonprofits and NGOs.
They work right, they work forit, they do their part.
But actually having actionplans where it's project-based,
(41:03):
so it's individuals with theirskill sets doing one project at
a time.
So if it is something as simpleas, for example, rebuilding a
museum, having somebody whocould donate the lumber, having
somebody who could handle theelectrical work, having somebody
who said you know what I'll payfor the glass cases, for the
(41:23):
artifact.
It's actually going project toproject.
So if it is building a school,if it is creating actual
technologies in place ordonating to technologies to be
able to help with the actualnatural disasters, if it is
everyone coming in and puttingmoney to be able to build, you
(41:44):
know, the institutions that areneeded, something, especially
when it comes to the healthcaresystem, especially when it comes
to this dependency on tourism,and so creating jobs when it
comes to the healthcare system,especially when it comes to this
dependency on tourism, and socreating jobs.
When it comes to agriculture,and how do we then go back to
being more self-sufficient so wedon't have because that's again
a whole nother financialrestraint on importing of goods,
(42:07):
especially produce, when wehave all that landed to go ahead
and grow on?
So it's having actual projectsand solving one problem at a
time, and you don't have to be,you know, some kind of scientist
from Yale.
It can be simple, like I knowhow to make fences, I know I can
contribute that right.
And number three, I thinkeducation is highly necessary.
(42:30):
Now I I did push this quiteoften in the last year, where I
do feel like the youth that isalready in the Caribbean, they
need the support system and theyneed the encouragement to be
able to get the skills needed tobe able to contribute to the
islands.
So another solution is the sameway.
(42:50):
You have the Jewish community,where every youth have to go to
Israel.
In South Korea they have theirown program where they get a
sponsor to bring them to the US.
They have to report to thatsponsor and they stay for a year
.
They actually get skills neededto then go back to South Korea
(43:13):
a year and they actually getskills needed to then go back to
South Korea.
We need something like that inthe Caribbean, where we know
that our youth can get thetraining they need, they can
build the confidence and theconnections and then they have
the encouragement to return homebecause they know that when
they go back they're able tocontribute to society with the
support of elders, with thesupport of the government, with
the support of actualinfrastructure that is put in
(43:36):
place.
And it can be very simple.
It's as simple as possiblypartnering with HBCUs and saying
, ok, I put together.
And again, the pandemic it was.
I was, you know, I was findingways to keep busy.
So one thing I did was Icreated a site called
educationdiasporaco and Iliterally accumulated all of the
(44:00):
online degree programs for allthe HBCUs in the United States
and I put it on this site.
And what the goal was is, ifthere's and this is again before
this whole administration, withthis whole deportation issue is
that if we were able to goahead and connect our diaspora
that's in the caribbean and onthe motherland, the continent of
(44:20):
africa, how to get them accessto the online degrees from
accredited universities at hbcusand, knowing that those degrees
, they don't have to come to theus to get the college degree,
they can stay where they are.
They don't have to come to theUS to get the college degree,
they can stay where they are.
They just need to have accessto broadband, to internet, get
the college degrees they needand know that while they're
(44:42):
getting their college degrees,they're beginning to get real
life, like real upfrontpractical experience in their
countries.
If it's in nursing, they knowthey could get their practical
experience in their countries.
If it's in nursing, they knowthey could get their practical
experience in the hospitals.
If it is technology, they couldgo ahead and get the practical
experience of like okay,somebody there right on the
(45:03):
island is building some kind ofapp, you know that you could go
ahead and intern right therewhile still getting a college
degree.
We need to make sure our youthis prepared not only prepared,
but they feel that they have thesupport needed.
So my call to action is withevery issue that we may have, it
takes one step at a time, onestep at a time to actually
(45:25):
resolve those issues.
So actually doing one problemafter another problem and
solving each one independently.
Every island is different.
Every island is different.
I understand that.
But having a group of peoplewho's like you know what, I'm
able to go ahead and figure outthe agriculture issue.
I could go ahead and donate youknow a piece of my land so to
(45:49):
be able to help you know peoplelearn new techniques on growing
food.
Or I can go ahead andcontribute.
I have many years of experienceworking for museums and art
galleries.
I can actually go ahead andtrain those locally to go ahead
and run a museum, which is, I'mvery grateful.
We have a volunteer from PuertoRico who's going to come in and
actually help with thesalvaging and archiving, and
(46:12):
it's going to train at leastfive to six volunteers who are
local to Karakut to actuallyhandle, so they could feel that
they have ownership of their ownmuseum.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
So please go ahead, we're going to push back because
we know somebody going tolisten to push back but the
diaspora don't support.
And I say I know you said everycountry is different but
Jamaica is going to say, well,we send money all the time and
we donate to so-and-so all thetime and we know those things
are happening.
So I want you to clarify that,because it's not, I believe I
(46:46):
understand where you are saying.
It's not the remittances thatyou're specifically talking
about.
I know in jamaica we have avery robust old boys, old girls,
old school organic network.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
that happens like, yes, it's robust, it is and it's
based off of the school youwent to the alumni it's as
robust, right?
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I know that.
So it is not.
That this is is something elsethat you are speaking, so I just
need you to clarify that,because you know I want to make
sure that your message doesn'tget lost in translation about
what you mean by support.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
So just, clarify that what I mean by support is not
just donating money to anorganization, it's understanding
or asking what is thatorganization doing to solve an
issue?
So it's one thing that, okay,you're donating to an orphanage,
you're supporting the children,but how is that organization
(47:45):
solving the orphanage problem?
Does that make sense?
It's like, okay, you'redonating canned goods to you
know in a barrel, but thensaying like, well, who is
actually on the island growingfood?
How do we go ahead and investin farming?
So then I don't have to sendcanned corn?
I know that there is.
(48:06):
We put money together, wesupport and invest in one farmer
.
They're going to go ahead andthey're going to grow corn.
We support and invest in onefarmer.
They're going to go ahead andthey're going to grow corn, and
so now the island don't need togo ahead and get corn from
elsewhere.
We know that we invest in.
You know, like, for example, inGrenada I recommend this many
times because Grenada is thesecond, the second exporter of
(48:27):
nutmeg after Indonesia.
Now Grenada have an issue wherethey export the nutmeg but they
don't make the nutmeg products.
They may have a littlesomething here that people have
their little business wherethey're making nutmeg oil or
nutmeg spray for various things,but to say that there's actual
(48:48):
like a robust manufacturing ofproducts, that's not there.
So, having a group of people,again from different skill sets,
to actually say you know what,we're going to go ahead and
invest in building a companywhere it's, in manufacturing
products from the nutmeg, andthat's what we are doing.
(49:08):
We're helping bringinfrastructure, manufacturing
jobs, we're helping bringingactual self-reliance through one
product which is nutmeg, andthat's how I'm contributing.
Right, if it's another placewhere again, palm oil, coconut
oil, palm oil originated inAfrica, in the Western
(49:29):
hemisphere of Africa, we seethat, due to colonization, they
move palm oil and palm trees andthey made most of the
production in the Asiancountries, indonesia being one
of the highest exporter of palmoil, even though it originated
in Africa.
Africa right now only has threepercent of the market.
The Caribbean they have so muchcoconut trees but they only
(49:53):
have a very fraction of theactual market of selling coconut
oil.
Most of it is in Asia.
Now we need to go ahead and,yes, you can go home and you can
buy a little coconut oil.
You can buy your little localthing, your moringa, what have
you?
But wouldn't it be great if agroup of individuals say you
know what, we're going to goahead and put money together and
(50:15):
we're going to go ahead andactually start the manufacturing
of coconut oil and actuallybring that together to actually
create industry and enterpriseso that there is actual jobs
created.
Again, we know that there'sactual business being done.
The island is a big player.
We're getting share, marketshare of the actual market and
(50:40):
of the industry.
And now we see that the smallislands right, the small, you
know, sids, the small, you know,small island developing states,
actually have a say in a lot ofthese enterprises.
Right, I think it's very muchpossible, I think too much that
(51:01):
we we have so much like.
You know how many times you, I,go to grenada and see mangoes
just on the floor, you know, onthe ground, and I'm thinking now
, imagine how much products canbe made with those mangoes, if
it's not mango, like essence orjust anything, coconuts.
I was in Cuba and so, notice,there was coconuts that was on
(51:21):
the ground and I said, okay,they have an issue of they could
grow their food, but one of theissues they have is they'll
spend half their monthly salaryon shampoo.
One of the issues they have isthey'll spend half their monthly
salary on shampoo, knowing thatcoconut shells, if you go ahead
and actually produce and burnit properly, you can make black
soap.
So they can actuallymanufacture their own soap and
(51:45):
their own shampoos, if theyactually had the skill set to do
it.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
So I think, yeah, go ahead.
No, I mean, I'm going to againpulling this cause.
I'm listening to you and I'mlike, not only preserving, but
you know, ecology is a big partof what you are doing.
Like you're able to see thesethings because, again, our
environment is a very fragileenvironment and we have to be
(52:13):
able to one figure out how we'regoing to make it more resilient
and sustainable, reducing, youknow, maybe our imports in order
to make sure that our countrieshave the budgets and stuff.
We could go on and on, but Idon't mean to cut you, but we're
going to clip it here.
So, for the audience, we'llcontinue talking, but we're
going to clip it here for the.
For the audience, we'llcontinue talking, but we're
going to clip it here for theaudience, tell them where they
(52:34):
could find you and learn moreabout you and your cause and
everything that you arechampioning.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Well, I guess the first place I guess, is my
website, majellamartcom Reallycaracommuseumgd and
caracommuseumcom as well tolearn more about the museum and
also social media.
We're just getting that started, so I would appreciate a lot of
(53:01):
support and if you guys haveideas I mean if anybody have
ideas on how do we keep, youknow, the revitalization of
these institutions, that'd begreat.
I know, with a lot of theorganization of it, you could
definitely just follow me onsocial media, as I will.
I'm gonna get better at postingthings on, uh, instagram and
what have you.
So majella mark on instagramand I'm really just trying to be
(53:25):
solution oriented.
So, um, yeah, I guess that's.
I will do better at posting inreal time, or better at real
time, as I'm doing.
Especially, I've been travelingquite a lot this year, learning
a lot and connecting withpeople and coming up with ideas,
inspiration to help not onlyjust Karakubo, the Caribbean
(53:47):
overall on how do we really dealwith a lot of the restraints we
have.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah Well, majela, thank you so much for being on
the podcast.
I'm sure there's a lot morethat you have going on.
We're going to be in the aftershow.
If you're not in the community,join the community.
And you know, as I love to sayat the end of every episode walk
good, but you know, majela andI are going to still labrish
over here, so
Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of
Carry On Friends, the CaribbeanAmerican experience, and I'm
excited to have this person onthe podcast because I'm going to
try to pronounce our name andthe name still should be Majella
, right?
Yes, it's a pretty name, but wehave to make sure that we, you
(00:22):
know, learn to pronounce thename properly.
But, welcome to the podcast,Majela how are you Thank?
you, I'm good.
I'm good, all right.
So why don't you tell ourcommunity of friends a little
bit about who you are, caribbeancountry you represent and the
work that you do?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So I'm representing Grenada.
I am very, you know, small butmighty island.
My mother's from Guam, myfather's from Krosu, so, like
true and true, I'm, you know,grenadian and the work I do is
it has layers to it.
So I guess well, one I'm on theboard of directors handling
(01:03):
international relations andspecial projects for the Karakum
Museum that is currently on itsway of rebuilding.
I'm project lead to help getthat done after Hurricane Beryl.
Also on the founding board ofdirectors for Ika House
(01:24):
Collective, which is kind of afocus on sustainable co-living
in urban spaces or urban cities,really trying to create the
(01:45):
dream of actually, you know,owning a home, while also
directing on connecting withcommunity and also focusing that
on the whole initiative ofsustainability.
And then, lastly, I am thefounding director of the
Caribbean Futures Forum ThinkTank under the Institute of
Caribbean Studies here inWashington DC, where I currently
am.
I just end up attending theannual legislative forum under
(02:07):
the Institute of CaribbeanStudies speaking on disaster
resilience and sustainabilitydevelopment for the Caribbean.
So that's my focus.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah and true to form , I'm a Caribbean person, one by
the things on the list ofthings to do, but I do.
I am familiar with theinstitute of caribbean studies,
um, I was the chair for the 30on the 31 year and I did, did.
I did see um dr nelson a coupletimes in passing, um, so you do
(02:42):
.
The museum in um grenada, sothe caracool museum and ika, is
that also in grenada or is it usbase?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
uh, so you mean ika as in uh, the other thing that
you said, the house collectiveyeah eco house collective that's
based in brooklyn.
Um, it was a group of friendswho came together because we all
thinking is, it's expensive tolive in New York, but we want to
own a home, right?
So then we thought like, well,okay, what does that look like?
(03:12):
And, of course, a lot of us waskind of thinking like how do we
support the initiative for the2050 Sustainability Initiative
in New York City and somehow owna property?
So our task was and we met, youknow, every other Sunday for
two years speaking on how to buya property together and then
(03:37):
kind of living in our own unitsand then looking at what does
that mean?
What does that look likelegally, you know, when it comes
to mortgage broker, when itcomes to taxes, what's called,
you know, comes to all thatBecause Brooklyn is expensive
now.
We haven't noticed.
Brooklyn is very expensive nowand really look at what does it
mean to try to attain theAmerican dream, especially in
(04:14):
Flatbush, where I live, andtrying to figure out how do we
still able to just live where weare with the rents going up.
You know just that, not eventhinking about just owning
something.
Just how do we just maintainour lives?
As you know, things keepskyrocketing.
So we're now very focused on howdo we go ahead and make sure
(04:37):
that we create some kind ofinitiative that is spoken of
sustainable co-living, where itcould be multi-generationals in
one community or building or itcould be multiple families,
where this idea of beingself-sufficient, with you know
solar panels and a rain catchsystem and everything in a city
(04:59):
so you could cut costs onutility bills and if you have a
food co-op, that also helps withsaving costs, and if you have
multiple families in onebuilding, that saves costs on
babysitters because you knowsomeone can take your child in
the building and they feel safeto have your child with them.
So it's just this idea ofreally focusing on how do you
(05:23):
really create a village in aspace where a lot of times,
especially in urban cities inthe US, there's this isolation
kind of epidemic.
So that's really what we weredoing, twofold for that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
It's so interesting that you're having this
conversation and I also see thethrough line with the work that
you're doing.
Um, I'm in the middle ofreading paul marshall's I don't
know if it's pronounced paul orpaulie, but it's paul marshall,
she's of barbadian heritage herbook brown girl, brownstone and
it's about, you know, it'sreally focused on the Bayesian
(06:03):
community and how they're allworking to buy brownstones and
all the characters who areliving in this brownstone.
And very interesting read.
So you know what you'resuggesting or proposing.
With this eco-living, it is notnew, it's just that we departed
from it.
Departed from it, you know,it's something that I feel like
(06:28):
it's foundational to usmulti-generational living.
I think we just kind of movedaway from it because, you know,
families moved to differentstates, we were a little bit
more spread out, a little biteverybody wanted space, which is
fine, and I think we might haveto come back around to this
multi-generational or co-livinglifestyle, you know, to make
(06:51):
life or living sustainable, youknow, and not go broke.
So it's very interesting.
I recommend reading it.
It's a very interesting read.
But all these characters, butreally the you know everyone's
coming from Barbados.
This is really early in the1900s, it's around 1920, 1930,
and they're all working veryhard, they're renting these
(07:12):
brownstones, but the goal is tobuy a brownstone, um, and then
you have all these charactersliving in this house.
So it's very interesting.
So, switching to the museum inKarikou, talk to me a little bit
.
How did you get to that, so weunderstand how you got to
eco-living?
I live in Brooklyn, I live onthe other side and, trust me,
(07:33):
brooklyn, as we said, deer, it'sdeer bad.
Everybody left Manhattan.
Come drive up Brooklyn Price.
That's another forum for theBrooklyn community board, but
you know that's another forumfor the Brooklyn Community Board
and I thought they would leaveFlatbush alone, but nope.
No, they, no, sir, nowhere is,nowhere is Unscathed, Unscathed,
(07:56):
yes, basically Everything,everything is everything.
I even feel like people fromLong Island will come back to
Brooklyn.
I'm like what is going on?
But all right, enough of thelocal talk, let's go back to the
museum.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Let me know how did you get to be in that role at
the museum.
So I was in Grenada forHurricane Beryl and I was there
with my sister in our home, sowe had to experience it
ourselves and we decided to stayin our home rather than going
to the community center becausewe figured, you know, we have a
downstairs, we can, you know,kind of, you know, buckle down.
And one thing I realized afterthe storm was Karakul and
(08:39):
Pitimatnik is smaller islandsand I know that they have a
different system is smallerislands and I know that they
have a different system, eventhough in the mainland of
Grenada, you know we got ourpower up after a couple of days
and you know we were able to getthe water system up.
I know Karakou and Pink Manichave more.
You know they don't havestreams on the islands.
They don't have.
(09:00):
You know they have septic tanks.
They have, like rain catchingsystem, so they don't just
necessarily have the differentutility companies that they
would just kind of come aroundand pretty much revive the
communities.
My first thought was the museumitself.
I know that I work as aresearcher by trade or historian
(09:21):
.
So my first concern was youknow what happened to our
history?
And so, of course, I went andsaw the museum itself and saw
the whole top floor was gone.
It was really devastating tosee how, just within a couple
(09:45):
hours, you can see the historyof Grenada, and specifically the
kayak people, completelydisappear with one storm.
So what I did was I thought I'djust send some emails out.
I sent emails out to the MuseumAssociation of the Caribbean.
I sent emails to otherorganizations just saying hi,
just letting you know, after thehurricane, the Carribean Museum
(10:07):
is definitely going to needassistance.
So at the time, you know, withthe instability, of course, I
expect everybody is reallyfocused on rebuilding their
homes and trying to get theirlives back together.
So I wasn't expecting them toreally focus on the institutions
.
You know it doesn't have to bethe hospital.
It's more important than youknow, than the museum itself,
(10:28):
you know, which isunderstandable.
So what I thought was me justsimply sending some emails was
didn't turn into me applying forgrants, didn't turn into me
putting strategic plans together, which didn't turn into me
meeting with different peopleand then going into and to
(10:49):
connect with people inconferences.
And so I'm very blessed that Iwas able to get a grant to be
able to reestablish a digitalpresence for the museum through
Blabook it's a company based inCalifornia in the US spreading
museum um through playbook it'sa company based in california,
in the us um, and then with that, now we have a website, email
address, social media up.
(11:10):
Then I was like, okay, now fromthere we look you know legit
again with, you know, a digitalpresence.
So when I apply for grants, um,they can actually look
something up.
So then I'm very grateful wheresomehow the massive amount of
emails and me, pyongyang,pyongyang people actually led to
some grapevine.
(11:30):
Someone said, oh, your emailwas forwarded to so-and-so and
so-and-so and got back to me andconnected me with an
organization called the CultureEmergency Response and then they
handle a lot of thepreservation and the salvaging
of cultural sites after naturaldisasters especially.
(11:51):
So through that I was able togo ahead and get a grant and I,
you know, of course, for thepeople in the community,
especially the KarakulHistorical Society, I made sure
they kept track of everything Iwas doing.
And then, as of last week, Imade sure they kept track of
everything I was doing and then,as of last week, we had a board
meeting where they had toestablish a new board and I
(12:19):
guess it just made sense for meto be on the board to handle a
lot of the internationalconnections, since I've been
doing that.
I attended the GlobalSustainable Islands Summit and
St Kitts last week of May andwent to different conferences.
Again I'm here in DC speakingon disaster relief for the
Caribbean and it obviouslysnowballed into me really
getting into this space where Ihaven't before.
So I guess you could say Ifound my calling somehow within
(12:43):
the last year.
So now that I'm on the board Ireally am focused on being a
project lead of rebuilding thismuseum and really hoping that it
becomes a catalyst for the restof the island and for Piedmont
Nick to really see like OK, wecan rebuild, we can rebuild
better, we can rebuild, we canrebuild better, we can rebuild
(13:11):
sustainably, we can rebuild withthe notion of focusing on
hurricane and natural disasterresistance so that we can go
ahead and actually survive.
I mean the US aid which againwith this administration, no
longer exists.
They only provided 4.5 millionfor the Caribbean and a million
of that went to Grenada, amillion went to St Vincent and
$2.5 million went to Jamaica andunderstandably, grenada did
(13:33):
receive about $44 million fromanother entity and then was able
to go ahead and, through theHurricane Clause, was able to
erase $30 million out of theiractual debt, and that's
including debt they owe to theUS.
So there is some kind of relief.
But what I spoke in the Capitolbuilding yesterday was this
(13:54):
notion that the small islands,especially in the Caribbean
region which is on the hurricanebelt, they are not the key
players in the term climatechange issues.
My face is throwing you off.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Let's just make it clear we are not the perpetrator
of the climate issues thatwe're having, but we are the
ones who are at risk.
We're experiencing the risk ofit, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So I think what I was speaking on was.
What I was speaking on was thisnotion that we need to stop and,
to be quite frank, this saviorcomplex of being reactive, my
girl, oh God and be preventative.
So it's nice where you go aheadand you want to send some money
(14:44):
down after the storm happened,but having actual investment
through green tech jobs, throughactual infrastructure, through
actual entities, something assimple as like an actual
insurance fund, so then we don'thave to keep on and I can speak
on that.
(15:04):
But you know, this idea of theWestern world coming in and kind
of having these assessments andhaving all these NGOs come in
doing their assessments andserving food, and I am truly
grateful and I'm sure everyonein Caribbean is truly grateful.
But we have a lot ofintelligent people architects,
(15:25):
engineers, people who work forNGOs, people who are more than
capable, those who are militaryveterans, who are more than
capable of helping their countryespecially as we're in the
Caribbean diaspora and be ableto contribute back to their
country if they just got thesupport they needed and not just
being enabled or kind of beinggaslit with this notion of you
(15:49):
know like, oh well, we know bestbecause we are developed versus
developing.
I'm not jealous girl.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I mean, where do I begin?
Because I acknowledge yourexperience through the hurricane
, the, the, the.
The biggest hurricane Iexperienced was 1988, hurricane
Gilbert, and last year Irecorded an episode but I had to
(16:20):
edit it because I got someinformation at the.
I didn't know this existed.
So last year during burial,it's the thing that annoys me.
Let me just take a step back,because I can't even gather my
thoughts the way I'm excited.
It's the thing that annoys me.
Every time a hurricane happensin the Caribbean, as a people,
(16:42):
as a diaspora, we are veryreactive and about 3 billion
people that's collecting moneyand there is no insight.
I just feel like there's alittle bit more organization
that needs to happen around thecollection of the money and
where it's going.
It is not a disrespect to allof the people doing an effort.
It's what we do.
You're going to action mode,but we need to put some
(17:05):
structure and organizationbehind the momentum and the
volume of people we have.
And it was frustrating lastyear because I saw it.
And what people don't see isthere are other people.
You have people who areengaging and say, yes, they're
giving.
Well, what people often miss isthere's also a very large group
(17:27):
of people who are observing andseeing that too many people are
collecting money.
Who do I trust to give money to?
How do I know?
Is my money going spending theright place?
What kind of report am Igetting?
Like no, there are a bunch ofpeople who are asking that
question.
Right, when you go, think likeno, there are a bunch of people
(17:48):
who are asking that question.
And I recorded a solo episode.
I'm like is there anorganization?
Then I forgot.
I remember that there wasanother organization that
existed, but it was associatedwith CARICOM and they don't
really accept public funds.
And I'm like wait one thing.
And so people have reached outto me and they're like hey,
what's a trusted organization Ican donate money to?
(18:10):
So, while there's collectionand donations happening on one
end, what people overlook islike businesses and
organizations.
They want to see a trustedplace that they can give their
money to and they want to beable to get an insight as to did
my money go to the museum?
(18:32):
How is this money being spent?
And we hamper our efforts, ourrecovery efforts, when we don't
have a process in place on thediaspora end.
I don't live in the region, sothe region have the region
system, but on the diaspora end,we need something in place to
(18:56):
do that.
As a result of that, I recordedan episode recently with
Caribbean Philan philanthropicAlliance and talk about what
they're doing in the region.
But here you come againhighlighting another issue that
we have, just kind of continuingthe conversation.
There's a chance that when thisepisode release, it's still
(19:19):
going to be hurricane season,cause that's the thing Hurricane
season happened every year,every year, and so can we shift
from being reactive to proactive, right?
So, yeah, so my question foryou, then?
We don't have to go into all ofthat.
I think the question and theconversation that we want to
(19:40):
have here is let me, as you weretalking, is let me, as you were
talking I wrote this down, Iwant to make sure I read it.
When culture, culturalartifacts, lives in buildings,
right, what happens emotionally,psychologically?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
when they are destroyed by natural disasters,
Because this is something wedon't talk about.
Yeah, so it's quite unfortunatewhere there has been a bit of
destruction and, by all means,when you don't have the
infrastructure in place, if youdon't have funding, that's, you
know, in a bit of a cushion,it's hard to be able to make
sure you have the properequipment, the proper skilled
staff, etc.
Hard to be able to make surethat you have the proper
equipment, the proper skilledstaff, et cetera, to be able to
maintain this.
And I'm talking about it's noteven just statues or maybe some
(20:35):
arrowheads that has beencollected on the land itself.
I'm talking about people whodonated their diaries that was
from their great-grandparents.
I'm talking about photographsthat people have taken from the
1930s, where it's not properlystored because, again, the
resources weren't there.
But again, at the same time,when you don't have the diaspora
and again I'm not saying thateverybody needs to go ahead and
(20:58):
pitch in and feel like they feellike an obligation, but when
the diaspora doesn't contributeto the preservation of their own
history, it becomes quitestrenuous and devastating when
things like this does happen andthen they're wondering what
happened and why they didn'ttalk.
It's just to say it's fine whenwe're doing all these galas and
(21:20):
you want to dress up and youwant to do you know, you want to
, you know look nice and youwant to have a nice, you know, a
nice line and like a nicelittle classy fat and what have
you.
But at the same time, we haveto think about we need to also
have those types of events wherewe're able to actually do some
planning, actually having somelawyers involved, having, you
(21:42):
know, experienced curatorsinvolved, having experienced
architects involved, havingexperienced engineers and
technologists involved, where weactually come up with actual
solutions, as so many times Isee, like a 10-point plan.
Carrickham has a 10-point plan,I see, as has a 10-point plan,
everyone has a 10-point plan.
But it's like how we actuallyand how we actually executing
(22:04):
the 10-point plans.
It seems like there's aconstant talk of things, whereas
we need to be able to actuallyhave a timeline to actually get
things done.
Now, I know we have a history ofa barrel economy that's what I
call it where you have those inthe diaspora who they kind of
(22:25):
just give what they can and theyput in their barrel for
whatever relatives, and evenrelatives they don't even know,
those generational tradition ofyou know, being able to give
what you can or what have to,especially as these small
(22:46):
islands are seeing a lot moreimpact, not only by natural
disasters but by politicalturmoil, by this notion of
reparations as we keep ontalking about it and talking
about it, Thinking about, youknow, the younger generations
who they can't find work on theisland, so of course, after they
(23:06):
finish school they're goingback to Canada and UK and US and
they don't see a future onthose islands.
So then there's no people there,especially those who may have
skill sets to be able to pushsociety forward on these islands
.
They're not there on theislands themselves and then they
don't see a future there, sotherefore they're not going to
(23:27):
contribute.
So it's really a challenge, aswe see the museum itself and how
a lot of times it's verychallenging to maintain them.
But the reason why it's hard tomaintain them is because the
funding is not there.
It's because you have those whodo have skill sets who are not
willing to go back to their homecountry to actually do the work
(23:49):
to maintain these institutions.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
So, yes, go ahead, I have one better for you.
Funding cannot be there ifpeople aren't aware that they
are there.
Yes, because I don't know ifyou know this, but I also
produce, strictly Facts a guideto Caribbean history with
Alexandria Miller, and I waspleasantly surprised about the
(24:13):
museum in Barbados and I'm likeI didn't know that, I did not
know that I didn't know aboutthis museum in Carriacou, so one
there needs to be awareness.
Awareness not just from atourism standpoint, but a
diaspora standpoint.
Right, we are returningvisitors, we're returning, you
know, citizens, right, and theyshould, you know.
(24:36):
You know, a lot of times peoplesay you go back to Jamaica.
I have not discovered everycrevice on Kana, jamaica, so I
can go to Jamaica every year andgo someplace different, and I'm
okay with that.
And I think you know, as a, asan awareness, some people just
don't even know that this exists.
(24:56):
So let's step back and talkabout the museum.
Before the hurricane, what wasthe museum?
What was the the most popularthing in the museum?
What was the museum?
You know, housing in terms of,you know, grenada, caracos,
history and all of that.
So let's take a step back there, because this is an opportunity
to tell people about the museumhow long it's been around,
(25:19):
right, because somebody mightsay box me, never know, you know
.
So let's talk about the museumin that way.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
So the museum has been around since the 1970s and
in this current building it'sbeen around since the 1980s.
Now again, because of the fewpeople who have been trying to
maintain it.
You have to understand that alot of the displays and a lot of
the different, you know, makeupat the museum is not your
(25:48):
moment in the US, it's not your.
You know Smithsonian here in DC.
Yeah, so it really is kind ofthey're working with what they
got.
Yeah, you have Ms ClemenciaAlexander.
She's been with the museum as acurator for 50 years.
January makes 50 years and oneof the discussions I've had,
which is a painful discussion, Iknow our elders are very stuck
(26:09):
in their ways and they'recomfortable and they do their
job and they like to handlethings.
But discussing a secession planis even a bit of a challenge.
And then understand that a lotof the organizations and
institutions that's in theCaribbean, whereas secession is
quite challenging.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
It's not just in the Caribbean, it's in the community
, diaspora included.
So let's just you know.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yeah, there's a generational disconnect of and I
spoke about this on manyoccasions this notion of the
elders being very comfortablewhere they are and they either
don't know how or they're justnot willing to because they're
very comfortable to pass thebaton.
(26:57):
So it's become a bit of afrustrating battle when we have
this notion of like.
So where's these institutionsgoing to be in 50 years,
especially if you can't engagethe young people to even just go
into these institutions?
So even though, yes, the museumwas there before the hurricane,
(27:19):
but to get young people to goin, there was just not happening
.
It was just not happening.
There was just not happening,it was just not happening.
So I know that with the futureof the museum, the plan is to be
able to find a way to engagethe youth, if it's through like
actual video work, if it'sthrough like workshops, if it's
through different notions ofengagement, to actually let them
(27:42):
be excited about their ownhistory and let them be a part
of it, help them build thefuture.
I think participation isabsolutely necessary and I think
that's one of the challengesfor a lot of the museums and
institutions that's inthroughout the Caribbean.
I've spoken to directors withthe Cayman Islands and I've
spoken to a few you know what Imean where a lot of it was
(28:03):
either shocked that there'syoung people who's willing to
work, or they just don't expectyoung people to even want to do
it.
Therefore, they're not going towaste their energy, even trying
to engage them.
But I keep on trying to remindmy community and remind people
especially as I get into moreand more in these conversations
is there has to be a future forthese institutions and there's
(28:29):
no reason why we have to go backto the starting line.
And that's and I and I saidthat multiple times in multiple
different people there's noreason why.
I think it's quite unfair toexpect the younger generations
to go back to the starting linebecause you struggle and they
didn't send you to school to doX, y, z, or you know the, you
(28:50):
know this government and that,the, you know infrastructure.
That's in that and we don'tcover for race.
It's like no, like how do wemake sure that you are confident
and capable of passing thebaton to the next generation?
So one they feel a sense ofparticipation and involvement,
(29:10):
but also they feel confident toactually take on the tasks.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
You know, there was a guest German and we were
talking about Louise Bennett andit really works like this.
He's like she did the work.
So these elders have done thework and we have to do a
transition.
When they are energized, theyhave the energy, they have the
(29:42):
health.
You know, to do this for thevery reason that when the
transition happened, they're notgoing back 30 steps, they're
just maybe going back five steps, 10 steps to continue.
I agree, and it's very hardbecause I've also said, like I
(30:04):
can tell the health of any ofour community organization based
on the makeup.
So if you have too many eldersin there and not enough young
people, we know that that is um.
Preservation is at risk.
Let's use the word at risk,right and um at the same time.
If there are too many youngpeople, there is also longevity
(30:28):
is at risk because we don't havethe wisdom to kind of help,
guide and anchor some of thethings that are happening of
preservation, intangibleartifacts and museum.
It is also, you know,intangible and even if you think
(30:54):
about eco-housing, all of thisis around how we continue, you
know, like we don't.
I don't want to say die off,but you know we continue.
Each generation is building onthe next generation and and
making advancements, and I thinkthat is what you're trying to
(31:14):
do.
I mean, you're talking aboutGrenada but, as you pointed out,
this is not isolated to Grenada.
This is a regional thing and Iguess, I guess I want to go back
, or maybe our conversation isgoing regional thing and I guess
I want to go back, or maybe ourconversation is going off
tangent.
How much of this is governmentenablement?
(31:37):
Because the diaspora can dowork, but how much of this is
government enablement andpriority?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So, for example, the Caracom Museum is run by the
people.
So it was started by the peopleand is run by the people.
So there is not government run,it's not a satellite museum to
what's happening.
So it really is theresponsibility of the community
itself.
And there's a lot of cases likethat, where it is grassroots
(32:12):
communities that are reallytrying to build something within
the island, not only in thesense of just wanting to have
something for the future, butit's a sense of pride, a sense
of understanding of like okay,where's the future leading us
and how do we make sure that weare at the same pace and we're
(32:34):
catching up?
I know that we have a lot oftechnological advances that, I'm
sure, is just more than capableof really helping these islands
improve just basic things.
But if we don't havegovernments that are willing to
(32:58):
take action, and take action ina timeframe that really makes
sure that these nations do notget held back, we will face
those challenges.
Something that could have beeninvested in years ago could have
prevented the destruction of 80to 90 percent of Karakum and
(33:20):
Petit-Matnik after HurricaneBeryl.
Now, if there wasinfrastructure that was put in
just a year prior, maybe wewouldn't have such destruction
that hurt.
Maybe with the differentmuseums and institutions that
are in place, maybe there wouldhave been opportunity to
(33:41):
actually kind of engage theMinistry of Tourism or to be
able to engage those nationswhere we have ties to.
I think and I won't say whichrep, but yesterday it was made
very clear like, do not expect abill to get passed.
(34:02):
Now I know here in the US therewas an act put in place since
2017 where the US is supposed toupdate those of the Caribbean
on actual relations between theUS and the Caribbean and it
hasn't been done for quite sometime and to then take into
consideration this notion ofpossibly having a hearing so
(34:24):
that reps do have to talk aboutyou know what's happening in the
Caribbean and what is theircontribution.
Because, again, the Caribbeanis in the Americas, right, and
again we have established thatthere are many different
countries in Europe, in the US,who still have Commonwealth-like
(34:47):
ties to a lot of the islands,but we don't see consistent
support.
We just don't, and it's quiteunfortunate.
So then when we see a lot ofthese governments who are saying
like, well, we're going to goahead and just wait until we get
some aid in, and then they justhave the money sit there and
(35:09):
then their solution is to giveout loans to help people rebuild
their home.
It's like so what are you doingwith the money that was given?
And those are questions that Iknow people are asking.
But, at the same time, onething about Caribbean people I
love our people, but they're notthe type to go ahead and start,
you know, protesting andmarching in streets.
They're more of just having,you know, discussions about
(35:30):
things and and and trying togauge politically through voting
, um, but to say that they,they're going to be an uproar
and uh, is very rare.
It's very rare for to take veryaggressive statements or
aggressive action to havesomething change.
(35:51):
So, at the moment where we havea lot of these issues of if it's
in Haiti again that was a bigdiscussion yesterday in what's
happening, in the violencehappening there or how Jamaica
is in concerns of becoming aHaiti that seemed to be a big
topic yesterday as well wherethe violence happening there or
how Jamaica is in concerns ofbecoming a Haiti that seemed to
be a big topic yesterday as wellwhere the violence is extruded,
(36:11):
I don't think they take intoconsideration that we cannot
rely on these bigger or morequote-unquote developed
countries to give support and asa diaspora as a diaspora we are
, as private citizens, we arenot only capable but it's
(36:33):
obligated, I believe, toactually do what we can to help
these countries develop, becausenot everybody can leave and go
to Canada or US or UK.
Not everyone could do that, noteveryone's going to get the
degrees or the certificates todo that.
So then, when you have privatecitizens who are willing to
actually say you know what?
I have this amount of years ofmilitary experience.
(36:54):
Let me go down to Haiti and beable to see what I can do to
help with the violence there.
Or I'm an architect, or justyou have individuals.
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I think we can go on for days to this conversation.
I agree, you know a lot of ourtalent.
Everybody's talked about braindrain, a lot of that.
We.
You know there are many whostay, there are some who go back
(37:26):
, but there's a lot of cap.
You know human capital, peoplein the diaspora that can give
back to their country, theirhome country or country, a
heritage country, right, I stillmaintain that.
(37:46):
The fundamental challenge andthen we can talk more about this
in the after show Anybody cancome in at a community if you're
the after show.
But I think the fundamentalchallenge is process.
Right, if you have a line ofpeople out here to give money
but you have no way to collectthat money, what happens If you
(38:08):
have a line of people out herewho have shovels, spears,
buckets, whatever you know,hammer, drill, everything to
build, but you have no way oftriaging these things.
There's what you're going to doabout this.
So I still think that there isa process that's missing.
But, yeah, we're not going.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah but I do believe that government is not the
answer.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, I I agree, they can enable, meaning that they
support it, right, but that we,you know, and that's what I mean
, government enabled means that,okay, the, the government of
what's it, what's it,acknowledge that this
organization is doing so-and-soand that's fine.
But I don't.
(38:57):
I agree, we cannot depend onthe government, because they
have other priorities and thishas to be a separate thing.
I completely agree with that.
So we're going to talk aboutthat separately, because this
could be a whole three-daylecture.
But no, as we wrap up, I wantto make sure we get very
(39:18):
succinct and one like what arethe top three things that you
are raising the alarm about, theCaribbean largely, and your
three call to actions, likelet's do the sandwich technique,
the problem, what you think thesolutions are, and then your
(39:39):
call to action so I think theproblem is is that there is a
lack of support from thediaspora specifically coming
coming in to the Karakuspecifically, but the Caribbean
in general.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
So I think one of the issues is having the actual
diaspora more engaged andinvolved.
So the three action plans isone we need to be able to come
up and it doesn't have to bethrough CARICOM, it doesn't have
to be through them.
It's actually having an entitythat can handle, for example,
(40:18):
the way that you go ahead andsend money through Western Union
or MoneyGram to your people inthe islands.
That was expressed yesterdaywas if we was to put that same
money into an actual naturaldisaster fund so that actual
people could actually know thatgosh forbid another hurricane
(40:43):
come.
There's actual fund in place ofmoney that was already
accumulated to be able to helpout.
Number two, having actual and Iget it nonprofits and NGOs.
They work right, they work forit, they do their part.
But actually having actionplans where it's project-based,
(41:03):
so it's individuals with theirskill sets doing one project at
a time.
So if it is something as simpleas, for example, rebuilding a
museum, having somebody whocould donate the lumber, having
somebody who could handle theelectrical work, having somebody
who said you know what I'll payfor the glass cases, for the
(41:23):
artifact.
It's actually going project toproject.
So if it is building a school,if it is creating actual
technologies in place ordonating to technologies to be
able to help with the actualnatural disasters, if it is
everyone coming in and puttingmoney to be able to build, you
(41:44):
know, the institutions that areneeded, something, especially
when it comes to the healthcaresystem, especially when it comes
to this dependency on tourism,and so creating jobs when it
comes to the healthcare system,especially when it comes to this
dependency on tourism, and socreating jobs.
When it comes to agriculture,and how do we then go back to
being more self-sufficient so wedon't have because that's again
a whole nother financialrestraint on importing of goods,
(42:07):
especially produce, when wehave all that landed to go ahead
and grow on?
So it's having actual projectsand solving one problem at a
time, and you don't have to be,you know, some kind of scientist
from Yale.
It can be simple, like I knowhow to make fences, I know I can
contribute that right.
And number three, I thinkeducation is highly necessary.
(42:30):
Now I I did push this quiteoften in the last year, where I
do feel like the youth that isalready in the Caribbean, they
need the support system and theyneed the encouragement to be
able to get the skills needed tobe able to contribute to the
islands.
So another solution is the sameway.
(42:50):
You have the Jewish community,where every youth have to go to
Israel.
In South Korea they have theirown program where they get a
sponsor to bring them to the US.
They have to report to thatsponsor and they stay for a year
.
They actually get skills neededto then go back to South Korea
(43:13):
a year and they actually getskills needed to then go back to
South Korea.
We need something like that inthe Caribbean, where we know
that our youth can get thetraining they need, they can
build the confidence and theconnections and then they have
the encouragement to return homebecause they know that when
they go back they're able tocontribute to society with the
support of elders, with thesupport of the government, with
the support of actualinfrastructure that is put in
(43:36):
place.
And it can be very simple.
It's as simple as possiblypartnering with HBCUs and saying
, ok, I put together.
And again, the pandemic it was.
I was, you know, I was findingways to keep busy.
So one thing I did was Icreated a site called
educationdiasporaco and Iliterally accumulated all of the
(44:00):
online degree programs for allthe HBCUs in the United States
and I put it on this site.
And what the goal was is, ifthere's and this is again before
this whole administration, withthis whole deportation issue is
that if we were able to goahead and connect our diaspora
that's in the caribbean and onthe motherland, the continent of
(44:20):
africa, how to get them accessto the online degrees from
accredited universities at hbcusand, knowing that those degrees
, they don't have to come to theus to get the college degree,
they can stay where they are.
They don't have to come to theUS to get the college degree,
they can stay where they are.
They just need to have accessto broadband, to internet, get
the college degrees they needand know that while they're
(44:42):
getting their college degrees,they're beginning to get real
life, like real upfrontpractical experience in their
countries.
If it's in nursing, they knowthey could get their practical
experience in their countries.
If it's in nursing, they knowthey could get their practical
experience in the hospitals.
If it is technology, they couldgo ahead and get the practical
experience of like okay,somebody there right on the
(45:03):
island is building some kind ofapp, you know that you could go
ahead and intern right therewhile still getting a college
degree.
We need to make sure our youthis prepared not only prepared,
but they feel that they have thesupport needed.
So my call to action is withevery issue that we may have, it
takes one step at a time, onestep at a time to actually
(45:25):
resolve those issues.
So actually doing one problemafter another problem and
solving each one independently.
Every island is different.
Every island is different.
I understand that.
But having a group of peoplewho's like you know what, I'm
able to go ahead and figure outthe agriculture issue.
I could go ahead and donate youknow a piece of my land so to
(45:49):
be able to help you know peoplelearn new techniques on growing
food.
Or I can go ahead andcontribute.
I have many years of experienceworking for museums and art
galleries.
I can actually go ahead andtrain those locally to go ahead
and run a museum, which is, I'mvery grateful.
We have a volunteer from PuertoRico who's going to come in and
actually help with thesalvaging and archiving, and
(46:12):
it's going to train at leastfive to six volunteers who are
local to Karakut to actuallyhandle, so they could feel that
they have ownership of their ownmuseum.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
So please go ahead, we're going to push back because
we know somebody going tolisten to push back but the
diaspora don't support.
And I say I know you said everycountry is different but
Jamaica is going to say, well,we send money all the time and
we donate to so-and-so all thetime and we know those things
are happening.
So I want you to clarify that,because it's not, I believe I
(46:46):
understand where you are saying.
It's not the remittances thatyou're specifically talking
about.
I know in jamaica we have avery robust old boys, old girls,
old school organic network.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
that happens like, yes, it's robust, it is and it's
based off of the school youwent to the alumni it's as
robust, right?
Speaker 1 (47:08):
I know that.
So it is not.
That this is is something elsethat you are speaking, so I just
need you to clarify that,because you know I want to make
sure that your message doesn'tget lost in translation about
what you mean by support.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
So just, clarify that what I mean by support is not
just donating money to anorganization, it's understanding
or asking what is thatorganization doing to solve an
issue?
So it's one thing that, okay,you're donating to an orphanage,
you're supporting the children,but how is that organization
(47:45):
solving the orphanage problem?
Does that make sense?
It's like, okay, you'redonating canned goods to you
know in a barrel, but thensaying like, well, who is
actually on the island growingfood?
How do we go ahead and investin farming?
So then I don't have to sendcanned corn?
I know that there is.
(48:06):
We put money together, wesupport and invest in one farmer
.
They're going to go ahead andthey're going to grow corn.
We support and invest in onefarmer.
They're going to go ahead andthey're going to grow corn, and
so now the island don't need togo ahead and get corn from
elsewhere.
We know that we invest in.
You know, like, for example, inGrenada I recommend this many
times because Grenada is thesecond, the second exporter of
(48:27):
nutmeg after Indonesia.
Now Grenada have an issue wherethey export the nutmeg but they
don't make the nutmeg products.
They may have a littlesomething here that people have
their little business wherethey're making nutmeg oil or
nutmeg spray for various things,but to say that there's actual
(48:48):
like a robust manufacturing ofproducts, that's not there.
So, having a group of people,again from different skill sets,
to actually say you know what,we're going to go ahead and
invest in building a companywhere it's, in manufacturing
products from the nutmeg, andthat's what we are doing.
(49:08):
We're helping bringinfrastructure, manufacturing
jobs, we're helping bringingactual self-reliance through one
product which is nutmeg, andthat's how I'm contributing.
Right, if it's another placewhere again, palm oil, coconut
oil, palm oil originated inAfrica, in the Western
(49:29):
hemisphere of Africa, we seethat, due to colonization, they
move palm oil and palm trees andthey made most of the
production in the Asiancountries, indonesia being one
of the highest exporter of palmoil, even though it originated
in Africa.
Africa right now only has threepercent of the market.
The Caribbean they have so muchcoconut trees but they only
(49:53):
have a very fraction of theactual market of selling coconut
oil.
Most of it is in Asia.
Now we need to go ahead and,yes, you can go home and you can
buy a little coconut oil.
You can buy your little localthing, your moringa, what have
you?
But wouldn't it be great if agroup of individuals say you
know what, we're going to goahead and put money together and
(50:15):
we're going to go ahead andactually start the manufacturing
of coconut oil and actuallybring that together to actually
create industry and enterpriseso that there is actual jobs
created.
Again, we know that there'sactual business being done.
The island is a big player.
We're getting share, marketshare of the actual market and
(50:40):
of the industry.
And now we see that the smallislands right, the small, you
know, sids, the small, you know,small island developing states,
actually have a say in a lot ofthese enterprises.
Right, I think it's very muchpossible, I think too much that
(51:01):
we we have so much like.
You know how many times you, I,go to grenada and see mangoes
just on the floor, you know, onthe ground, and I'm thinking now
, imagine how much products canbe made with those mangoes, if
it's not mango, like essence orjust anything, coconuts.
I was in Cuba and so, notice,there was coconuts that was on
(51:21):
the ground and I said, okay,they have an issue of they could
grow their food, but one of theissues they have is they'll
spend half their monthly salaryon shampoo.
One of the issues they have isthey'll spend half their monthly
salary on shampoo, knowing thatcoconut shells, if you go ahead
and actually produce and burnit properly, you can make black
soap.
So they can actuallymanufacture their own soap and
(51:45):
their own shampoos, if theyactually had the skill set to do
it.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
So I think, yeah, go ahead.
No, I mean, I'm going to againpulling this cause.
I'm listening to you and I'mlike, not only preserving, but
you know, ecology is a big partof what you are doing.
Like you're able to see thesethings because, again, our
environment is a very fragileenvironment and we have to be
(52:13):
able to one figure out how we'regoing to make it more resilient
and sustainable, reducing, youknow, maybe our imports in order
to make sure that our countrieshave the budgets and stuff.
We could go on and on, but Idon't mean to cut you, but we're
going to clip it here.
So, for the audience, we'llcontinue talking, but we're
going to clip it here for the.
For the audience, we'llcontinue talking, but we're
going to clip it here for theaudience, tell them where they
(52:34):
could find you and learn moreabout you and your cause and
everything that you arechampioning.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Well, I guess the first place I guess, is my
website, majellamartcom Reallycaracommuseumgd and
caracommuseumcom as well tolearn more about the museum and
also social media.
We're just getting that started, so I would appreciate a lot of
(53:01):
support and if you guys haveideas I mean if anybody have
ideas on how do we keep, youknow, the revitalization of
these institutions, that'd begreat.
I know, with a lot of theorganization of it, you could
definitely just follow me onsocial media, as I will.
I'm gonna get better at postingthings on, uh, instagram and
what have you.
So majella mark on instagramand I'm really just trying to be
(53:25):
solution oriented.
So, um, yeah, I guess that's.
I will do better at posting inreal time, or better at real
time, as I'm doing.
Especially, I've been travelingquite a lot this year, learning
a lot and connecting withpeople and coming up with ideas,
inspiration to help not onlyjust Karakubo, the Caribbean
(53:47):
overall on how do we really dealwith a lot of the restraints we
have.
Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah Well, majela, thank you so much for being on
the podcast.
I'm sure there's a lot morethat you have going on.
We're going to be in the aftershow.
If you're not in the community,join the community.
And you know, as I love to sayat the end of every episode walk
good, but you know, majela andI are going to still labrish
over here, so
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