Ruben Reyes Online

Letter to a Brother                                                                                                                          12/21/08

I’ve got to understand the worrisome of some brothers which makes them express themselves in a considerably painful way, the truth of the matter is that there is very little acceptance to that type of expressions due to the following reasons,  first: too strong, second: they often carry the Truth, and Third:  They hurt.  I live in the United States for quite some time, and I have got to observe the truthfulness of brother Israel Centeno’s word in our Garifuna society in the US. “Many brothers that have left Honduras to The United States are not familiar with the reality occurring in each one of our communities, in which poverty, lack of hope, the sadness of our people is they daily nourishment”.

I will add the following: that we don’t know from where to start to attract our own sustainable economy into the hearth of our Garifuna communities.  But at least we are sending our remittances hopping to that it’s going to stop the hunger of our relatives, but we are wrong, unfortunately the process is converting some people who use to be very independent, perhaps entrepreneurs, agricultures, and fishermen into people who now depend on remittances for their most basic needs. In other words, the continuity of the remittances to aid in their basic necessities is not the answer to eliminate hunger and to the progress. 

The solution does not rely only on the people in the United States, or on those who were recently (relatively) appointed to the Honduran congress in representation of the Garifuna people.  The responsibility also relies on people like you, like me,  on people running ODECO, OFRANEH, Honduras Against AIDS,  Horizon Investment Club,  The Garifuna Coalition US. Etc, etc. We can go on and on until we mention the majority of brothers and sisters that have not made our communities jump out the extreme poverty.

After all have been mentioned and found responsible, we should not remain inactive to the situation, and should not even try to throw blames on no anyone, because we have to take charge and lift the name of the Garifuna Nation. Our forefathers have done their share when they left us in a more secure place where we do not have to enter in fierce battle every day like they did.  Today, we must assume the homework, looking into each other eyes, measuring our knowledge in different subjects, coordinating strategies to enhance the use of our potentials.

Throwing rocks at each other have always hurt reason why we should not do so, and also almost always ended up separating people even further, and those are people with potential. 

During the construction of a Garifuna Nation we need every individual, every intellectual, every fisherman, every wood-cutter, every attorney, every Doctor, every Buyei, every Pastor, and every Dreamer; because everyone is useful for the different tasks involve.  It’s extremely necessary to find adequate strategies to illuminate the interest of many in order to attract everyone into common grounds between brothers.

Wisdom doesn’t always come with a degree, and one cannot function well with severe pain (according to Doctors), the pain may have being originated with a “blow from a stone”.  This condition must be treated and cured in order to achieve UNITY.

I will leave you with the following questions:

WHAT’S WANTED? , WHAT’S NEEDED?

WHAT’S THE DIRECTION TO FOLLOW? , AND WHAT ARE THE RESOURCES?

DO YOU SPEAK ONLY TO COMPLAIN OR TO SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS?

Au le,

Ruben Reyes