Today, the Garifuna communities of Belize are like so many other ethnic groups, forced to discard their native towns and villages in search of employment opportunities elsewhere. Garifuna villages are being comprised of increasingly ageing populations as younger members leave the area in search of work;
We read a portion of this piece from the Belize Times entitled “The Treasure of Belize” where Elizabeth Pridgeon speaks about the Garifuna communities losing their youth to the allure of employment in the city. What made us pause and speak on this article was the issue of education.
Akin to the 1953 Bantu Education Act we wonder if the reason why the youth wants to be employees so bad is because of the educational system in Belize. We say that because similar to the Bantu Education Act, europeans in south africa used their educational system (after abolishing africans school system) to educate our people in their government service positions NOT to empower themselves.
We are curious if the reason the youth in the Garifuna communities seek jobs in the city is because they have been trained to do so. We pose the question to any citizen of Belize namely Elizabeth who we thank for penning such a great article. It is quite disheartening to read of the greatness that our Callinagu community came from and the current position we are in now. Long live Alejo Benji!!
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