Garifuna (PB)

Outside of medicine and biology my most important activity is my volunteer work with the Garifuna Coalition USA Inc, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the Garifuna people in New York. I have been working with the organization for four years. My favorite responsibility so far was organizing the Lirahunu Chatoyer Youth Leadership Program. The program educated the Garifuna youth on their history, culture and language. My job was to make sure we had instructors for each lesson, metro cards available for the participants to travel to and from class and lunch ready for when the day's lesson was over. I loved learning about my complex history and the beautiful language my people spoke. A lot of people are not lucky enough to know where they come from but I am proud to say that my people can trace their history all the way back to their ancestors. Along with learning about my past, working within my own culture opened my eyes to the many issues that have to be addressed within the community, and to the many solutions I can take part in. I plan on continuing my involvement with the Garifuna Coalition while in college. I can tell that connecting and engaging with different communities and cultures is a large part of the college experience for students. Therefore, one of the things I want to do while in college is expose other students to my Garifuna culture, one of the best kept secrets in the world.