by PATRICIA GROGG
HAVANA, Mar 19, 2010 (IPS) – At the age of 17, Meybelin Bernárdez is clear about the future: “When I finish my studies, I’ll return to help my community get on its feet,” the young Garifuna woman from Honduras, who is studying medicine in Cuba, says without hesitation.
With her head held high, she adds: “I want to be an example for future generations of women. The conditions we live in are really bad, we have a lot to do for our people.”
Her mother, whose skin is as dark as hers, taught her that the most important thing in life is to study.
“But a poor black girl like me couldn’t even dream of being a doctor without this scholarship,” she tells IPS.
Bernárdez belongs to the Garifuna ethnic group, descendants of African slaves who survived the sinking of two Spanish galleons off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635, where they intermarried with members of the local Carib tribe.
The Garifuna are estimated to number around 600,000 in Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States today.
Inter Press Service for more