Happy Mother's Day!!
May 17, 2010
Jennifer Temmer

Since the beginning of May in Ciriboya, we have been preparing all of the program participants for “the Big Day.”  The very important, “Big Day,” was Mothers’ Day, and what a special day it was. Or better said, what a special week it was. In celebration of all the women who take part in the CAUSE program we had a party in each of the five communities where we work.

Although every day the same songs were sung, the same poems were recited and the same food was enjoyed, each time the women started to share their experiences sing and dance, I understood a little more how important the role of the Garifuna mother is. With each speech I was blessed with a little more insight into the lives of these women. In Ciriboya, a women who had lost a son a month earlier stood up and lamented. In Iriona Viejo, a woman laughed and sang about a woman asking where the father of her children were. Meanwhile the man was at church about to marry another woman.

The most obvious example of a mother’s love came near the end of the celebration, when it came time to eat. Many of the women saved their food- meat, rice, plantain tamales and soda- to bring home to their children so they could enjoy the mothers’ day meal. This last observation surprised me a little. The women all went to great lengths to raise money and make a meal for themselves, in order to celebrate their special day. In the end, they remained thinking about the welfare of their families, sacrificing their own enjoyment. It humbled me, each time I was served my plate of food, that I would once again enjoy this day while others sacrificed their little piece of happiness for their families.

The Garifuna women of Iriona live a life of hardship and suffering with little opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments. It was a great pleasure to be able to share a few moments of joy with them. I can only hope that in the coming months we will all experience many more moments of laughter and happiness as great as the ones that were shared this past week.