Garifuna Homecoming in March, 2023
A Garifuna homecoming will take place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in March 2023, and arrangements are already in motion, according to Rondy “Luta” McIntosh, SVG Consul General General in the United States of America.
The Garifuna are a hybrid of Native Americans and free Africans. They came from the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak two languages: Garifuna, which is an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creole.
According to McIntosh, he has spoken with the Garifuna community in Los Angeles about organizing the event and has enlisted the aid of Vincentians back home in creating a strategy to ensure its success.
“Everything is in motion,” I told the people in Los Angeles after speaking with them about the homecoming. We assembled a team from Redo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maxine Brown, and the Police Commissioner, among other organizations”.
“We have established a framework to allow for and enable this homecoming in March.” I now adore the language that the Garifuna speak. They are discussing implementing a rite of passage that would require every Garifuna child or descendant to visit St. Vincent when they are between the ages of 12 and 13.
In the Diaspora, Garifuna identify St. Vincent as their ancestral home.
