PROPOSAL OF CULTURAL INTERCHANGE
BY WISDOM OGBOR e-mail: wisdom@rootsandwisdommusic.com
Through this website I ask for your attention and help on a project of cultural, social and economic exchange from the perspective of an African musician traveling, learning and living among the Mayan people of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. This project will be initiated in the Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto in Quintana Roo, Mexico for the benefit of her distinguished citizens and all other guests from Mexico and the rest of the world.
My experience traveling the roads they call La Ruta Maya has convinced me that people who live here want to know more about people like me, a black African man who is not from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras or a Garifuna. They are fascinated that I play African music for them in African languages, and that I have knowledge of the many ways of living which they practice, but which I had learned in Africa, growing up in Nigeria. In other states of Mexico like Veracruz and Chiapas, I have worked with people who traveled from Mexico and other parts of Central America to Africa to learn distinctive African art, culture and music like the Djembe drums and their dances from Senegal, Guinea and Ghana. Masters of these arts from Africa have also come from Africa to teach interested students in Mexico and other parts of Mexico. And the people continue to reach out for more music, books, videos or dvds of Africa and her people.
I was recently given a chance to buy a piece of land in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, near Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Cancun, and I do so with the idea to build a center for African and Mayan culture. I believe that there is sufficient will of people and help to make this a reality. This great project has already begun and presents the following framework at it's iniciation:
What will a African and Mayan Cultural Center offer in
Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and the Mexican Caribbean?
An African / Mayan Cultural Center in Felipe Carrillo Puerto will be an
open and free space for help and research with special projects to promote the
Mayan people of Mexico and Central America, and African people in Africa and all
over the world where African people live.
ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS:
1. PUBLICATION OF "REAL ROOTS
MAGAZINE" IN ENGLISH, AND "RAICES" IN SPANISH
2. CLASSES IN ENGLISH, MAYA AND SPANISH
3. COMPUTER CLASSES
4. MUSIC, VIDEOS, CONCERTS AND DANCE
6. AFRICAN AND MAYAN STUDIES
7. TRADITIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CUISINE
8. HOSTAL
HOW WILL THE CULTURAL CENTER BE RUN?
The Africa / Maya Cultural Center will be registered as a non-profit
civil association with a board of directors knowledgeable in Mayan, Mexican,
African and world affairs. The center will appreciate donations, volunteers and
will also hire and pay a staff that will be responsible for the day to day
running of the cultural center