Garifuna Council plans fundraising gala for hurricane victims

Sandra Miranda

The National Garifuna Council is holding its second annual Black, White and Yellow gala this weekend. Guests are encouraged to dress in the Garifuna colors. The event is a fundraiser to generate income to support the work of the Council. Among their many plans, the NGC is hoping to raise enough to build a cassava processing facility. President of the NGC Sandra Miranda explains.

Sandra Miranda, President of the National Garifuna Council

“Presently we are building a structure at the Monument area by the Gulisi Primary School and Museum. That is a cassava processing demonstration center where we want to train young people and other growing adults on the processing of cassava. So you can make cassava bread and there are other by products of cassava. Because slowly, the young people of Dangriga and other communities are not into the processing of the cassava – maybe it because they don’t know. So, we have that it is the Garifuna from Guatemala and Honduras who would come in and bake the cassava bread. So, we want to train Belizeans so that we don’t lose it because cassava is very important in our diet. Right now we are putting a budget together to have a concept writing paper for the youths and we need to mobilize the youths. Presently too we are also working on our five year strategic plan for the NGC that will take us for the next five years.”

The gala is set for Saturday, October seventh at the Ecumenical Auditorium. Tickets are on sale for fifty dollars and can be purchased from any of the members of the Council. The NGC has committed to donating the first one thousand to the hurricane recovering mission for victims of Hurricane Maria in Dominica.