Several years ago, God put a special people on our hearts. Through seeking God's leading, He eventually brought us to Honduras to minister to and with the Garifuna people, a unique people group who live mostly along the north coast of Honduras. It was encouraging for us to share about our journey to Honduras and about the Garifuna with our most recent team (see last post
Our First Ministry Team: The Aftermath). When we shared of our journey, we realized that most had not heard all of it, including some who have been friends for years. So... please read on!
History lesson to understand the people...
The Garifuna have had a long, difficult journey. Around 1635 two Spanish slave ships carrying slaves from western Africa ran aground in the Caribbean islands, near what is now St. Vincent. While the crew of these ships died in the wrecks, most of the slaves survived. They swam ashore to the island and intermingled with the Caliponan indians who inhabited St. Vincent at the time. The Caliponan's spoke an Arawak language, so many of the former slaves learned their language and incorporated it into their own western African language (mostly the
Yoruba language) in order to trade with and marry into their people. The new generation of people to follow began the Garifuna people.
Over time, the Caliponan's and Garifuna had many disputes and each group was forced to separate to opposite sides of the island. Although the island was a British territory, the French were the first European settlers around 1720. By the 1780s the island had traded hands several times, back and forth between the British and French. During this time the Garifuna fought along side the French (they traded with one another), but eventually the British took full control of the island.
Because of the large number of Garifuna who inhabited the island over the previous 160 years, in 1797, from fear of rebellion, the British decided to ship around 2,500 of them to Roatan, an island off of the north coast of Honduras. Once they arrived to Roatan, they quickly realized they would not be able to sustain themselves with the limited farm land and trees for building houses and boats. So they gained permission from the Spanish government to come to the mainland of Honduras to establish a community. They landed in Trujillo, a port city and former capital of Honduras.
Over the course of the following 200 years the Garifuna would thrive all along the north coast of Honduras making fishing their primary source of food and income even to today. Because the Garifuna have retained their culture for hundreds of years, they have become a strong people group in Honduras and have niched out a place for themselves. But also because of their strong culture and background of resilience, they have separated themselves from the rest of the traditional Spanish culture. Much of this separation has been because of unwanted racism, which is still alive and strong in Honduras, especially between Spanish decent Hondurans and the Garifuna. There have been several disastrous events in various parts of the north coast among the Garifuna, including a massacre of nearly 30 Garifuna in the 1970s in the town of San Juan near the well-known city of Tela. The Garifuna have also retained their religion for the most part, a mix of African and Arawak animistic beliefs, at times mixed with Catholicism. Their language, as well, is a strange mix of their African language with Arawak, English, Spanish, and French.
(Please pray for us that the Lord would give us understanding, as we will begin learning this language in addition to the Spanish we have already learned!)
As a result of their differences, the Garifuna have created their own communities throughout the north coast, many of which are solely Garifuna with only a handful, if any, Spanish Hondurans. The Garifuna do not easily trust outsiders. Because of this our ministry to the Garifuna will likely be a long road of building relationships and trust.
With the city of Trujillo and its surrounding Garifuna communities in our sights and our moving date quickly approaching, we have been talking about what it will look like to minister there. Our desire is to first get to know the needs of the people, both spiritual and physical. We know there are always the desire to have improved infrastructure. We were told in another community that their number one desire was to have paved roads. Not exactly the needs we want to be addressing!
So our focus will be on what is already happening socially and spiritually and to be able complement these efforts through local churches, ministries and community leaders and community members. We have many new ideas as well, but will need to assess the needs of the communities and continue to pray and dream about what the Lord might have us do.
Please continue in pray for us as we plan to move at the end of summer. As you may know, we are here because God had, and has, a plan. He wants to use us with the Garifuna to share with them the hope we have and to expand the Kingdom. You are a part of this plan by praying for us and supporting us financially, and hopefully in the future by serving with us.
We recently were told by Camino Global, our mission organization, that we are low on our support. For various reasons people who once supported us are unable to. So we ask that, if you are able, would you increase your support by $5 or $10 a month? Or maybe a one-time gift would be better for you? If the Lord is leading you, please consider supporting us financially or increasing your monthly support. As always, please continue to pray for us and the people we touch daily here. God is the one who provides and we rely on Him to sustain us, both physically living here and spiritually as we seek Him for guidance and "do life" with those who He has called us to.
Click here to give a one-time gift or to give monthly. We can't thank you enough... thank you for all you do for the Kingdom!
In His Mighty Grip,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret
No comments:
Post a Comment