GlobaSista Face-To-Face Interview With Alex Rocha in La Maria San Francisco Barrio, Cartagena, Colombia.
A handsome Afro-Colombian man met us at our hotel in Cartagena...greeted us with a warm friendly smile. He spoke fluent English and very passionate when talking about entrenched discrimination against black people there.. He advocates for a better life, safer environment, schools and health care for residents in his community.
This is my sit down, face to face interview with him on May 14, 2017 (at hotel) & May 15, 2017 (enroute to Palenque)
"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
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(LIZ): " Hi Alex, it's so nice to see you and put a name to a face" Thank you for coming"
(ALEX:) " You are welcome"
(LIZ): "Did you have to drive far to get here?", Where do you live?
(ALEX): " No, I was just finishing a tour. I do not live far from here in a neighborhood called La Maria in San Francisco Barrio, Cartagena, Colombia where I was born and grew up there...It's about 10 minutes from here... about 70% African descendants make up the city's residents and live in the most impoverished neighborhoods of Cartegena.
(LIZ): (getting personal) "How old are you?"
(ALEX :) "I am 47"
(LIZ): "Wow you look ten years younger even on the websites."
(ALEX:) Smiled
(LIZ): "How did you learn to speak English so fluently?
(ALEX): " I watched videos and listened to U.S. rappers , then I went to school to learn better English."
(LIZ): "What inspired you to start the Alex Rocha Children Youth Center?
(ALEX): " When I was younger, I got involved in drugs and gangs but I thank God for the opportunity to get educated and help the people of my community. I started the youth center in 2012 to help break the cycle of drugs, crime and gangs. Coming here gives the children an outlet to be educated in English, which is essential to get a job, we feed them, have social activities and offer spiritual values. We teach them black history, my goal is to build a black history room inside a museum. The kids still think all Africans were slaves so they need to learn that we were free people forced to be slaves.(Sidebar:) Alex is aware of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. (U.S.A.)
Most of the schools have poor quality education and do not teach English, so whenever tourists come here we asked Not for money, but for them to take a few minutes out of their vacation to lend their talent and skills to teach the children something. All children , all ages who live here are welcome.I am in the process of building a new addition for a computer area and seeking funding *( the building was in progress when we visited on May, 15, 2017).
(LIZ): "How are you funded? Does the government assist in funding?
(ALEX): " We survive on the generosity of visitors like you and your friends who brought us donations of
new tee shirts, backpacks, pencils, toothbrush/took paste kits, shorts for children of all ages.Tourists who come and share their talents and skills. I fund the center from my work as a tour guide and occasional funding from tourists. Cartagena government benefits largely from tourism and it's industry but the wealth is not distributed beyond that."
(LIZ): "How do blacks people survive here if the lighter skin people get all the jobs everywhere in shops, restaurants, hotels. clubs,etc?
(ALEX): "You see mostly black people on the streets as vendors, fishing, farming, the Palenqueras women sell fruits/candies. Black People struggle to make a living from day-to-day here in low paying jobs...the government don't care."
(Liz): " Why don't black people rise up, protest against the government, organize across social media mediums/neighborhoods, fight for their human rights, rally, like we do as African-Americans in the U.S. against police brutality, blatant racism, bigotry, and social ills that affect our communities."
(ALEX):"The government will have military groups to massacre them. People here are not going to rise up like in the U.S., they take on a passive attitude...they get use to corruption and don't fight. In the U.S. you have law and order. African Americans have more opportunities.
Some blacks here are not proud of their blackness. They pass that attitude on to their children. For example, my daughter did her thesis on " Proudness of Their Blackness". She asked the children here "what do you consider yourself ?" some of them responded "white",...she asked "are you proud of your hair?" some of them said " I want straight hair. It's the mentally and I don't know about that one drop of black blood."
(LIZ): "Alex you seem so passionate about teaching others about the disparity among blacks here and bringing about social change, starting with the children. I read one of your online interviews prior to coming here and learned a lot about the history of Afro-Colombians day to day struggles here. I did not know that Colombia had more Africans descendants of slaves than the United States of America besides Nigeria and Brazil.
(ALEX): "Yes"
(LIZ): " Alex thank you for sharing your time with us, educating us, meeting your family, allowing us to visit your youth center to meet some of the children who in my opinion, represent the Biblical Jacob's coat of many colors.
As we readied to leave the Youth Center, he further extended his hospitality, invited us upstairs to his living quarters and offered us fresh,sweet pineapple slices...Your hospitality will never be obliterated!
* We never doubted out safety there in Alex's neighborhood..not at all!
experiencerealcartagena.com/ Alex Rocha as your tour guide
www.facebook.com/AlexRochaYC/
minorityrights.org/minorities/afro-colombians/
__________________________________________________________
(LIZ): " Hi Alex, it's so nice to see you and put a name to a face" Thank you for coming"
(ALEX:) " You are welcome"
(LIZ): "Did you have to drive far to get here?", Where do you live?
(ALEX): " No, I was just finishing a tour. I do not live far from here in a neighborhood called La Maria in San Francisco Barrio, Cartagena, Colombia where I was born and grew up there...It's about 10 minutes from here... about 70% African descendants make up the city's residents and live in the most impoverished neighborhoods of Cartegena.
(LIZ): (getting personal) "How old are you?"
(ALEX :) "I am 47"
(LIZ): "Wow you look ten years younger even on the websites."
(ALEX:) Smiled
(LIZ): "How did you learn to speak English so fluently?
(ALEX): " I watched videos and listened to U.S. rappers , then I went to school to learn better English."
(LIZ): "What inspired you to start the Alex Rocha Children Youth Center?
(ALEX): " When I was younger, I got involved in drugs and gangs but I thank God for the opportunity to get educated and help the people of my community. I started the youth center in 2012 to help break the cycle of drugs, crime and gangs. Coming here gives the children an outlet to be educated in English, which is essential to get a job, we feed them, have social activities and offer spiritual values. We teach them black history, my goal is to build a black history room inside a museum. The kids still think all Africans were slaves so they need to learn that we were free people forced to be slaves.(Sidebar:) Alex is aware of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. (U.S.A.)
Most of the schools have poor quality education and do not teach English, so whenever tourists come here we asked Not for money, but for them to take a few minutes out of their vacation to lend their talent and skills to teach the children something. All children , all ages who live here are welcome.I am in the process of building a new addition for a computer area and seeking funding *( the building was in progress when we visited on May, 15, 2017).
(LIZ): "How are you funded? Does the government assist in funding?
(ALEX): " We survive on the generosity of visitors like you and your friends who brought us donations of
new tee shirts, backpacks, pencils, toothbrush/took paste kits, shorts for children of all ages.Tourists who come and share their talents and skills. I fund the center from my work as a tour guide and occasional funding from tourists. Cartagena government benefits largely from tourism and it's industry but the wealth is not distributed beyond that."
(LIZ): "How do blacks people survive here if the lighter skin people get all the jobs everywhere in shops, restaurants, hotels. clubs,etc?
(ALEX): "You see mostly black people on the streets as vendors, fishing, farming, the Palenqueras women sell fruits/candies. Black People struggle to make a living from day-to-day here in low paying jobs...the government don't care."
(Liz): " Why don't black people rise up, protest against the government, organize across social media mediums/neighborhoods, fight for their human rights, rally, like we do as African-Americans in the U.S. against police brutality, blatant racism, bigotry, and social ills that affect our communities."
(ALEX):"The government will have military groups to massacre them. People here are not going to rise up like in the U.S., they take on a passive attitude...they get use to corruption and don't fight. In the U.S. you have law and order. African Americans have more opportunities.
Some blacks here are not proud of their blackness. They pass that attitude on to their children. For example, my daughter did her thesis on " Proudness of Their Blackness". She asked the children here "what do you consider yourself ?" some of them responded "white",...she asked "are you proud of your hair?" some of them said " I want straight hair. It's the mentally and I don't know about that one drop of black blood."
(LIZ): "Alex you seem so passionate about teaching others about the disparity among blacks here and bringing about social change, starting with the children. I read one of your online interviews prior to coming here and learned a lot about the history of Afro-Colombians day to day struggles here. I did not know that Colombia had more Africans descendants of slaves than the United States of America besides Nigeria and Brazil.
(ALEX): "Yes"
(LIZ): " Alex thank you for sharing your time with us, educating us, meeting your family, allowing us to visit your youth center to meet some of the children who in my opinion, represent the Biblical Jacob's coat of many colors.
As we readied to leave the Youth Center, he further extended his hospitality, invited us upstairs to his living quarters and offered us fresh,sweet pineapple slices...Your hospitality will never be obliterated!
* We never doubted out safety there in Alex's neighborhood..not at all!
experiencerealcartagena.com/ Alex Rocha as your tour guide
www.facebook.com/AlexRochaYC/
minorityrights.org/minorities/afro-colombians/