Former Dangriga mayor, Cassian Nunez, is the author of a new Belizean book called "Eye Nature." It's aimed at young people and discusses growing up in the age of technology while simultaneously maintaining respect for history and culture. Nunez spoke to the media about this new book at the launch today.
Cassian Nunez, Former Dangriga Mayor, Author:
"I'm inspired because of what I saw around me for so many years. I was born in Dangriga and the Garifuna spirit is still alive but young people are slightly different. They want to improve but it seems there is something holding them back. So I thought I should put that on paper to inspire them to move ahead, use your own initiative. Think about the future at all times."
"It deals with slavery quite a bit, quite extensively because I think that history of about 300 years or so still impacts us more or less today and the younger people even though they identify themselves as Garifuna, they're not speaking the language fluently, and even though they want to speak it, there's no opportunities to do so."
Yasser Musa, Publisher:
"It's a unique book, I see it as a deeply philosophical type of book where he grapples with big questions about humanity today specifically about how the young generation are dealing with the advances of technology but what he makes an important point using the lens of his Garifuna culture is to see how through history, the Garifuna history and Belize's history, how through generations, people are resilient and overcome adversary to oppression."
