In 2001 South Africa, Africa opened the door to welcome
hundreds and hundreds of African descendants around the world. The news of
Durban conference 2001 spread like the wind traveled from South to North, from East
to West, and Bolivia was present in it.
The applications were open to everybody who wanted to
participate in Durban 2001, "World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance". Unfortunately, in
Bolivia very few people talked about African descendants and by that time Afro-Bolivians
were ignored, excluded and forgotten by their government. Yet, the culture and
identity was present from generation to generation. Uncle Benjamin, (we call
him Tío Benjo) was one of the hundreds of hundreds of African descendants who were
invited to participate in Durban’s Conference. He always knew where he came
from and the history of Afro-Bolivians. He was so excited and motivated to be
in Africa after years of slavery of his ancestors. Afro-Bolivians gave him a
warm goodbye.
Everybody wanted to know more about Africa and its history.
After Tío Benjo returned from Africa everybody wanted to know what were the
thoughts of their brothers and sisters. He brought to Afro-Bolivians hope and
faith. He told them that their history is more than they thought, and it must
not die. He came back with a lot of energy to promote our traditional music and
dance, la Saya. La Saya developed more energy and legitimacy after Tío Benjo’s
visit to Durban. He brought legitimacy to Afro-Bolivians and kept their culture
alive.
Today, I feel that Afro-Bolivians and Africans are
connected. The Durban conference was very important for hundreds of thousands of
African descendants worldwide. Through this conference, many governments
decided to dedicate and spend resources to promote the African culture outside of
Africa. The Diaspora had spoken and Afro-Bolivians are proud of that.
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