1000 Awesome Things about Curaçao was born out of nostalgia. Not the debilitating kind, the kind that empowers.
I’ve spent my entire adult life in the US, yet still consider Curaçao ‘home’. It’s where I express my emotions in Papiamentu, hug my crazy family, and catch up with friends who are more like family. I’ve come to terms with the fact that Curaçao fits like an old pair of jeans that has adapted to my body for maximum comfort but doesn’t necessarily flatter the way a new one does.
Our online “Curacao” enclave.
My Facebook news feed is filled with “Curaçao” allowing me to sample ‘home’ from the comfort of my smart phone in New York City. No expensive 7 hour flights needed to see familiar faces, speak Papiamentu, share the latest joke, music, news, photos, it’s all right there.
I choose to live in a city that runs on ‘homesick’ immigrants from all over the world. According to the Census Bureau, 37% of the city’s population was born outside of the US: 32% of the city’s immigrants came from Latin America, 26% from Asia, 20% from non-Hispanic Caribbean nations, 17% from Europe and 4% from Africa.
Most of these immigrants form communities with their compatriots, seeking convenience and moral support, organically forming ‘home away from home’ adding to the ethnic mosaic of the city. A recent New York Times article, Take the A Train to Little Guyana, highlighted ‘the foods and goods’ of 10 newer immigrant enclaves (e.g. Arab, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Ecuadorian, Ghanaian, Guyanese, Korean, Mexican, Polish, Sri Lankan) ‘to provide readers a starting point for exploration.’
Granted, some of these immigrant enclaves exceed Curaçao’s total population size (of 150K) and tend to resemble autonomous islands within my multi-ethnic city… Mr. Lovlu sums it up: “I feel like I’m living in my own country (…) You don’t have to learn English to live here. That’s a great thing!”
Curaçao resembles New York City in that it essentially represents 50 different nationalities who live in close proximity to each other... but not enough numbers to validate creating separate enclaves. And unless you live in Curaçao or Rotterdam’s enclave of ‘Curaçao’ (and the rest of the former Netherlands Antilles), you simply don’t have the luxury of numbers, so we have to be creative in ‘re-creating’.
That’s where 1000 Awesome Things about Curaçao comes in. This website represents an “online immigrant enclave” born out of a shared sense of ‘home’ and aims to be a starting point for tourist exploration. So fill your Facebook news feed with ‘Curaçao’ by liking our Facebook page 🙂
The creative team behind this website. From L – R: Aftan Schoonen, Clifford Goilo, Gina van de Laar, Louis Philippe Romer, Yair Acherman, Marc Castillo, Elizabeth Francisco, Sarina Da Costa Gomez, Marla Gomes Casseres, Carlo Gomes Casseres, Stephanie Hasham, Juan-Carlos Goilo, Kim Duits, Tatiana Radzim, Gaby Lieuw, Mark Griffith, Kimberley Douglas, Carolina Gomes-Casseres, Tarik Kemp, Shanan David.
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This post is an ode to our shared sense of ‘home’ (and homesickness).
Special thanks to poet Heske Zelermeyer (who now lives in Daytona Beach, FL), singer/songwriter Izaline Calister (who now lives in Groningen, NL), designer Stephanie Hasham (who now lives in Atlanta, GA) and Sarina Da Costa Gomez (who now lives Bridport, UK).
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Kòrsou
M’a bin skonde
den e skochi
K’a parimi
M’a bin buska
E karinjo
Di mi hubentud
E abrazo ku ningun
Otro parti mundu
Por dunami
M’a bai Kòrsou
M’a bin kas
M’a bin dispidi
Di hende
K’a kriami
M’a bin mira nan kara
Un biaha mas
M’a bin karisia
Nan kabei blanku
Rekorda
Ken mi tabata
Prome ayá
M’a bin
Pasobra na Kòrsou
T’ei historia
Di mi bid’a kuminsa
Un baranka ku ta permiti
Mi Alma un sosiegu
Bou di su shelu
Pa un ratu
Mi por descarga
Mi ansiedat
—
Curaçao
I came to hide
In the lap
That bore me
I came to search
For childhood love
That warm embrace
No other corner of the world
Can give
I flew to Curaçao
Emotionally I came home
A last farewell
To folks who raised me
See their faces
One more time
Caress white hair
And thus remember
A little girl that once was me
My path
Started on the island
That same rock
Still permits
My soul to find some rest
Beneath blue skies
I always can
Unload some of my stress
by Heske Zelermyer (1988)
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Ora Friu Kuminsa / When Cold Sets In by Izaline Calister (trans. by Stephanie Hasham)
Close your eyes, climb Mount Christoffel, and look out… enjoy the view of Bandabou, dushi Curaçao, blue water, rocks, drought and infrou (cactus)
Take a deep breath, savor the salty air of Wèspèn, it’s been so long… Don’t forget the scent of the Plaza, trade wind and flamboyant.
When cold sets in or when life isn’t going your way, thank god you can still reminisce about your youth in the sun… lovely place where I let my dreams take me.
Taste your tears, they’re as salty as the island’s after-work sweat, as salty as karnisá, bakíou, a good stobá, funchi ku piská, guiambo, kadushi or salmou.
Take a shower… let your imagination carry you to a beach with friends around a barbecue… a Sunday filled with sun, music and youth.
When it gets cold or when life isn’t going your way, when money is tight, when rain pours down from the sky or when you’re lonely for a companion, thank god you can still reminisce about your youth in the sun… with love…
Dushi Curaçao…
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pa kada dos pida di mi kurason
ku ta kibra manera baranka tormentá pa laman
mi ta korda un sonrisa skondí
entre e streanan, i mi alma
i mi sa ku di aki pa nos isla,
no ta muchu leu fo’i kas
—
for every two pieces of my heart
that breaks like rocks tormented by the ocean
I remember a hidden smile
between the stars and my soul
and I know that from here to our island
is not too far from home.
By Sarina Da Costa Gomez
Photo by Kimberley Douglas.
1000 Awesome Things About Curaçao 