Alberto N. Jones
Doctor in Veterinary Medicine/Environmental Health
British West Indian Welfare Centre, Guantanamo

The mention of the British West Indian Welfare Centre in Guantanamo, known to many hundreds of us simply as the "Centre", evokes some deeply-held feelings of admiration, love and respect for an institution that has strived to preserve a minority culture in Guantanamo for more than five decades.

In the summer of 1945, a few visionaries created our beloved Centre as the cornerstone of a program designed to protect the culture of the English-speaking emigrant community which was engulfed within a totally Spanish-speaking environment. Today, the Centre, despite the crumbling building facade, stands as a mute witness to the wide range of services and activities generated within its walls. These activities touch the lives of so many people, by providing English Language education, Music and Performing Arts lessons, Health Care Services, a Technical and Scientific Reference Library and historical celebrations.

The Centre instills in its membership the importance of visiting the sick, burying the dead, and restoring West Indian social and moral values (while highlighting the ills of selfishness); it provides legal assistance and emergency financial support to families, and offers other community-based activities.

The Centre has given special emphasis to integrating the local emigrant community with similar groups dispersed throughout Cuba and to the maintenance of links with cultural, sports and educational organizations in Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Kitts°Nevis and the diaspora.

Those of us who had close, personal experience of the tireless dedication of our founding members (Mr. Skelton, Mr. Horsford, Mrs. Audain, Mr. Jackson and others) celebrate the results of their obsession with creating a better community. However, we must recognize that, as beautiful and wonderful as our forefathers dreams were, most of them remain unaccomplished. We must, therefore, re-commit ourselves to the completion of the job: to the advancement of the goals of the Centre and to the achievement of new heights. We must preserve and celebrate our identity, salvage our painful history, and thereby enable our children to understand their past and to better plot their future.

Those who "had a dream" must know that their sacrifices were not in vain. Today, there are still 42 original members of the English-speaking community in Guantanamo -- most over 80 years old. They are our living memories and we thank them for their efforts to preserve the West Indian traditions and language for future generations.