Category Archives: Family Life

Nell Vera Lowe Williams: A “Fierce” Caribbean Woman

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Family Life, Immigrants, People, Relationships

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Nell Vera Lowe Williams - Jamaica - 1940s

Nell Vera Lowe Williams (1918-2006)
Jamaica – 1940s
Photo Credit: Finding Samuel Lowe

On August 1, 2015, I met author and entrepreneur Paula Williams Madison at the Leimert Park Book Fair in Los Angeles. What a surprise to learn that our grandfathers were both Hakka Chinese immigrants to the Caribbean!

Born in Harlem, New York, to Jamaican immigrants, Madison is the youngest of three siblings. Her memoir, Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem, recounts her quest to find her maternal Chinese grandfather. At the heart of her riveting journey is her mother, Nell Vera Lowe Williams.

My connection with Nell Vera Lowe was immediate and intense. I saw the multitude of Caribbean women who fight against all odds for their place in the sun, raising their children to become achievers. I saw my mother. I saw myself. Continue reading →

Brazil’s New “Sin-Free” Social Network

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Human Behavior, Religion

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Social Network Facegloria for the Christian Family

Welcome to Faceglória – Social Network of the Christian Family
The perfect Social Network for you to share Christian love and wisdom with others.
Source: Faceglória

For millions of us, Facebook has become the virtual space to connect and share with our family and friends, as well as to make new friends. But it has its downside, exposing us to haters and bullies, violence, pornography, and much more.

Three years ago in São Paulo, Atilla Barros, a Brazilian web designer, together with three other devout colleagues decided to change all that. On June 4, 2015, they launched Faceglória, an online social network “to facilitate communication between people who seek to preserve family principles, morality and respect between users who share the same faith, ideas, among other activities.” Continue reading →

Father, where are you?

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Family Life, Human Behavior

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Syrian Children outside UNHCR Tent - Jordan Refugee Camp

Syrian Children outside their UNHCR Tent – Refugee Camp in Jordan
Photo Credit: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) /M. Abu Asaker

We live in a patriarchal world. With relatively few exceptions, our fathers, our men, determine the direction and evolution of our societies. This Father’s Day—with persistent inequality, a permanent state of violence and war, climate mayhem, and escalating destruction of human habitats—I ask: Father, where are you?

Father, where are you when a son goes on a shooting rampage, killing other human beings because he believes he has the right to do so?

Father, where are you when the leaders of our governments send our sons and daughters to fight in illegitimate wars of domination? Continue reading →

My Greatest Fear in Brazil

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Human Behavior

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Bus Terminal - Praca Coracao de Jesus - Fortaleza - Ceara - Brazil

Bus Terminal – Praça Coração de Jesus – Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil
Photo Credit: Agência Fato

When my sons were young, my greatest fear was dying and leaving them orphans in Brazil—a fear triggered by a near-death experience.

I had just gotten off the bus at the terminal in the Praça Coração de Jesus in downtown Fortaleza. In those days, there was no divider separating the bus lanes from the street. Cleared for crossing with the red light, I was in the middle of the street when I heard the roar of a speeding car. The tires screeched as the driver took a right turn at high velocity, heading straight at me. Continue reading →

Mothers Can Be Complicated

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Family Life, Human Behavior, Relationships

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Mother and Daughter - Abstract Painting by Marie Jamieson

Abstract Painting – Mother and Daughter – Ink on Heavy Paper
By Marie Jamieson

On this day in the United States and in some countries around the world, as we honor our mothers, I have to admit that mothers can be complicated. Happy the woman who has a loving relationship with her mother! I did once…before our thirty-year separation.

My mother migrated to the United States. I stayed behind in Guyana, got married, became a mother of two, and later migrated to Brazil. My mother and I became different individuals. Our values and priorities in life diverged. Continue reading →

Wintry Blues

21 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Family Life, Festivals, Save Our Children, United States

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Rain clouds hover over Downtown Los Angeles - December 2014Rain clouds hover over Downtown Los Angeles – December 2014
Photo Credit: ABC7 Eyewitness News

 

In the Northern Hemisphere, today is the first day of winter. The North Pole will tilt 23.5 degrees away from the Sun, making the Winter Solstice the shortest day or the longest night of the year.

I’ve got the wintry blues. In Southern California, we’ve been getting much needed rain. But the gray, heavily loaded sky crushes my Christmas spirit. The long nights cloak me in gloom. To add to my wintry woes, some bad news has further chilled my Christmas cheer. Such is the ever-changing journey called life. Anxiety can quickly smother our joy. Continue reading →

Miracles Happen

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Relationships

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Natal de Luz 2014 - Fortaleza - Ceara - BrazilNatal de Luz 2014 – Christmas of Light 2014
Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil
Photo Credit: Prefeitura de Fortaleza

 

The Christmas Season is here! The kid in me loves the Christmas lights and music. I love, too, the Christmas movies in which all things are possible. People look out for others. They are forgiving, generous, and compassionate. Miracles abound.

During our Brazil years, the miracle that stands out from all the other miracles occurred the year my then-husband returned to Guyana. Shortly thereafter, still reeling from being abandoned, I received an eviction notice from our landlord. Discovering we were three months in arrears with our rent sent me spinning. Continue reading →

Frustration at Filing for Divorce in Brazil

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Relationships

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Divorce - When a Marriage FailsDivorce – When a Marriage Fails
Photo Credit: culturamix.com

 

Marriages are tested under fire. Some marriages survive the flame, forging a stronger bond. Others suffer third degree burns, weakening the union. My marriage belonged to the latter group. When it ended in Brazil, I had not only failed as a wife but also had to confront the demon of divorce.

“I can’t sponsor you and your sons to come to America unless you’re divorced,” my mother told me.

I opened my Jerusalem Bible for guidance. In the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 19), Jesus was clear about divorce.

“[W]hat God has united, man must not divide… Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife…and marries another, is guilty of adultery.”

Alone and broken with two kids in a foreign country, I spent a year of soul searching to come to terms with what I needed to do in order to reunite with my family. Continue reading →

Father’s Day: Be the Wind of Change

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Family Life, Human Behavior, People, Relationships, United States

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Wind Moving Clothing by Bannon FuUntitled Painting of Wind Moving Clothing – Watercolor by Bannon Fu
California – USA
Photo Credit: Bannon Fu

Why is it that some paintings grab our attention more than others? This was just a painting of clothes blowing in the wind, similar to the one in the above photo by the same artist. The artist chose female dress wear, of colorful and diverse shapes, as his subject. In a world of washing machines and clothes dryers, it seems a lifetime ago since I hung laundry on a line to dry.

“It’s beautiful,” I told the woman seated at the table in the booth at the Affair of the Arts 2014 held in Culver City during the weekend of June 7 & 8.

She rose to join me, standing in front of the largest painting in the collection on display. “It’s my father’s work,” she said. “It’s all about the wind.” Continue reading →

Dengue Fever Threatened My Son’s Life

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Working Life

≈ 17 Comments

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Dengue Fever - Aedes Aegypti MosquitoDengue Fever – Aedes Aegypti Mosquito
Photo Credit: WHO/TDR/Stammers

 

When my older son, John, was eighteen years old, he took sick with what I thought was the flu. At the Italbras tannery, my Italian boss had arrived in Brazil for a five-day visit by our largest cut-and-sew client. The day our two visitors arrived, John was bedridden with high fever, headache, and muscle and joint pains. Our over-the-counter medicines for fever and colds only provided temporary relief.

Around ten o’clock, when John called me, I knew that something was wrong. His condition had worsened. After telling my boss that I had to take my son to the hospital, I returned to Fortaleza in a company vehicle. Continue reading →