Last week, Ingrid Holaman, a representative of Beyond Kultura Events Founda­tion (BKEF), distributed two new book titles to schools in St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.

The first book was the English version of “Van Slavernij naar Vrijheid”, or “From Slavery to Free­dom” in English, which was published by BKEF and LM Publishers.

The second book was “Martino: The Salty Story of a Slave Boy” by Loekie Morales, which was pub­lished by BKEF.

“From Slavery to Free­dom” was an initiative of Morales, who aimed to publish a book that con­tains poems and stories by authors of the Dutch Kingdom and Suriname about slavery history.

About four years ago, Barbara van der Woude suggested the idea to Mo­rales, author and chair of BKEF.

A select number of well-known authors from the Dutch Kingdom and Su­riname joined forces to write short essays or po­ems about the subject of slavery. The writers have previously published on this subject.

The stories deal with various themes and peri­ods from slavery: from the capture of the enslaved, the forced shipment of people through the Atlan­tic Slave Trade, the auc­tioning of slaves, and life on plantations and obtain­ing freedom.

The book is written for persons who are at least 15 years old and will be distributed to high schools.

The participating au­thors are Lydia Rood (The Netherlands), Cyn­thia McLeod (Suriname), Ismene Krisnadath (Suri­name), Barbara van der Woude (St. Maarten), Jeroen Hoogerwerf (The Netherlands), Monica Clarinda (Bonaire), Joyce Pool (The Neth­erlands), Marianne Tefft (St. Maarten), Walter Hellebrand (St. Eusta­tius), Loekie Morales (St. Maarten), Delno Tromp (Bonaire), Robert Ree­berg (Aruba), Xiomara Muller (Bonaire), Hilli Arduin (Suriname), Lib­erta Rosario (Curacao), and Henna Goudzand (Suriname).

Mariska Hamerstein ed­ited the book under su­pervision of Morales.

Vanessa Paulina, a paint­er from Aruba, created il­lustrations for each story and poem.

“The authors describe the shared history in brand new, exciting sto­ries. Sometimes that is difficult and confronting, sometimes strengthening and heart-warming,” said Dr. Michiel van Kern-pen, professor of Dutch-Caribbean literature, in the book’s preface. “They show you how people in past centuries managed to survive under terrible cir­cumstances. People who really existed or who real­ly could have existed, that doesn’t matter. It is up to you to know that you have come out of the end of that tunnel, that you can carry that history with you and can use it to build a better future.”

BKEF said in a press release: “For a good two years, BKEF has been chasing grant providers to see the value and impor­tance of such a Kingdom and Suriname Slavery Freedom story collection, and to support it finan­cially. The process was particularly strenuous,
but publishing has now succeeded with a lot of pa­tience and good coopera­tion between BKEF and LM Publishers.”

“Martino, The Salty Story of a Slave Boy” is intended for primary edu­cation.

BKEF said: “Both books will be a nice addition to the Caribbean book col­lection, especially in the slavery theme. Schools can also teach their stu­dents a lot about life as a slave, but also about free­dom and what that means, with reading comprehen­sion.”

BKEF thanks all authors for “their great, inspiring contributions from faith in this project”.

BKEF treasurer Rita Aikman also thanks spon­sors, such as Prince Ber­nhard Culture Fund Ca­ribbean and Mondriaan Foundation, for financial contributions.

“The final push was given by Windward Island Bank and the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten, and the Representative of the Netherlands in Phil­ipsburg, as support for covering the shipment and distribution costs, and Obersi Xerox for their corrective contribution
to the Martino books,” BKEF said.

“It is a major project for BKEF that we have car­ried out with pleasure, because we like to spoil schools and public librar­ies with enough copies to enable classroom reading comprehension,” Aikman said.

The Daily Herald.