Dear Editor,
Statia has always produced great storytellers like the late Charlie Arnaud, the late Clifford Gibbs, now retired politician Eric Henriquez and the owner of Lyn’s Dream Bakery, Lynette Anson-Leerdam.
Storytelling is used to teach important lessons of life, to hold on to one’s culture and traditions, for the purpose of healing and the upliftment of a people.
Nowadays, media houses serve as storytelling agencies. Many, many stories are published about the political, social, cultural and economic ‘reality’ in Statia. But unlike our true storytellers, the stories told about my island of birth are one-sided, hence incomplete stories.
It is important for our children to know that there are many different stories about Statia. True storytellers always create a balance of stories. They never tell just one story about a place or a people.
It is important for Statian storytelling to become more visible in order to weaken the one-sided storytelling told by the media.
So, I challenge my Statian storytellers to tell all of our stories, not just some of our stories. When we do this, we give our people, those who have passed on, those living and those not yet born, the dignity we deserve.
Xiomara Balentina
