by Evan X Hyde                                   

    The UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF) was formed in 1996 because a group of us who had a United Black Association for Development (UBAD) background knew that Silvana Woods was an asset of the Roman Catholic Church and the Bowen & Bowen business empire. 

    Earlier in 1996, an organizational movement of black people in the republic of Honduras, which included both Garifuna and non-Garifuna, were organizing what became known as the Central American Black Organization (CABO), and the non-Garifuna Honduraneans insisted that the non-Garifuna (Creoles) of Belize be represented by an organization separate from the National Garifuna Council.

    None of us on Partridge Street knew of Silvana’s activities, with funding from a university in Texas, to bring the Creole dialect to written language status, so to speak. The founder of the National Kriol Council in 1996 was Silvana Woods, and if UEF had not been formed, the Creoles of Belize would have been represented in CABO by an organization led by Silvana Woods. I will repeat: she was an asset of institutions which do not have real roots credibility in the black (non-Garifuna) community of Belize.  

    UEF’s roots are in the UBAD organization, founded in February of 1969. The roots are deep. If you don’t believe me, ask Lillette Barkley-Waite or Rufus X.