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This article in the Trinidad Express Newspapers, expresses the Caribbean diaspora from the eyes of a Guyanese born immigrant Felicia J Persaud, who has successfully build a company abroad in New York City.

As Ms. Persaud has experienced the Caribbean diaspora first hand, she knows the struggles that West Indian immigrant experience as minorities abroad and expresses some of her efforts to shed light on the Caribbean community.

As a first hand example of the Caribbean diaspora myself, I could definitely relate to some of the stories that Ms. Persaud mentions in the article. At the age of six, my mother relocated us to the United States where we lived for almost ten years. Hearing stories of unfortunate opportunities due to immigration status in the article became like flash backs for me because it was not just stories, it was real life.

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Diaspora opens a window for diversity, this is represented in the painting below.

The Caribbean, rooted in a series of diaspora, is known for its diversity, Whether it is cultural diversity, religious diversity or ethnic diversity, any form of diversity in the Caribbean could not have been achieved without diaspora.

As people left their homelands, whether forcefully or voluntarily, they brought with them their culture, religion and customs, forming a true melting pot of people, languages, food and colour. Diaspora has made the Caribbean what it is today, a region unified through its diversity.

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Poem by Azaria Rickson, Expression of first three types of diaspora experienced in the Caribbean.

It was mid-day when the boat arrived
Arched canoe bottoms hit thud on soft sand
Waves crash, as we embark this new land
Dense forest and the smell of stale fish
The whole tribe comes, anticipating this
My feet planted firmly in the warm, packed soil
I felt my root spread, beginning it all.

It was mid-day when the boat arrived
A few weeks journey, drawn out long, subsides
The smell of saltwater and sweet crops filled the air above
But flesh and cold rust metal still overpowered my lungs
The heat from the sun was no compare to the bodies next to me
As we ascend to see the devils, masked behind purity
The lily white of their skin still could not hide their fiery red rages
Wages, that could never cover me
My feet planted firmly in the warm, packed soil
I felt my roots spread, beginning it all.

It was mid-day when the boat arrived
My ratio, 5 to 20
The eyes of men lay on me, stay on me
Bundle in hand, I move with my group
Instructed with what to do
Fully aware of my powerless insignificance
I plow away at my land, my pride
My feet planted firmly in the warm, packed soil
I felt my roots spread, beginning it all.

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We Are A Product of Our Ancestors' Diaspora

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We Are A Product of Our Ancestors' Diaspora

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Diaspora is the dispersion or scattering of a people from their original homeland to a new homeland. Learning Activity 2.1, from Unit 2, ask us to create a family tree and reflect on the legacies that your ancestors have left behind. Through this, I was able to make another connection: we are a product of our ancestors’ diaspora.

From my family tree, I was able to identify many different diaspora among my relatives. These diaspora occurred in different waves, expanding over many years and over many different regions of the globe. Some of the diaspora evident from my family tree is the African diaspora, the East Indian diaspora, the Portuguese diaspora and the Spanish diaspora.

It is fascinating to see that even though my ancestors came from different places to Trinidad, probably under very different conditions such as exploration, slavery, indentureship, or just for a better life, they were able to adapt, intermingle and connect to produce what is now my family and myself.

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Dr. Amilcar Sanatan brings to us a new form, the present day form, of diaspora in the Caribbean. We know that the Caribbean was essentially built up through a series of different diaspora, but that does not mean that diaspora ends there for the Caribbean.

The Caribbean region is now experiencing a different form of diaspora, where West Indian people are leaving their Caribbean homelands and venturing to new countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, just as Dr. Sanatan mentions in the video. This new Caribbean diaspora has both good effects, as well as bad effects, on the region.

Essentially, the present day Caribbean diaspora helps to create a Caribbean identity and, to an extent, a Caribbean unity since West Indians abroad have to come together and form a support system as the minority. As Dr. Sanatan says, "To have national pride, with a regional perspective."

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Courtman, Sandra. Beyond the blood, the beach & the banana: new perspectives in Caribbean studies. Kingston: Ian Randle, 2004. Print. Harney, Stefano. Nationalism and identity: culture and the imagination in a Caribbean diaspora. Kingston [Jamaica: University of the West Indies ;, 1996. Print. Mohammed, Jennifer.

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Diaspora - the dispersion or scattering of a people from their original homeland to a new homeland. Diaspora has been present since the beginning of Caribbean history, from the dispersion of neo-Indians from the South American mainland to the scattering of African Slaves along the Caribbean's coastlines.

Maya Angelou's quote signifies every person that has settles in the Caribbean through diaspora. Although we may look at one individual present in the society, they represent thousands of others, from as far back to their homeland to the thousands who are residents of diaspora, just like them.