365 years after Suriname was traded for the city of New York and three days before celebrating its 48 Independence Day, the greenest country on the planet, had its first ever flag raising ceremony at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan. Making it happen Mother of four, grandma of ten, miss Judith Narain Colin started the […]
The West Indian American Day Parade, an iconic event in Brooklyn, NY, is more than just a parade; it’s a celebration of culture, unity, and the rich tapestry of Caribbean heritage. This year, I had the privilege of attending this lively extravaganza, joined by my childhood friend Moreen and invited by Assembly member Stefani Zinerman. […]
160 years ago slavery was abolished in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and all of its overseas territories. As the current king of the Netherlands, H.E. Willem Alexander expressed official remorse at the 160th commemoration, I want to dedicate this commemoration to those descendants who never forgot. For the past 160 years, every year on […]
Three years after my natural hair book debut in Amsterdam, RTL Nieuws, a national news TV station from the Netherlands, approached me to talk about my purpose while visiting Suriname to do a Natural Hair Day.
Head wraps are the next best thing when it comes to adorning our hair. Always worn with a sense of self even at a time when used to cover our natural hairstyles that were prohibited by law, a head wrap represents style and personality like no other garment. With the Pangi, you can now additionally […]
Although my friend Guus Pengel was a screen writer, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. All I knew is that this teenage movie had a super cute Black natural haired girl in the lead who would travel all the way from Holland to Suriname, about 5,000 miles, to look for her mom.
Gifts From Suriname available at BlackFollicles.com The past months were certainly not bump free but if I am thankful for something, it is the fact that I was able to build FromUsByUs.com, a beautiful save space to shop for Black hair care products and Naturalista Fashion. Building the site took me many, many hours. […]
First question I usually get when I answer that I am from Suriname is “Where is that?”. Most people guess Africa but Suriname is not on the African continent. It’s the only Dutch speaking country in South America, next to Guyana, in the middle of the Guyana’s, on top of Brazil.
Thanks to Going Natural Hair Care, I had the honor to present Sabi Wiri, a weekend in which Bad hair was uprooted, the beauty of natural hairstyles was highlighted and natural hair care was key.
It didn’t take long for this young adorable model to win over the population. 7 years on the planet, this girl from Suriname gained over 50,000 combined likes and shares on Facebook. Suriname is a small tropical country full of forests and a variety of flora and fauna off the coast of South America. Cherelice’s […]
Did you know that New York City was exchanged for Suriname? Yes, it was in 1667 when the British cede their part of Suriname to the Netherlands in exchange for New Amsterdam (later called New York City).
When you enjoy nearly every second of a trip it is impossible to capture ALL your favorite moments. As far as I am concerned, being in Suriname was just one big happy moment. You got an idea if you’ve seen the photos of the opening of the BAD Hair Uprooted exhibition in Suriname now watch a few more […]
Sabi Wiri which means Know your Hair in Surinamese is a day I organized for the first time in 2003 after the publicaion of my first book Kroeshaar.
Mrs. Venetiaan is the first First Lady of the Republic Suriname who wears her hair natural. She is admired for her loving, kind and inspiring spirit. I couldn’t resist asking her about her beautiful short natural. Needless to say I am very thankful that she agreed to cooperate. Read along and you’ll see why.
After reading the essays of the contestants of ANNM 2013 for challenge 6, I realized that I never did a blog about my all time favorite wrap that I wore all summer. It is a simple wrap but what makes it super special it I used a Pangi. A Pangi is a traditional Maroon wrap. It […]
When approaching this challenge I really thought about what it would be like to live in Suriname as a Maroon woman. To be completely honest I hadn’t previously been aware of Suriname and needed to do some research to learn about the Maroons there. After my research I was so moved by their struggle and […]