Not to long ago I realized that perception is not reality but rather one’s belief. You see your trash may be my treasure, my hero maybe your terrorist, my beauty may be your ugly. To me it’s all about asking the right question?
Now let’s put it in the context of this topic which is about Capeverdeans both in Cabo Verde & the diasporas.
To me Cabo Verde is a tremendous asset, let me explain:

Strategically there is very few places on this planet which is strategically better located than our island for travel.
Due to this fact the winds from the Sahara desert offers it tremendous wind power source, we just need to learn how to effectively turn it into energy to power the entire country & sell it to others.
Our dry hot climate is also incredible source of sun energy not mention we are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean which means no other nation to dispute with.
Although it does not rain a lot, but when it does it’s plentifully, the problem is that we loose all this water to the sea as it runs for tens of mile & erode great soil with it to the sea.
Even with all these incredible assets Cabo Verde has great soil, the problem is that we have picked crops that does not make sense & does not replenish the soil back. Example CV is not ideal for sugar cane plantation plain & simple but it is great for many different other type of crops (too many to name) that we actually need.
Agriculture as an industry has advanced tremendously, however we are still stuck in the past. It’s like we are still putting letters in a bottle instead of emailing or calling.
Lastly, as a race of people some of us has accomplished tremendous achievements in diasporas, however this has drained the brain power from the country.
My belief is that by unselfishly investing back in the CV you & your family will be compensated in the near future way more than in your adopted nation.
Just think if we turn the brain power of Capeverdeans currently in US towards CV the impact it will have. It does not have to be individual; it can or should be collectively in an organized fashion. Now ask yourself, who will benefit. U that’s who.

Great idea. But one obstacle in investing back in Cape Verde is the Cape Verdea Gavernment beurocracy. Too much paperwork to get something done, unless you have friends or know people in key positions. Also, things back there still happpen in a very slow pace; people in the public sector has a negative attitude towards customer service. They think they're doing you a favor for doing what they are supposed to do and so they shove the 'nhos imigrantis nhos ten mania di bon' attitude right on your face.

Some people that tried to invest in Cape Verde got frustrated with all this crap and gave up. The government should provide a business friendly environment and facilitate the go back and invest in Cape Verde process like the Israeli govenment does with Jews that wants to go back to Israel. Indeed, a great model that should be studied and rproduced in Cape Verde.

CV2k, I agree 100% with your points, however some of the blame should be on us immigrants as well. As a group we tend lack the spirit and the understanding that our shared heritage & identity is enough reason for us to organize & strategize when it comes to investments & contribution in Cabo Verde.
We tend to approach this & many other ventures on an individual basis or as solitary journey. Now if most of the serious minds & potential investors can come together to create a committee & nominate a representative we can make greater strides. Because now we can speak with 1 loud voice & create enough influence for the CV government to notice & address our issues. (Like a Political Action Committee PAC)
Once that path is carved then each member can proceed with their ideas & investments without much red tape.

We are proud to call a lovely small piece of land on a world central location filled with warm climate and very warm people our HOMELAND, unfortunately at this time our country need it's people to move the economy, but allow me here to agree with CV2k, trust-me a lot has to be changed in CV in order to attract Imigrants Investments, it should start at the bottom with the whole Customers Service Experience, not just toward Imigrantes but the homeland population complain nite n day of that poor experience to zero changes, we need a REVOLUTION in order to change the mentality . We all have a million + examples of how are treated..it makes me sad. If we can solve that complicated part of the equation the road ahead should be easy but erasing a mentality is a monster step. Let's never forget our Motherland and Hope for the better for the development of our great land. I believe so should you !

Dear CV2K:

Another great point & I was expecting it. Politically we tend to have a gang mentality (pardon the expression) & some of us are very passionate about it. This can also be a roadblock therefore as a concerned capeverdean immigrant living in the most diverse & biggest economy in the world I believe we have a lot to contribute.

The strategy goes something like this.
• First identify serious & committed potential members
• Organize & delegate responsibilities & schedule meeting.
• Pull resources & start by registering as many people locally for US elections along with CV.
• Start awareness about having people participating in exercising their most important civil duty VOTING.
• If there is 20k capeverdean citizens in Brockton alone then next election there should be 10K registered voters for CV election in 5 years.
• Identifying key mobilizing immigrant related issues to rally behind

If this committee can accomplish this I will guarantee U that every party in CV will send a rep. to meet with this group. As a matter of fact this group could be composed of members of each party as long as they understand that our common denominator is facilitation of capeverdean immigrants in participating in the development of Cabo Verde.

Let’s not forget this is a relationship issue & these people who are running & living there are our family and if there is blame to be caste it should fall into both parties the immigrants & the residents. People in CV know the economical, educational & intellectual resources we posses, however in this arena we need to be organize & strategize in order to play or participate. If as a group we make an effort to walk half way across this bridge, I am certain that the CV government will meet us half way with open arms.

In closing most people will look being a CV immigrant or having a dual citizenship as a liability, but I look at it as a tremendous asset. Reality will always remain fixed but our perception is what’s adjustable. (No Pun intended to MTG people)

Great minds,

lets share this common concerns and see if we will not stop just by words. Lets act now.

It is time to act right now. As a matter of fact, as a member of Forcv.com and a member of the committe that organized the Dinner to honor David Soares I am caught by the fever that much more can be done as long as we all have some kind of commitment to the good cause. We will all win in the end and be proud of ourselves. I have been talking to different individuals, friends, entities, what would be a great way to start a chain of reaction from this state of things.

Kiko, I have no words to say how much I agree with you on this ideals.

Forcv team and friends of David Soares just gave their first try on trying to bring capeverdeans together for a Just cause and I can garranty you that it was a sucess.

I propose for our next event to be based on the PAC ideals that you proposed and to organize a

"FORUM OF CAPEVERDEAN INVESTORS". "Workshops"

By saying capeverdean investors you're talking about almost all Capeverdean immigrants. On that forum we will debate, strategize, encourage each other, create several commitees. Also we will invite students from colleges in the businesses and other areas that can participate in the prject to join the project by providing studies, surveys, researches, etc. of the market in study. The group of investors can create funds or scholarship to finance (totally or partially) studies in all areas and come up with datas that will be used for the plan that will guide investments in the areas proposed and allow the group to start investing as a Corporation instead of isolated individuals.

In that forum individuals will be identified and proposed for taskforce that will provide elements to be used to complete any projects identified as economically viable and community wise beneficial.

I don't doubt that in our community we have all the neccessary individuals, capabilities, and financial stability to make up varied and strong intrepreneurship that will on the other end represent this community in the diaspora as an entity with intervention at the level of other American companies.

Theses enterprises will act both internally (in the USA) and in Cabo Verde or other countries. The board of Directors will design a policy that will be beneficial to the capeverdean community both here and in Cabo Verde, suport non-profit whose vocation is helping the members of these community or intervene, propose, or identify programs that can be suposrted financially.

That is just few ideas that I just want to launch to generate more ideas but I would like your feedback on this topic.

We are ready to push the botton.

Cabrala

Excellent thought, just think about if you can create an organization or a union it would much more effective for this union to navigate through the burocracy in CV than individuals. It’s all about leverage for the individuals.
Establishing a conference to congregate some of the bright minds to further discuss this initiative is the first step, this way we can network with each-other.
If Forcv is willing to take the lead on this suggestion even better & I will follow right behind.
In closing, good thing comes to those who wait, but only what’s left by those who hustle. Therefore if we talk about it’s always a possibility however if we schedule it then it’s a reality.

I'm pretty sure cabrala would be willing to be the main representative of FORCV on this project as far as everybody is willing to actively support it. This type of projects requires lots of hands-on actions and time commitment. So, before we kick-off with it, there has to be a substantial and committed group of people ( 10 or more) who will move it ahead. It's hard if the work load resumes to 3 or 4 people. Thus, I think the CV entrepreneurs and business community should embrace it at full speed, that is, supporting it both in terms of preparation and financially because there has to be a decent fund to put a project like this together. If they are willing to committee bot by words and actions, I'm pretty sure it can happen.

I personally would commit in promoting it through FORCV. However, I wouldn't be much available in leading the organization and inplementation process because I just started a new job an the school fall semester and so need to dedicate a significant amount of time to my new job and studies.

Thank you for your response.

Here is the first step,

1. Diagnosis what are the major concerns of the bussiness community in the United States.

2. Diagnosis (brainstorm) what are some of the plans we can put to work and create a list of topics that will be the central topic of the workshop (forum).

3. Diagnosis (identify by names) central and potential people in the Cape Verdian business community, investors (real state, stock, production industry, service industry, employess of financial institution, etc, etc.) from all the cities and towns in the US to make up the list of people that we will contact for further discussion. We will need to recruit members from most of the towns to help identify the capeverdean business community in that town and submit to the Organizing Commitee for contact.

4. Invite leaders of the student community (student associations) or individual students in all the Colleges and Universities in the US (or other places) especially in the business, technical, educational degrees, both graduate and undergraduate students because those are the people that can be potential source to carry studies, marketing, and it is another way to bring together both established business individuals and educated younger generations.

5. Invite all the community leaders in the non-profit organizations to support in recruiting other individuals and provide support like spaces for meetings with groups before the workshop day in different localities.

6. Once we identify all the potential members that will take part in the workshop we will draft a letter to invite all these individuals with a brief description of the agenda of the workshop and collect confirmation.

7. In addition to the potential individuals that will be part of different commitees or taskforce of different plans of action that will come out on that workshop, we will invite Local Financial Institutions representatives, city officials of different cities from Mass Rhode Island where Capeverdeans live, or other cities, to participate and word their contribution or support to such plans.

8. The workshop will have to be entirely supported by the participant members, including myself, the business community (business entity and individual members) that has to cover rent of place (I propose in a hotel in one of the central towns in MASS), media coverage (radio, television,)
logistics in general, food, and entertainment ( live music maybe).

9. FORCV.com forum will be the central place for communication as we advance in works and set a weekly conference call as we set the central committee to kick of the planning, the webmaster will send communications to all the working members.

10. The date for the workshop can be set for JANUARY 07 (before the beginning of second semester) and right before filing of revenue tax.



Please, this is to all the people that may offer to become part of the Organizing Committe, or just contribute with ideas, suggestions, clarifications, or inputs about this

"FORUM OF CAPEVERDEAN INVESTORS"

Show your support for this endeavor because great things may come out of this FORUM that can be useful for the whole Cape Verdean community in US and in Cabo Verde, and you'll be proud you were part of it.


Thanks

Cabrala

"The single greatest power in the world today is the power to change.....
The most recklessly irresponsible thing we
can do in the future would be to go on exactly
as we have in the past ten or twenty years"
Karl W Deutsch

I would like to suggest that those of you who like to read and gain knowledge you might find reading the book.
( God Without Religion ) By Sankara Saranam.

You can go on the internet and search for THE PRANAYAMA INSTITUTE.

I also would like to tell all of those who read this that our dear brother Guenny K.Pires has a great documentary film which has received awards at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival. ..THE JOURNEY OF CAPE VERDE
IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY.

My very best to all.

MORABEZA

Manu Salah

Manu, how do these books you mentined above related to the developing idea here about a Cape Verdean business workshop?

Cabrala, I appreciate the time & thoughts behind your posted reply, in fact I was initially thinking of a 3 & you suggested a 10, although ambitious it's doable.

I will be 100% active committee member in organizing this initiative & we can use forcv as the foundation. Furthermore I would like to encourage any & every concerned capeverdean immigrant who is honest about seeing this conference come to life to reply to forcv.
An endeavor such as this requires time, effort & most importantly money.
We can start with a brainstorming meeting of folks who want to contribute for this event.
In this meeting we can work to clearly define our objective, delegate responsibility, identify a date, ways to raise money, location etc, etc.

It’s all about organizing, strategizing & leveraging, and if we can do these simple task we can accomplish milestones. If Nike means Victory then Just Do It.

Don't be afraid to participate.


The forcv forum can do great things!

Many of the organizing commitee members for the Gala reception dinner to honor David Soares (District Attorney of Albany, New York) That I know are ready to push the button again, met for the first time at the event, never met before, but everybody trusted each other and commited to the cause seriously.

Nobody needs to do alot in order to disrupt his/her regular schedule, but we all need to proceed on the same page. Few hours a week of devoted work on the areas that we feel confortable with will suffice. Just don't say you can do 3 hours but you can only do 1 hour.

We will set a weekly conference call so that we report what we accomplished on that week, identify barriers, recognize successes, consider new things that came up, we will continue to debate, strategize, and proceed complementing each other along the way.

If the date is January 2007, we have 4 months ahead of us. That is not to say we have plenty of time, but that if we consistently devote few hours a week, we have considerable amount of time availble to use.

Please, if you think you can do anything, even simple task, more complexed task, say who you are, how much time you'll devote per week and what you can do.

You'll then send us your e-mail and/or telefone # to contact you personally and discuss details.

We will need members from all the cities and towns where Capeverdeans live.

Dorchester, Roxburry, Brockton, Randolph, Taunton, Pawtucket, providence, New York, Washington, Cunneticut, Florida, New bedford, Cape cod, etc, etc.

If you live in any of these towns or cities, let us know about you. If you don't feel confortable to declare yourself on the forum use a username, call any forcv members directly and tell us about you.

We are intelligent people in this community.

Let's make a difference!

Not the same thing over and over again.

Let's stop complaining.

Cabrala

POWER TO CHANGE.

The inner power of the mind was intended to make us think.

THINK. THINK!

IT WAS PUT INTO THE WRONG TOPIC SPACE.

THE IDEA OF THE BOOKS DEALT WITH QUESTION OF CHANGE,FOR ECONOMIC MIND INDUCEMENT.

ONE OF THE BEST ORGANIZATION FOR UNITY,EDUCATION AND ECONOMUC DEVELOPMENT WAS THE ORGANIZATION CALLED COMMON
THREADS.

FOR SEVERAL YEARS HELD CONFERENCES IN NEW ENGLAND CV COMMUNITY.
EDUCATORS,ECONOMIST,ENTREPRENEURS,SMALL BUSINESS MEN& WOMAN,CV SCHOLARS AND MUSCIANS MET IN SEVERAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE CV COMMUNITIES.

IT WAS ADVANCE THINKING OF SEVERAL PEOPLE OR MORE THAT FORMULATED THIS ORGANIZATION COMMON THREADS.

WHY REINVENT THE WHEEL. WHERE IS COMMON THREADS TODAY?

ALL THE STEPS THAT ADRIANO OR KIKO HAVE MADE WAS THE PLATFORM
IN COMMON THREADS. THE LAST CONFERENCE I REMEMBER AND PARTICIPATED IN WAS IN OCTOBER 11,2002 HELD IN NEW BEDFORD.

WHY REINVENT THE WHEEL? MRS GUNGA TAVARES AT THE CONSUL IN BOSTON CAN ATTEST TO ALL OF THAT FOR SHE WAS ONE OF THE PERSON WHO WAS THE DRIVING FORCE.

WE SHOULD INVEST IN THE ENGINE THAT WORKS THE GREAT MINDS AND THE DISCIPLINE OF MANY TALENTED CV'S.

COMMON THREADS SEEMS TO ME TO BE THE LOCOMOTIVE WHICH IS DORMANT AND NEEDS TO BE ENERGIZED.

CV2K MAKES A VERY VALID ANALYSIS OF FACTS.

THE QUESTION IS WHY?

IF WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE GOVERNMENT THEN OUR POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTE SHOULD BE ABLE TO WORK FOR THAT END RESULT.

THE REAL POWER OF CHANGE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS PLENTY
MONEY (CASH) FROM THE INVESTORS NOT FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

THE GOVERNMENT OF CABO VERDE HAS ITS PLATE FULL TOO AND MANY PROBLEMS,THAT IS TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEMS SUCH AS FEEDING THE PEOPLE,TRYING TO CREAT JOBS AND HEALTH NEEDS AND THE INFRACTURE SUCH AS ROADS AND CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR INVESTOR TO BE ABLE TO DO BUSINESS.

THE MONEY THAT CABO VERDE GETS FROM OTHER GOVERNMENTS SUCH AS THE USA AND OTHER COUNTRIES ONLY ALLOWS US TO KEEP AFLOAT AND WE HAVE MANY PROBLEMS TO SOLVE.

THE MILLENNIUM CHALENGE ACCOUNT IS ONLY A DROP IN THE BUCKET
AS IT IS WE ARE RUNNING A BUGET ON A SHOE STRING.
LIKE THE PRIME MINISTER SAID WE DON'T HAVE GOLD,OIL & DIAMONDS
OR THE KIND OF RESOURCES AS OTHER COUNTRIES.

THE IDEA IS GREAT. NOW TELL ME HOW DO WE GET THE CASH?

MY BROTHERS & SISTER I WAS JUST IN CABO VERDE LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME. I CAN TELL YOU THE DIFFICULTY WE ARE HAVING REACHING THE PEOPLE UP IN THE MOUNTAINS. NOT TO FORGET THE POOR IN THE VALLEYS. NOW I KNOW WE DON'T LIKE TO HEAR THIS BUT IN SOME PLACES SOME PEOPLE WERE GOING TO BED HUNGRY.

I HEARD NOT MANY BUT A FEW VOICES SAYING TODAY I WILL DIE OF HUNGER. I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE AND CHILDREN WHO NEEDED HELP.

I SAW SOME AGENCIE LIKE SOS AND OTHERS TRYING TO HELP WITH OUR CHILDREN AND THE ORPHANS AND THE NEEDY AND THERE ARE MANY NEEDY LET US NOT KID OURSELVES.

YES SURE THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE DOING WELL BUT THAT IS NOT THE MAJORITY.
IMMIGRANTS IN THE DIASPORA WHO ARE MAKING INVESTMENT IN BUILDING BIG HOMES IN CABO VERDE SERVE ONLY THEIR FAMILIES.

I AM IN AGGREEMENT THAT WE SHOULD TRY TO FIND THE WAY TO BRING THE UNITY OF DEVELOPMENT.

WHAT I HAVE SEEN IS THAT INDIVIDUALS ARE TRYING CAPITALISM IN A COUNTRY THAT HAS NOT ARRIVED TO THAT POINT. NO INDUSTRY;
TOURISM IS NOT ENOUGH. THE FISHING INDUSTRY WE DON'T HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY IN THE WORLD MARKET,WE DON'T HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY YET. ALL OF THAT COST MULITMILLION AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SUSTAIN AN ECONOMY.

THE COST OF JUSTICE,THE COST OF MAINTENANCE,THE COST OF SECURITY(POLICE DEPARTMENT). ECT,ECT.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD ASK THE ECONOMIST BOTH IN CABO VERDE AND THOSE OUT SIDE OF THE COUNTRY.

I WANT TO HELP BUT AGAIN I AM OF THE POOR CLASS. THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW TELL US WHAT IS BEST. THOSE OF US AMONG THE POOR SEND A FEW BARRELLS, $20.OO AND WE ARE HAVING A HARD TIME RIGHT HERE IN THE USA ONE THING WE FIND OUT THAT THE STREETS ARE NOT PAVED WITH GOLD.

HOLLYWOOD IS NOT REALITY. USA THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD SO THEY SAY; WHY DO WE HAVE SO MUCH POVERTY. WHY NO JOBS,WHY IS THE PRISON FILLED. YOU ALL KNOW THE STORY.

A LUTTA CONTINUNA.

FOR THE LOVE OF CABO VERDE.

MANU SALAH

Salah,

what's your alternative solution(s)?
Let's cut the bla bla bla and be practical. Let's present realistic solutions instead of theories and beautiful speeches.

Without minmizing the effort and contributions that all the people who collaborated for the sucess of Common Threads in the past, but common threads did not do much practical to change the course of situation of capeverdean community in US. Yes, we shared experiences, we met and worked together, but that is where we were left.

We need actions to amount to solutions for practical problems!

Brockton Cable through its community program "SELO ERNESTINA" had abrainstorm between the community media members and an announcement was made for the event to take place soon. We will hold our first meeting at the CV association on MONDAY Nov 6th at Capeverdean Association of Brockton at 5:30 PM. Anybody can join the first meeting where we want to bring few solid individuals to take the commitment for the project to take place soon.


Cabrala

Manu, I didn't mean to offend you when I used the term bla bla bla. Sorry if I did. I was just expressing my frustration I was feeling at the moment. Sometimes I reflect on all the smart people we have among us and all these great ideas we bring to the table. But when I look back to see the fruit of them I don't see much. And I start to wonder are we talking to much and doing too little?

That was my feeling that was behind those bla bla bla.