By Jackson Connor
Moving from Cape Verde to Boston, can leave some immigrants a bit shell-shocked.
But middler Loredana Pontes, president of Northeastern’s Cape Verdean Student Association (CVSA), said staying connected to her culture while in Boston is easy.
“There are a lot of Cape Verdeans around,” said Pontes, who moved with her family to Boston from Cape Verde, a cluster of 10 islands off the western coast of Africa, in 2002. “I’m always going back home to see my family, eat Cape Verdean food and participate in Cape Verdean events.”
Boston is now home to more than 6,000 people of Cape Verdean origin, according to a 2007 statement from Mayor Thomas Menino’s office.
Pontes said the biggest challenge she faced when her family immigrated to Boston was the language barrier-switching from Portuguese Creole to English.
Adapting to a new culture was also difficult, she said.
“The culture is totally different, as far as our traditions, the food and the climate,” Pontes said.
Pontes said more people pursue higher education in the United States because financial aid is more widely available.
“The opportunity over here for people to study is much higher than over there,” she said.
CVSA has about 15 Cape Verdean members, but there are other Cape Verdean students who are not members, she said.
Sophomore human services major Maria Fontes, a member of CVSA, said her family left Cape Verde for Boston to find a better life before she was born.
“My mother never completed the equivalence of a sixth grade education,” Fontes said.
Fontes said she plans to visit the home of her ancestors this summer. However, she said she shares an equally strong bond with the City of Boston and Northeastern.
The Cape Verdean culture is kept alive by community centers like St. Patrick’s Parish in Roxbury, where Fontes said she attends religious services and events.
Community members organize fundraisers and demonstrations around the church, including a recent peace walk to stop gun violence, she said.
Services are offered in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese Creole, the official language of Cape Verde. The church caters to Cape Verdeans who are devoted Catholics, but also strives to accommodate the diverse crowd the community is comprised of, Fontes said.
Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas, the consulate general of Cape Verde in Boston, said diversity of her people is part of the nation’s history.
Cape Verde was a string of uninhabited islands until the Portuguese brought African Slaves to work the land in the 15th century, she said. Although Cape Verde won its independence in 1975, Portuguese is still taught in the school systems.
Mascarenhas said relations between the two cultures, even before the islands’ independence, were exceptionally good; the Cape Verdean Consulate and Mascarenhas work with local authorities and leaders to maintain these relations.
The Consulate is responsible for issuing passports and various work documents that have allowed Cape Verdeans to live a full life in Boston and be able to return to their native country, she said.
Although Mascarenhas said she is wary of generalizing, she noticed the community became more politically active by organizing fundraisers to support candidates.
“Whoever your candidate is, the best thing to do is to get involved and be active,” Mascarenhas said.
