New Cape Verdean consul forging
ties with community
Yawu Miller
When Maria de Jesus Mascarenhas decided to study law at University
of Azerbaijan in 1983, she spoke no Russian. But living in Cape
Verde, where there are few options for higher education, the academically-inclined
live by a simple rule: go where the scholarship dollars are.
“In general, we utilize any opportunity for scholarship we
have,” said Mascarenhas, the new Cape Verdean Consul in Boston.
“In my case, I could have gone to Portugal, but I wanted to
know a different culture. For me, it was a great opportunity for
enrichment. I lived through perestroika.”
As the Soviet Union underwent the profound political changes that
led to its eventual dissolution, Mascarenhas studied international
law, acquiring a broad base of knowledge and language that prepared
her for a career in diplomacy.
That career led her to posts in the Cape Verdean government including
diplomatic advisor to Cape Verde’s prime minister, secretary
of state for Youth and director of Economic and Regional Integration
Services at the Office of External Policy of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Communities.
Along the way she also gained fluency in French and Portuguese and
conversational skills in English and Spanish.
And while the halls of power in the Cape Verdean capital of Praia
and the academies of the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Europe may
not be commonly thought of as training ground for community work
in Roxbury, if her first meeting with the local Cape Verdean community
was any indicator, they have suited Mascarenhas well.
“I think the community is very excited to have her,”
said Denise Gonsalves, executive director of Cape Verdean Community
UNIDO, who attended the meeting held in October. “At her community
meeting, people were really impressed with the level of involvement
that she wants to have with the community.”
As the consul in Boston, Mascarenhas serves as the island nation’s
liaison to one of the oldest, largest and most important communities
in the Cape Verdean diaspora. It is a community of home owners,
business owners and hard working families. It is also a community
that faces significant challenges, including a widespread perception
that the community faces more than its share of crime.
“The majority of our community is well integrated here,”
Mascarenhas told the Banner. “But we have a great number of
people, especially young people, that are facing real challenges
right now — that are hindered by a lack of opportunities for
education and employment. And the problems that this minority faces
are presented to the mainstream as a characteristic of the community.”
Mascarenhas says she intends to work to help improve the lot of
struggling Cape Verdean families by helping them connect to services.
To that end, Mascarenhas has met with local Cape Verdean community
activists to discuss ways to decentralize the consulate and bring
its resources out from its Copley Square office and into the communities
the office serves.
Mascarenhas has already met with the Cape Verdean communities in
Boston and Brockton. Gonsalves says her organization, which works
on many of the issues Mascarenhas is interested in targeting, is
poised to help the consulate by providing space in the community
for their services.
Mascarenhas says working in government is an aim she has had since
attending college in Lisbon. While she has held several positions
inside the Cape Verdean government, her positions on the outside
can be just as influential. The Cape Verdean population in the United
states — estimated to be 400,000 — is almost as large
as the islands’ population of 418,000.
Remittances from Cape Verdeans in living abroad supplement the republic’s
gross domestic product by nearly 20 percent. Government officials
increasingly look to the diaspora as a possible source of investment
as well.
“When you work for the development of communities outside
of Cape Verde, it helps with development inside,” Mascarenhas
said. “The Cape Verdeans outside Cape Verde help make Cape
Verde better-known.”
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