Today we’d like to introduce you to Marva L. Layne.
Marva, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am Afro-Panamanian of Caribbean heritage and now for the past 41 years, I’m also an American. My grandparents were from the islands of Jamaica and Barbados and migrated to Panama in the early 1900s to build the Panama Canal. My parents were natives of Panama and Costa Rica and I grew-up in Panama which naturally resulted in my ability to speak both Spanish and English fluently.
My immediate family and I immigrated from Panama, the Republic of Panama in 1978 and we settled in El Paso, Texas. My husband Terry and I raised our three children there, who at that time our arrival, ranged in ages from six to twelve years old, they are now adults and we’re also grandparents of two young adults. I’ve always been a working mother, so in addition to the responsibilities of raising a family, I managed to complete a successful career in the field of Human Resources, retiring as a Regional HR Director for Time Warner, Southwest Division. Shortly after my retirement in 2000, my husband and I relocated to Houston to be closer to our grown children and our extended family.
Community involvement and advocacy were always important aspects in our lives and upon arriving in Houston, we noted that despite the significant number of Afro-Panamanians living in Houston, there wasn’t an active organization representing us. The preservation of our heritage and the contributions made by my ancestors were always of the utmost importance to me. It’s been my opinion that there has always been the tendency by the greater society, to minimize the contributions made of Afro-endemic people, are to erase their contributions completely from history. As a result, I’ve felt a responsibility to alive and well our heritage and to share the rich culture of the country of my birth with our Panamanian-Americans youngsters and the people of the Greater Houston area.
With that in mind, I called on my family and some friends to create a non-profit whose primary objectives were to “preserve our heritage and inspire the future”. This became our motto and continues to be, until today. We named the organization” the Houston Association of Panamanians, Inc.” (herein HAP). The organization is a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) business that has been thriving for the last fourteen (14) years. I was its Chairperson/President for the first six years and I’ve continued in a leadership person until now as it’s Advisory/Consultant Director. Please follow this link to see our accomplishments and contributions to date. www.houstonpanamanians.com/our-journey
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As in most startups, we had our share of challenges., which most often centered around funding the organization. We’ve had fundraisers that didn’t go smoothly, neither were they profitable. We had members that didn’t gel well with the direction we were going. So, after much trial and error, we learned what fundraisers worked and which didn’t; we had a core group of members that worked well together, We started to build a small but most often, steady financial base while working on obtaining sponsors and donors. It continues to be a work in progress.
Again, after some trial and error, we progressed, creating a website which shares our stories and tapped into the social media to further help in spreading our stories. We’ve created a scholarship fund that despite the financial challenges, we’ve have been able to continuously offer yearly scholarships to approximately 34 students. We are very proud to have an affiliate cultural group “Grupo Folclorico Raices de Panama that showcases our cultural dances to all in the Greater Houston area. Please follow this link to a brief synopsis of their performance: https://www.houstonpanamanians.com/dancegroup
Having an organization of volunteers comes with many challenges to include high turn-overs, etc. I, along with some dedicated board members found it important to learn every functional aspect of HAP in order to ensure it remains afloat even at it’s lowest point.
Please tell us about Houston Association of Panamanians. Inc.
The Houston Association of Panamanians, Inc. is a non-profit charitable business, strictly run by volunteers. In addition to what was mentioned previously about its motto, HAP other focus is to also a.“Advance the cause of higher learning and skills development through academic scholarships and work readiness support:
- Promote charitable outreach services to individuals and families in need within or beyond the Houston area and abroad.
- Promote socio-cultural activities to advance public appreciation for the history and culture of the Panamanian people; including folklore, foods, costumes, language, dance, art, and music..”
I’m proud of what all we’ve accomplished and that we continue to be a vibrant organization as we pass the baton on to our younger generation of Americans of Afro=Panamanian descent.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I grew up in a family of eight (8) siblings in the small community of Gamboa in Panama, Republic of Panama. I’m the second to the oldest child. I enjoyed every aspect of my childhood. Although we were very humble, we didn’t know it because of the love and care we shared. Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family members were very, very close knit. All of my siblings have migrated to the United States. Because of the upbringing we received, we’ve gone on to live very productive lives. The members of our community who live all around America, still meet still meet on a yearly basis in Brooklyn, New York to reminisce and enjoy each others company, we have the best time! Our high school graduation class (Class of 1963) still meet for class reunions. A few years ago, we attended our graduating class reunion in Montego Bay, Jamaica with our two daughters. It was great! The time spent with family and friends is the best memory of all.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.houstonpanamanians.com
- Phone: 281-345-4536
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houstonpanamanians/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstonpanamanians/?ref=bookmarks and https://www.facebook.com/groups/HAP.INC/
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