May - June 2008
Letter from the Founder in May 2008:
Many of you know that my great-grandmother recently passed away at 114 years of age. I had the pleasure of spending the last hour of her life with her. The irony of her long life is that she lived next to a cemetery, despite all efforts to have her live in my grandmother's house. Her opinion was that she "preferred living closer to the dead than the living."
Because of her roots, Pipil Nahua, a Central American tribe, she was called "Indita." This heritage and a healthy lifestyle of fresh air and organic food contributed to her long life. She claimed that she had four children, but we know of only one - our grandmother Carmen, who had 16 children, who then collectively had over twenty children, some of whom have children of their own. Five generations alive at once. So from one were born many. And she captivated each of us, with her contagious laugh, her stories of the town where she grew up, El Jabali. For the era in which she lived, she was an unusually outspoken woman with strong character. She passed her strength to her daughter, her granddaughters, and my cousins, and sister. It is after them that Cafe Mamá was named.
The exhibition, Mamaria, is dedicated to my sister Mirna Cabezas for being a social worker to our family and extended family since we left our homeland and to all family members that were not fortunate to see my great-grandmother before her passing due to immigration status or work.
- Paulo Cabezas, May 2008
Maria Tobar, 2006