DIASPORA | JHUAN Weaves a Caribbean Home Tapestry at Howard University

WASHINGTON, DC, September 14, 2025 - The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows of Jamaica's Ambassador residence near Washington, DC, casting warm light across faces that carried the unmistakable glow of dreams validated.

Twenty-six young people—some born on the island, others carrying Jamaica in their blood through parents who crossed oceans for opportunity—sat poised between their past and their futures. In their hands, each held more than a $4,000 scholarship check; they held proof that home had not forgotten them.

Bamidele Aina adjusted her posture as Ambassador Major General (Ret'd) Antony Anderson called her name for the inaugural Bancroft S. Gordon Scholarship. The distance from Kingston to Howard University's campus had never felt smaller.

Here, in this room thick with the familiar cadence of Jamaican voices and the pride of achievement, the 1,144 miles between her heritage and her education collapsed into something intimate and immediate.

This was the Jamaica Howard University Affinity Network's seventh annual HUes of Blue celebration, but it felt like a homecoming that happened to include scholarship presentations.

More Than Money - Building Belonging

For Bleyne Montaque, the other recipient of the Gordon Scholarship alongside Aina, the $4,000 represents more than tuition relief—it's validation of a delicate balancing act performed daily on Howard's campus.

As student-athletes navigating rigorous academics while maintaining the 3.0 GPA requirement, both young women embody the kind of excellence that JHUAN seeks to nurture. But their stories illuminate something deeper about the Caribbean experience at historically black colleges and universities.

"When you're this far from home, you start to question whether you belong in these spaces," Montaque might have said, echoing a sentiment familiar to many Caribbean students at American institutions.

The scholarship doesn't just ease financial pressure; it creates psychic space for belonging. It whispers: You are supposed to be here. Your success matters to people who share your story.

The 75% increase in scholarship applications over recent years tells its own story about Howard's growing appeal to Caribbean families. But numbers alone don't capture what happens when young people discover that their Jamaican patois, their cricket references, their grandmother's wisdom about hurricane preparation, all have space in the hallowed halls of the Mecca.

JHUAN's model extends far beyond the financial—mentorship, life coaching, and career development create what amounts to an extended family system operating 1,144 miles from home.

Don Christian, JHUAN's President and a Howard Board of Trustees member, understands this intimately. His own journey from Howard alumnus to successful business leader to community builder reflects the kind of trajectory the organization hopes to replicate.

"We want to inspire our students to dream more, learn more, and become more," he declared, but the real magic lies in the "how"—by ensuring that becoming more doesn't require becoming less Caribbean.

The $463,000 distributed across 115 scholarships since 2018 represents diaspora wealth flowing intentionally back toward potential. Each check carries the implicit message that success achieved in foreign soil can nurture new growth in the same fields where donors once struggled as students themselves.

Diaspora Investment in Action

When Lisa Brown Alexander stepped forward with her $100,000 check—a sum that dwarfed her own Howard scholarship by orders of magnitude—the room witnessed diaspora investment theory transformed into practice.

The owner of Wellspring Manor & Spa in Silver Spring, Maryland, Alexander embodies the multiplier effect that JHUAN's founders envisioned: Caribbean excellence nurtured at Howard, flourishing in American markets, then flowing back to lift the next generation.

Her gift, alongside additional donations totaling $150,000 for the scholarship fund, demonstrates how the Caribbean diaspora's economic success can become a bridge across generations and geography.

Ambassador Anderson's charge to scholarship recipients—"not to forget the source from which their assistance came"—suddenly takes on tangible meaning. The cycle isn't theoretical; it's happening in real time, check by check, student by student.

The evening's IMPACT Awards honored two exemplars of this model. Arlene Isaacs-Lowe, independent director for Compass Group PLC, and Christopher Williams, former CEO of NCB Capital Markets, represent Caribbean excellence that transcends borders while maintaining roots.

Williams, in particular, earned recognition for "transforming the Caribbean financial services sector"—a reminder that diaspora success often circles back to benefit the region directly.

These aren't just feel-good stories about individual achievement. They represent a strategic approach to diaspora engagement that other Caribbean communities are watching closely.

The JHUAN model suggests that historically black colleges and universities can serve as crucial nodes in a network that connects Caribbean heritage with global opportunity, creating what amounts to an educational diaspora that strengthens rather than depletes the home community.

Ambassador's Vision - Riding Waves from Afar

Ambassador Anderson's address to the scholarship winners carried the weight of someone who has navigated both military leadership and diplomatic service while watching global currents shift beneath his feet.

His message to the young scholars wasn't just congratulatory—it was strategic guidance for Caribbean minds operating in an increasingly complex world.

"As Jamaican scholars, I want to see you riding that wave of technology and not being swamped by it," he declared, his words cutting through the celebratory atmosphere with urgent relevance.

For students studying engineering, computer science, and business at Howard, this wasn't abstract advice. It was a roadmap for maintaining agency in a technological revolution that could either amplify Caribbean voices or drown them out entirely.

His observations about "shifting global politics that perhaps we have not seen for a very long time" resonated particularly deeply in a room full of young people who have already chosen to pursue excellence far from home.

These students are living embodiments of globalization's personal dimension—Caribbean minds shaped by American institutions, preparing to compete in a multipolar world where their hybrid perspectives could prove invaluable.

But Anderson's most powerful message lay in his closing declaration: "Generationally, we will remain forever Jamaican and stars at what we do." This wasn't just motivational rhetoric; it was a rejection of the false choice between rootedness and excellence, between Caribbean identity and global success.

For students navigating the daily challenge of being authentically themselves in foreign institutional spaces, the Ambassador's confidence provided both permission and expectation.

The Long Journey Home

The evening wound down with handshakes, photographs, and the kind of lingering conversations that happen when people recognize they're part of something larger than themselves. But for the 26 scholarship recipients filing out of the Ambassador's residence, the real journey was just beginning.

They would return to Howard's campus carrying more than financial support—they carried the expectations and investment of an entire diaspora community.

Howard University, often called the "Mecca" of historically black colleges, now serves an additional role as a crucial waystation in the Caribbean diaspora's educational journey. These students will graduate not just as Howard alumni, but as living bridges between their ancestral homes and their adopted countries.

Some will return to Jamaica to apply their expertise to local challenges. Others will build Caribbean-owned enterprises in American markets. Still others will occupy positions of influence in multinational corporations, carrying island wisdom into global boardrooms.

The JHUAN model's true genius lies not in its immediate impact—though $107,000 in annual scholarships certainly transforms lives—but in its recognition that diaspora investment can be both deeply personal and strategically transformative.

Every scholarship recipient becomes a potential donor, mentor, and community builder. Every success story becomes proof that Caribbean excellence travels well and multiplies generously.

As these young scholars dispersed into the Washington evening, they carried with them the weight and promise of investment made by people who understand that sometimes the longest journey home begins with a scholarship check, a mentorship relationship, and the confidence that comes from knowing your community believes in your dreams—even when those dreams require you to chase them 1,144 miles away from where you started.

The waves Ambassador Anderson spoke of are rising. These students are learning to ride them home.

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