Doreen Belmira Pina-Pena

About the Author Doreen Pina is a 2nd generation Cape Verdean American born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of Henry and Julia Pina former residents of “Bay Village” a highly populated area by Cape Verdean sometimes referred to as little “Cape Verde”. Her grandparent on both sides migrated from Brava, Cape Verde in the early 1800 to New Bedford, MA. The Cape Verde Islands at the time were considered a 3rd world country. Many Cape Verdean travelled the rough seas, boarded whaling ships to seek job opportunities along the New England coastline as it provided these natural born sailors, fisherman, hardworking laborer’s to gain employment and to help their families survive. Growing up in the Whaling City amongst many other Cape Verdean American families preserved the cultural foods, music, and many family values. However, the school of thought in public education was “don’t teach Kriolu to the children so they can prefect their English” and “fit in” to the American culture. This was a similar practice for all immigrant and enslaved families. This caused the loss of the Kriolu language in America and has left a huge disconnect between Cape Verdean Americans and Cape Verdean natives. Many families like the Pina family no longer have direct ties to their island ancestry. Doreen went on to Boston College obtaining her BA in Education. She was an elementary teacher for over 20 years. Starting out in New Bedford Public Schools, she moved to North Carolina in 1998, where she continued her teaching career in the Robeson County and finally in Cumberland County Schools. She raised two amazing daughters Dorina Pena Opferman (author/poet) and Devanne Pena (architect/entrepreneur). While empty nesting Doreen enrolled in her Master program at Full Sail University graduating as with a Masters in Instructional Design and Technology. She worked as an instructional designer for several years at Fayetteville University and retired recently in 2022 focusing on her 1st book, “Pena and Bean Learn Kriolu (Conversational Kriolu for Everyone). Doreen has travelled to Cape Verde twice and during both trips she felt frustrated by the lack of her ability to communicate, and this began her desire to learn Kriolu. Her research fell short as there was few resources available in English that taught Cape Verdean Kriolu. This led to her quest to develop resources to help Cape Verdean Americans learn Kriolu. She discovered many people like herself knew a few words like “confida” (show off) and fastenta” (pain in the butt). Her goal of this project is to give her family and friends a tool to learn more. This book has provided a vehicle for to learn basic Cape Verdean Kriolu and it is a small attempt to reclaim this beautiful language. Doreen believes “With much pray and God’s guidance All things are possible” and her dream is about to come true.