On this Giving Tuesday, CVJHP would like to thank our steadfast friends, supporters and Cabo Verdean partners during this difficult year in which the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of several well-laid plans. The second annual "Jews in Africa Conference," co-sponsored by Mimouna and the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), should have taken place in March in Rabat, Morocco, with a special focus on the Moroccan Jews of Cabo Verde. Given our pioneering work, Mimouna invited CVJHP to make a presentation on the historic linkages between Jewish Morocco and Cabo Verde by highlighting key aspects of our Project: documentation, cemetery restoration and signage. However, with a Covid-19 vaccine in sight, we are hoping the conclave will be rescheduled for 2021. Ditto for a "Jews of Cabo Verde" Conference co-organized and sponsored by the Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural (IPC) and CVJHP, slated for May in the capital, Praia. We will try to reschedule this event for 2021 or 2022. Given Cabo Verde's dependence on tourism for foreign exchange, the pandemic has hit the archipelago hard from both a health and an economic standpoint. More than 10,000 people have been infected with coronavirus and approximately 160 have died.
If that were not bad enough, excessive rainfall in September caused severe flooding, exacerbating the human and economic toll on Cabo Verde. However, I stayed in close contact with our local representative, Sofia de Oliveira Lima, and other partners to commiserate and to be able to move forward with plans once physical and economic conditions permit. I hope to schedule a trip to Cabo Verde in early 2021 to advance our agenda, especially on remaining cemetery restoration, signage and maintenance issues. I have been working with CVJHP historian, Ângela Sofia Benoliel Coutinho, and a prospective publisher, on the Portuguese edition of her forthcoming book on the Moroccan Jews of Cabo Verde.
