Potomitan

Site de promotion des cultures et des langues créoles
Annou voyé kreyòl douvan douvan
Short bio Hilda de Windt Ayoubi
on her community work

Hilda de Windt Ayoubi, worked as a Spanish, communication/pedagogy/ teacher for more than thirty years, of which 25 years at a secondary school, and 8 years at the University of Curacao.

Along with teaching she was always the mentor of her classes.

She was also a member  of the school's parents committee. and a voluntary reading mother at the primary school, so as to stimulate the young children to read.

Hilda de Windt Ayoubi (Curaçao, 1951) spent her entire life working on Language. She was a teacher of Spanish Language at high school for 30 years and a teacher of Spanish, Communication and Pedagogy at the University of Curaçao for eight years. In Curaçao she is known for her many years of publication of poems in four languages in the newspaper Amigoe and for her translation E Profeta in Papiamentu of the world famous book The Prophet by the Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran. In 2015, she received the Award from the George and Lisa Zakhem Kahlil Gibran Chair at the University of Maryland for: “The most outstanding achievement of the last ten years.” In 2018, her first collection of poems, Gedicht, a selection of her Dutch poems, appeared, illustrated with own paintings. She also published short stories. As a visual artist she took part in four group exhibitions with her painting exhibitions.

In 2018 she received a Merit of Recognition by UNESCO,  for her work on Papiamentu


Hilda writes poetry and short stories and is a painter:

  1. Through her poems Hilda de Windt Ayoubi , by appreciating Papiamentu, tries to contribute to the protection and conservation of the minority language of Papiamentu. With her poetry in the newspaper Amogoe she also tries to race    awareness about social issues, the rights of children, the poverty, etc.
     
    She did so, by publishing poems on Papiamentu, in English, Spanish and Dutch, for more than 10 years in the newspaper.
     
  2. She also published three books to accomplish above mentioned:
     
    • E Profeta,2014, a translation into Papiamentu of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (after the Bible, Shakespeare, the most read  and used book in the world and also the first Portuguese Creole translation). The translation was awarded the The George And Lisa Zakhem Kahlil award at the University of Maryland in 2015. E Profeta now also teaches the universal truths into Papiamento. By translating this famous book into Papiamentu, Papiamentu reached far beyond the horizon, our island. She visited several countries, like The USA, Brazil, Cuba, Aruba, Bonaire, the Netherlands, to present this book.
       
    • Gedicht, 2018
      A selection of the Dutch poems on several social issues, Language and Love, together with 20 of her paintings. Her paintings give an impression of the Curacao-nature and buildings.
      With this book she also wishes to encourage the youth to develop their creativity, and as a teacher with many years of experience insists on the importance of art and poetry in the school curriculum; this, to achieve a more holistic education for the children. That the government should not underestimate this and accordingly invest more money in this crucial part of the education of the child as a human being.
       
    • Duna mi bo idioma pa mi komprondé bo mihó/Geef me je taal dat ik je beter versta.  
      (Give me your language that I can understand you better), a bilingual book, September, 2019 tries to bring awareness on the conservation of the languages in the world, particularly, the minority languages.
       
      Duna mi bo lenga pa mi komprondé bo mihó/Geef me je taal dat ik je beter versta
       
  3. Certificate of Merits for Papiamentu UNESCO, February 21, 2019.
She has always helped people translate articles, part of books, stories, etc. without asking for a contribution She has done this to give back to the community that gave her a lot.

*

 Viré monté