Fundacion Lanta Papiamento gives presentation on Papiamento at Playa Linda during Housekeeping Week

ORANJESTAD, September 23, 2026 — Fundacion Lanta Papiamento (FLP) continues to promote Papiamento. On this occasion, Playa Linda’s housekeeping staff learned about the language’s history, its origins according to research, its development and its current status.

The introduction explained FLP’s mission and its efforts to raise community awareness of the importance of Papiamento as a mother tongue and official language.

At the start of the visual presentation, FLP emphasized that the loss of a language is equivalent to the disappearance of a culture, making every effort to keep Papiamento alive in the community essential.

An illustration of the triangular slave trade highlighted the tragic human trafficking that formed part of the historical context in which the Creole language Papiamento emerged. The presentation then explained how Papiamento, rather than Dutch, became the language of enslaved people and subsequently spread to become the language of the wider population.

Staff were shown documentary evidence of how long Papiamento has existed. This included early Papiamento texts in two letters written in Curaçao in 1775 and 1783, as well as an official document in Papiamento from Aruba dating to 1803.

The presentation briefly explained how the colonial geopolitical situation between 1815 and 1954 influenced and hindered Papiamento’s development. It also addressed prejudices used to exclude the language from education and the changes that began after 1954.

Particular attention was given to Article I.1 of Aruba’s Constitution, which explicitly prohibits discrimination on grounds including language. This protection also applies to Papiamento, the principal language of the Aruban population.

The presentation then highlighted several milestones: Papiamento has had an official spelling system since 1976, became an official language in 2003, and has been used for literacy instruction in grades 1, 2 and 3 since 2024. Participants were also shown books in Papiamento and how to look up words on papiamento.aw. Grammar and spelling rules were explained interactively and then applied in sentences.

To conclude, FLP raffled off several books in Papiamento, generating considerable interest among participants.

FLP thanks Playa Linda for the invitation and extends special appreciation to the housekeeping employees for their participation and enthusiasm during the presentation.