Shared heritage

Africa has had a strong influence in the shaping of Venezuela’s social landscape.

As Barbados celebrates Black History Month, some public schools will see a display of Afro-Venezuelan Heroes who made significant contributions to that South American territory’s independence and quest for social justice, progress and equality.

The first stop for the exhibition, which is being produced by the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, was St. Leonard’s Boys School. That was held today.

Chargé d’affaires of Venezuela embassy Alvaro Sanchez Corder said though Barbados is geographically close to Venezuela, many Barbadians are not aware of Venezuela’s African ancestry.

“Culturally, in terms of our language, many of the words that we use, and slang, come from Africa. The way that we see the world, and our values are positively influenced by all the rich cultural knowledge that we gained from Africa during the horrendous years of slavery in our country,” he said.

The exhibition is scheduled to take place at a number of other schools, including St Lawrence and St Paul’s Primary Schools, on Tuesday and Friday next week.

“We are happy to have a small but meaningful contribution about Venezuelan African history, African culture, especially in the midst of so much misinformation about Venezuela. We want people to know that Venezuela is a normal, friendly, beautiful country where everything is going as usual.

“People in Venezuela are engaged in cultural celebrations as normal. We are just like any country – striving, working, doing our best, going to school and getting ourselves in order to achieve better things for our country,” the Chargé d’affaires said. (AH)