Ten graduate Venezuelan Culture course

A great cultural celebration, which included music, poetry and gastronomy, took place at the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation (VICC) of the Venezuelan Embassy last Saturday, where ten students graduated from the Spanish Language and Venezuelan Culture course.

“Your newly acquired knowledge of Spanish will no doubt add value to all your endeavours in life, and it will contribute to Barbadian society and economy in strategic areas, such as tourism, trade, commerce and education. But your knowledge of Venezuelan culture will also contribute significantly in terms of humanizing economic activities and bringing Venezuelans and Barbadians closer together,” said the Venezuelan Chargé d’affaires, Álvaro Sánchez Cordero, who added: “In 43 years, the VICC has graduated more than 10, 000 Barbadians. These numbers are brilliant, but the challenge is how to explain in numerical terms the impact of the poems by Venezuelan poet Aquiles Nazoa that you read and learned during the course.”

The ten graduating students are Melissa Browne, Janice Clarke, Racquel Cuffy, Angela Fields, Madonna Gollop, Tracy Jones, Shanice King, Roger Lorde, Deborah Marshall and Carol Reid-Howard.

The valedictorian student, Roger Lorde, delivered a speech where he thanked his teachers and the VICC for facilitating this cultural and educational opportunity, highlighting that in spite of COVID-19 they strived persistently to continue with their lessons.

“We have learned about Spanish culture in general and Venezuelan culture in particular.

“We engaged in discussions about literature, poetry, politics, history, sports and current affairs,” concluded Lorde.

In addition,  Sánchez Cordero announced that the Venezuelan Government had awarded Mr Melza Archibald with the Francisco de Miranda Order, in its First Class, as a reward for his commitment to Venezuelan culture during his 35 years of teaching experience at the VICC.

“This is the second most important order in Venezuela and historically, very prominent Venezuelans and non-Venezuelans have been awarded with the Francisco de Miranda Order for their contributions in science, education and progress,” said Sánchez Cordero.

Archibald appreciated such recognition and admitted that its announcement took him by surprise.

“The commitment by Venezuela to engage culturally with the Caribbean has resisted financial and economic havoc imposed by hostile governments, as well as the recent pandemic,” said Archibald, who added that: “The VICC took advantage of COVID-19 to accomplish its objectives by using modern technologies available. In fact, this is the first VICC graduating class to have received online lessons.”

In addition to Archibald, the other Spanish Language and Venezuelan Culture teachers were praised by the students. Those teachers are Monica Rey and Joseph Inniss, who was also the Master of Ceremony.

Finally, the event concluded with traditional Venezuelan Christmas songs performed by Archibald’s VICC Cuatro Group and a delicious Bajan and Venezuelan Christmas dinner. (PR)