Ambassador of Colombia to Jamaica, Kent Francis James (left), raps with some of the students from Jamaica and Colombia who are participating in the annual programme. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
TWENTY-FOUR JAMAICAN students are to leave the island for Colombia today, for an academic exchange programme set up by the Latin American-Caribbean Centre at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The group, along with 12 students from Colombia, was fêted at a welcome/farewell event at the Council Room at the UWI on Tuesday.
Twelve students will be going to Colombia to act as English teacher assistants for a year, while the other 12 will be going to the country for academic purposes for a month. The 12 students from Colombia will be at the UWI Mona campus for a month.
Vice-Chancellor of the UWI campus, E. Nigel Harris, in a speech to the students, implored them to be good ambassadors for their respective countries. He also said that programmes such as these are valuable in the development of the relationship between the Caribbean and Latin America.
"The future of the region will depend on building strong relationships ... the region needs to grow together so that we can become more competitive than we have been," he said.
Alicia Reid, a second-year student at the UWI, said she intends to explore the culture of Colombia and will not be deterred by the image of a violent Colombia. "I'm really excited about learning about Colombia's language and culture. I am not scared about the negative connotations in the media, as both Jamaica and Colombia are similar, as they are beautiful countries with rich histories."
Coordinator for the programme, Annette Insanally, said the programme was conceptualised so that each set of students would not only be able to improve on their linguistic skills but also benefit from the accompanying cultural experience.
- Mark Beckford
