El Instituto Universitario de Barlovento (the name is longer, but I forget)

In the heart of Higuerote lies a small university (I would include photos but it's nearly impossible to upload them with this internet). What would most likely be compared to a small, urban, low-budget American high school has been not only a source of education, motivation, and revitalization for the Afro-Venezuelan community, but also a safe place for its youth. Alejando (my new best friend) gave us a formal tour of the university a few days ago and explained to us the history of IUB, and by no means has it been an easy journey.

Venezuela already has a significant poverty rate, and along with that comes a limited access to education. The people of the Barlovento region have, for decades, raised money and fought for the resources for this University. It began small, yes, but it is now a larger Venezuelan project, educating more than 12,000 Afro-Venezuelan students, from the city of Higuerote and neighboring regions. Mision Sucre has become an extensive educational project founded by IUB, creating a network of local universities and community colleges, all headlined by IUB and using a common curriculum.

IUB’s educational programs have also grown substantially. Students are now able to study a wide variety of fields, including Nursing, Computer Science, Law, Medicine, Engineering, Tourism, English, and Education. Recently, IUB created a joint Masters program with the University of Havana in Cuba in which students travel to Havana to defend their dissertations, and usually after that point the students return to Higuerote to do what? Teach at IUB. Many of the teachers and administrators at IUB were once students.

At any given time, someone could walk past IUB and label it insignificant. But already I see a strength and diligence in it that I hardly see in the best of American universities. Sure, it’s not Harvard or Columbia or even UNC. But what it is, has been, and will continue to be is a sort of glue in this community. It has given the people a sense of pride and a sense of power, and as I watch the students, young and old, studying their hardest to learn English, to learn engineering, to learn medicine, I know somehow that I’ll see these people in the future changing the world. At times I feel like I take my opportunities and the availability of education in the US for granted, and seeing how a community literally built this school, and what it represents for them as a people, from the ground up….I know that I have no choice but to do the absolute best with what I’ve been able to enjoy with minimal struggle.

Although we could’ve been spending our 4 months in Caracas studying at a bigger, more heavily funded University, I’m grateful for IUB. I’m grateful for the ability to see outside of the fanciness and bureaucracy of an education, and see this instead.