Kingston, Jamaica, 13 August 2020. This August 13 in the morning, it was held the ceremony to award health scholarships offered yearly by the Cuban government to Jamaican students who apply to pursue these studies in the Greatest Island in the Antilles.
Two unique aspects marked the event: On the one hand, the epidemiological situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic led to this ceremony being held virtually, via videoconference. On the other, it was decided to make the date for granting these scholarships coincide with the 94th birthday of the creator and great promoter of this programme, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
The event was chaired by Cuban Ambassador Inés Fors Fernández, and was attended by Ambassador Marcia Gilbert-Roberts, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica. Representatives of the Jamaican Ministries of Finance and Public Service; Health and Wellness; and Education, Youth and Information also participated; the Jamaica-Cuba Friendship Association; the Association of Jamaicans Graduated in Cuba; the Cuban medical and education cooperation brigades; as well as the awarded students and their relatives. The event was live streamed from the Embassy's Facebook profile.
A binational Selection Committee was created to award the scholarships, made up by representatives of the Cuban State Mission and the aforementioned Jamaican ministries and organizations.
During the last months, this Committee reviewed around 50 applications and interviewed about twenty candidates. After weighing the academic merits, financial needs, and social commitment of all applicants, it decided to grant scholarships to Sydonie Shaw, Thiana Tyrell, Kedesha Garwood, and Theo Bryan to study Medicine; Yanique Uter, Crystal McIntosh and Nika-Lee Page were those selected to study Nursing; while Psylecia Senior and Kareem Scarlett where selected to pursue postgraduate medical studies.
The central speech of the ceremony was given by the Cuban Ambassador, who highlighted the background of the program; the solidarity vocation of the Cuban Revolution; the challenges that the current epidemiological situation poses on public health; and the commitment that the selected young people acquire to serve their country after completing their studies in Cuba. For her part, Ambassador Gilbert-Roberts appreciated the valuable contribution that Cuba has made over the years to the health sector in Jamaica.
Doctors Lorenzo Gordon and Neville Graham, who graduated in Cuba decades ago and today are renowned professionals in Jamaica, acknowledged the enormous sacrifice that the Cuban people make, in the midst of innumerable economic hardships, to guarantee these health scholarships to students from all over the world, especially from the Caribbean.
Then the " Code of Ethics for the Foreign Students in Higher Education Centres of the Republic of Cuba" was read, a document that describes the values and principles that should characterize these students during their training in our country.
At the end, Yanique Uter, on behalf of her colleagues, thanked the governments of Jamaica and Cuba for the opportunity they have been given to fulfill their dreams, and reaffirmed the commitment to train as good professionals and serve their community and country.