Kingston, 30 November 2022. The Embassy of Cuba in Jamaica hosted the award ceremony for the scholarships offered each year by the Cuban government to young Jamaicans to study Medical Sciences in the Greater Antilles.
The ceremony, presided over by Cuban Ambassador Fermín Quiñones Sánchez, was attended by representatives of the Jamaican Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; Finance and Public Service; Health and Welfare; and Education and Youth; the Jamaica-Cuba Friendship Association; the Association of Jamaican Graduates in Cuba; the Cuban medical and educational collaboration brigades; as well as the awarded students and their families.
For the awarding of the seven scholarships available, a bi-national Selection Committee, comprising representatives of the Cuban State Mission and the aforementioned Jamaican ministries and organisations, was instituted, which evaluated some 50 applications and interviewed some twenty candidates.
In his remarks, the Ambassador emphasized the vocation of solidarity of the Cuban Revolution despite the current economic challenges facing Cuba, caused by various factors including the impact of the unjust economic, commercial and financial blockade of more than six decades by the United States; and the commitment of the selected young people to serve their country once they have completed their studies in Cuba.
For her part, Sherona King, representing the Selection Committee, highlighted the preparation and social commitment of all the candidates. Doctors Lorenzo Gordon and Neville Graham, who graduated in Cuba decades ago and are now renowned professionals in Jamaica, highlighted the enormous sacrifice made by the Cuban people, in the midst of innumerable economic difficulties, to guarantee these scholarships in Medical Sciences to students from all over the world and especially from the Caribbean.
To conclude the ceremony, the scholarship recipient Crystal Bryroshing, on behalf of her fellow students, thanked the governments of Jamaica and Cuba for the opportunity to fulfil their dreams, and reaffirmed the commitment to train as good professionals to serve their community and their country.