When James Oliver Gross left Tenessee State University for Venezuela in 1967, little did he know that he would go down in local history as part of a Unted States Peace Corps team that would build an elementary school and a chapel in Puerto Cbello. Along with his roommate, James worked with members of the community, including a master builder, Pablo Mijares, who he wold consider his "Afro-Venezuelan father". He solicited funds from schools and organizations in te United States to support the purchase of material. the labor was donated by the men of the community who worked nost weekends and occasionally i the evenin and on holidays. The School was dedicated three weeks before he completed his two-year Peace Corps commitment with a ceremony in which the Peace Corps director participated. One of the sons of Pablo Mijares spoke as a student representative.
On Friday, July 6, 2007, the circle was complete. James found not only the schol where he taught "Prospero", named after a famous educator, Propero Reverend, but also the school that he built. After James departed for the United States, the community put the finishing touches on the school and the chapel. The current name of the school is Romulo Gallegos. Although neither school was in session, both principals welcomed James and the delegation and conducted tours of the schools. Prospero was preparing for an exhibition for teachers and Romulo Gallegos
Barlovento is a region east of Caracas along the coastal areas It does not have a name you can recognize on a map, but has characteristics of an area like "Midwest" or "Northeast". Its two major towns are Rio Chico and Higuerote. Barlovento has its roots during slavery as the cocoa and plantain producing area. In addition, it was the area known for its "Cimmarones" or "Freedom Fighters". These Afro-descendent men and women resisted slavery, Spanish rule and also efforts to turn them into what we call in the United States "sharecroppers". The people of Barlovento remained rather isolated and continued to cultivate the cocoa for trading and production along the coast. Today, modern cocoa processing plants built with government subsidies have begun relpacing outdated, inefficient privately controlled plants. These new plants train young Venezuelans from the Barlovento area in modern cocoa production and distribution. The raw products to then distibuted to local businesses and entrepreneurs. We had an opportunity to tour one of these plants and visit an entrepreuenr. The most striking thing about the plant was that the manager of the plant was in his 30's and key production managers were youth in their early 20's.
Drumming and dancing
The African-style drums of Barloveno are called tambores (made from hollow logs). The drumming and dancing styles are directly related to the areas of the Congo from which the current residents are descended. Jesus "Chucho" Garcia, founder of the Afro-Venezuelan Network, researched and documented the similarities of dancing, drumming, food preaparation and hair styles of the Congo and those found in the Barlovento area of Venezuela. In Curipe, a small town in Barlovento, youth named "La Muchachera", drummed, danced and sang for us. As with many African style dancing, audience participation was expected. Many members of the delegation got an opportunity to try out the new steps.
Under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, many monuments and statues are being erected all over Venezuela to commemorate the contribution of Afro-descendants to the history of Venezuela. One huge replica of the typical drums sits at the entrance to the town of Curipe. Curipe is also one of the sites of the international drum festival usually held June 23 - 24 each year.
Education in Curipe
Most of the children from La Muchachera attended the local school, Juan Pablo Sojo. Juan Pablo Sojo services about 300 elementary students from about Kindergarten to our equivalent of 8th grade. Located on its campus is the newly initiated Martin Luther King Day Care. MlKing Day care has the capacity of about 60 students. Up until five years ago, students who were poor often came to school sporadically because they could not afford the school fees or had to work in their families to provide food for the family. Now, students can enjoy free breakfast and lunch, thanks to innovative social programs similar to "Head Start" and our current free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs. In addition, no student is turned away simply because he/she cannot afford the school fees.
Supporting education in Curipe is the newly constructed Juan Del Rosario Blanco Library/Information Center. It is a two story building that contains collections of books and a technology center. Computers are all state of the art and powered by Lunix. Signs throughout the Library remind the visitor that usimg technology is revolutionary. Being revolutionary is "bolivarian", named after Simon Bolivar who is given credit for liberating Venezuela, Colombia and other countries from Spanish rule.
Finally, we visited a local high school which contained a law class of adults studying Constitutional Law. Each member of the delegation introduced themselves and each member of the class did likewise. The delegation was astonished to discover that the classes were free. Class members were an assortment of professionals and working class adults who were committed to learning the legal system in order to become paralegals and eventually lawyers.
The delegation agreed to work with Chucho Garcia to establish a vehicle to support MLKing Day Care, Juan Pablo Sojo school, Juan Del Rosario Blanco Library and the Law students.
