Some of the Howard University students relaxing at the cultural event.
ANGUILLA–Twenty-two students and two faculty advisers from Howard University, Washington DC, are spending their week-long spring break in Anguilla, volunteering at various schools and the Red Cross as part of the annual Howard University Alternative Spring Break Programme (HUASBP).
HUASBP’s mission is to provide students with a service learning programme designed to connect students with distressed communities and explore the ethical and spiritual dimensions of leadership, challenging the students to discern how their unique gifts and skills can be used to address the problems of communities in need. In addition to Anguilla, there are additional HUASBP volunteers on the islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas
Government officials from the Department of Youth Affairs welcomed the group on their arrival to Anguilla on March 9, and have ensured that their stay is both educationally and culturally enriching. Additionally, the Anguillian Howard University alumni on the island, as well as representatives from the Anguilla Community College and University of the West Indies Open Campus, all stepped forward to ensure that the students’ experience meets their goals.
They are working with students at the Valley and Orealia Kelly Primary Schools, the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive High School, as well as the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and the Workshop Initiative for Secondary Education (WISE).
The group’s coordinator Alexa Spencer, a junior majoring in journalism at Howard University, thanked the entire Anguillian community for welcoming the group. She said that the experience “has been a life-changing and transformative experience…. you have a beautiful community, and the spirit of the children is pure.”
On Tuesday evening, the students and advisors were welcomed by the Minister of Youth Affairs Evans M. Rogers and Bonnie Richardson Lake of the Ministry of Social Development to a cultural event hosted in their honour at the Flavours Restaurant overlooking Sandy Ground.
They were treated to a sampling of local food as well as local music and pageantry performed by the long-standing cultural folklore singing group who successfully encouraged most of the students to try a few local dances. The group returned to Washington, DC on Friday, March 16.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/74733-howard-university-alternative-spring-break-in-anguilla
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