EC Papers September 2018

Venezuela Trip 16th – 21 st July 2018

and what the UK is like overall. At lot of the workers were very shocked and surprised to

hear about some of the working conditions in the UK. The factory produced two different

types of unscented soap and turns over more than 10,000 bars each day. Interestingly, the

factory workers negotiate the price of the soap with the community, to ensure it’s affordable

for all and due to the US sanctions on the country they also had to change their base

ingredient from refined oil to virgin oil. It was a difficult change as they had to create the

machinery along with the assistance of other factories in the country. They are planning on

opening up another factory soon. After lunch we attended a meeting with the Director of the

Bolivar University. He was a young man who was focused on ensuring higher education

remained free and students were able to gain basic skills in farming and agriculture, as well

as their chosen degree. It is one of the biggest universities in Venezuela and has had

approximately 415,000 graduates in 15 years, since it’s conception. the director told us

about the the education system, how they have managed to continue to provide free

education for all as well as help to rebuild the economy. Each student enrolled at the

university has to do 6 hours of manual or agricultural labour to ensure the economy is

improving and more food is being grown. This was brought in as most of the Venezuelan

population are lawyers or based in call centres, the director aims to be able to equip

students with a range of different skills for the future, as well as their chosen degree. He also

mentioned he is about to start accepting international students - so of course, we asked

about the availability! Later in the evening we were invited to a TV interview with TeleSUR.

Edward took the stand and discussed a number of the issues young people are facing with

Brexit on the horizon.

Please see the link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPtPOoTddc4

Our final evening consisted of salsa dancing and DJ sets with our new friends, It was an

opportunity to reflect on an amazing trip, which had been extremely lucky to have been able

to experience. It was then that we realised just how quick the week had flown by and what a

shame it was that our visit had to come to an end!

Saturday was a lot more relaxed! We visited the Simon Bolivar memorial, where they have a

massive new structure and guards stationed 24 hours a day around the memorial. A local art

museum situated inside the city, which had its own style of coffee shop and handmade

memorabilia. We were able to get a few things to remember the trip with, for example, t

shirts and hats. Our last stop before the airport was a meeting for a local agricultural project

in the centre of the city of Caracas. It was led by young people in the area and organised by