The American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) has been applauded for “opening doors” for hundreds of students of the University of the West Indies (The UWI) by annually providing scholarships to the institution.

Speaking at the AFUWI 25th-anniversary awards gala in New York last Thursday (April 21), Sir Hilary Beckles, pro-vice-chancellor of The UWI said it was “a moment of gratitude and a celebration for The UWI, celebrating 74 years of service to the Caribbean and the AFUWI, 25”. Funds raised at the gala each year are used to provide scholarships to The UWI.

Noting that the university which began with its first landed campus in Jamaica in 1948, then expanded to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, the virtual “Open Campus” and most recently, added the Antigua “Five Islands” Campus, is ranked among the top five per cent of universities worldwide by The Times Higher Education, Sir Hilary said “This is no simple achievement. But, we are not just about academics but strive to be an ethical institution and we are very proud too of what the AFUWI has been able to achieve.”

“Why should a teenager, born with the intellectual capacity to learn, due to the circumstance of their birth be denied the opportunity to fulfill their potential for themselves, their families and the Caribbean?” Sir Hilary asked guests at the gala where awards are conferred annually on notable individuals and companies that represent high levels of achievement within their respective fields of industry, enterprise and service to their community. 

Vice-chancellor Beckles had high praise for “distinguished UWI Alum Jamaican business leader and senator, Don Wehby who leads GraceKennedy, the largest, most diversified corporation in the entire Caribbean”.

Both Senator Wehby and GraceKennedy, one of the region’s largest conglomerates with operations spanning Jamaica, several other Caribbean islands, North and has Central America, the United Kingdom and several European countries, were awardees at this year’s AFUWI Gala. 

Wehby received the AFUWI Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Global Business Leadership and the GraceKennedy Group, which is celebrating 100 years this year, received the AFUWI Corporate Award for Global Business Excellence.

The AFUWI Legacy Award was presented to Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda Gaston Browne, while Wayne Berson, CPA, Chief Executive Officer, BDO, USA, received the Pinnacle Award for Excellence in Financial Advisory Services; Dawnn Lewis, Grammy Award-Winning Songwriter, Producer and Actress -the Bob Marley Award; Ambassador Ralph S. Thomas the Pelican Award and Graham Robinson, SVP & President, Stanley Industrial, the Caribbean Luminary Award.

Among speakers at the Awards Gala were three AFUWI scholarship awardees who expressed their gratitude to the foundation and The UWI for helping them to “fulfill their dreams”.

Vernique Miller, a final year medical student at The UWI, Mona, who received the Dr Cyrus McCalla Scholarship, spoke of the anxiety she felt about her ability to pay tuition and the relief being granted the scholarship brought. Addressing Dr McCalla, the AFUWI board chairman at the gala she said, “I am beyond grateful Dr Cyrus McCalla. I must thank you immensely, you have touched a heart and your assistance will not go unrecognised. To all sponsors, donors and soon to be donors, there are many students out there that are counting on your donation to help them actualize their dreams. All we really need is just a chance to show you that we can be exceptional individuals.”

Moonmatie Devi Seiteram, now an attorney at law enrolled to practice in Jamaica and her native Guyana, was the recipient of the Pilgrim Bursary for Guyanese students in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, which funded her first degree in journalism at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications (CARIMAC) at The UWI. Seiteram told gala guests that the scholarship helped her to escape an arranged marriage and typical “future battered and dependent” lifestyle of a poor young woman in Guyana.

“The AFUWI scholarship allowed me to change the trajectory of my life from poverty and probably saved me from a life of trauma and domestic violence. It was the first step I needed to go to greater things with my life and who knows where I will be led from here” she declared.

Hoshane Langley, now a senior auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who by age 27 completed both a Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in accounting at The UWI. Langley also holds CPA qualifications and was the recipient of a scholarship from popular Jamaican restaurant in New York, “The Door”. He too spoke of humble beginnings as the son of subsistence farmers who “had to get up at the crack of dawn before school to tie out the goats, feed the cows and water the melons”.

“I stand here today extremely grateful to the AFUWI for helping me to generate a bunch of keys that has and is continuing to help me open doors on my journey. You showed me that my dreams were valid and attainable. You showed me what one can achieve when given a chance”, he shared. 

The AFUWI Awards are conferred annually on notable individuals and companies which represent high levels of achievement within their respective fields of industry, enterprise and in service in their communities, by the US-based AFUWI which partners with UWI alumni, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the USA, American foundations and corporations to raise funds for projects, scholarships and academic programmes on the university’s four physical and one virtual campuses.