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GATE offerings expand to include immersion trip to Venezuela

The Global Awareness Through Experience (GATE) program is crossing new borders. A cultural immersion trip to Venezuela was recently added to the program’s list of offerings. The first trip is scheduled for April 4-14, 2008, and already the trip has generated interest.

Sister Marie Des Jarlais, who will lead the Venezuela GATE trip, says the trip fits in with the original purpose of GATE: “GATE has a history of what we call alternate tourism, or traveling in solidarity,” she explains. “There are different ways of being in the world, and it’s good to look at the different possibilities and ask, ‘what benefits people the most?’ There’s not just one model.” Sister Marie describes Venezuela’s government as one of democratic socialism, with a president who was fairly and democratically elected by the people.

Participants in the Venezuela GATE trip will experience many different aspects of the society. They are scheduled to meet with high-level government officials, but also with members of an umbrella group for religious non-governmental organizations in the country. They’ll see where the poor and marginated live. In addition, the trip includes exposure to signs of hopefulness in the country: a school which is used by children during the day and for an adult literacy program at night. Participants will visit a factory near that school, which we could call a “sweatshop,” says Sister Marie. “But it is one of the most well-lit, airy, spacious factories I’ve ever seen in Latin America.”

A stop at a neighborhood clinic offering service to the poor is on the agenda, as is a possible visit to a cacao growing area (the seeds that make chocolate). Participants will also learn about organic agricultural efforts and community projects to help feed the poor.

“I think what people are going to appreciate in early April is the beautiful vegetation in the country, the flowers, the birds,” says Sister Marie. “It’s a tropical climate, but not unbearable.” In addition, participants will experience some of the rich Afro-Caribbean culture of the country. “The music and the dance are absolutely beautiful. It’s the drumming and the singing and the dancing as if people don’t have bones, that’s the best way I can describe it.” Sister Marie says participants will have the opportunity to see a youth music and dance group perform, “They should be on tour; they are so good.”

The Venezuela GATE program has long been a dream of Sister Marie’s. Only after cultivating relationships within the country with like-minded people could it become a reality. As always, the GATE program will remain true to its mission, “It will be similar in that we approach every person and group we meet as equals and we come looking for dialogue. It’s that spirituality of solidarity that impels us—that we have something to offer them, but they also have something to offer us.”

For more information about the Venezuela GATE trip, call the GATE office at 608-791-5283, e-mail gate@fspa.org, or log on to the Web site: www.gate-travel.org.

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