Banjul, Oct 25th.- «The contribution of Africa to the process of formation of Cuban culture and identity is undeniable,» affirmed the collaborator of the Medical Brigade (BMC) here, María Inés Álvarez Garay, in a two-part interview published in the stellar evening news on GRTS, the Gambia’s main television station.
In the dialogue with GRTS for the closure of the National Culture Day of her country, the BMC professor also stated that the musical, dance and religious expressions that came to us from that continent were mixed with others, to form a genuinely Cuban culture.
She added that the presence on the Caribbean island of African slaves, their customs, habits of life, religiosity, songs, dances, identification with nature and the use of medicinal plants, now known as Phytotherapy, left traces on the identity and the Cuban culture, formed on the basis of a broad process of transculturation as a result of the mixture of Indian, Hispanic, African and other peoples’ roots.
She stated that health workers from the Greater Antilles currently working in the Gambia have become more sensitive, more human beings, and more qualified professionals, as they meet this brotherly African people.
Álvarez Garay assured that at the same time the members of the BMC are today better people and better revolutionaries because, as eternal Commander in Chief Fidel Castro always said: Revolution means more culture.
She believed that this fertile walk around the world, providing health, hope, love and solidarity has made us much more cultured, and has increased and overflowed that immense pride that we feel in being Cuban, legitimate and authentic cubans.
She explained that the BMC began in Gambia the Day for the National Culture of his country on October 10th with a tribute ceremony for the Day of the Cry of Independence on the Caribbean island, in which the collaborators who faced and fought covid-19 on the red line were deservedly stimulated.
She recalled that a call was also launched for all legitimate, dignified and Creole Cubans to join and flood social networks with the rich flavor of our traditional music and dances, our art and our tasty food «, on the occasion of October 20th , Culture Day in the Antillean nation.
We wanted to show the world all the Cubanness that runs through our veins full of blood, brave and altruistic, to show the generosity of our values formed in a friendly, humane culture with tireless warriors who save thousands of lives every day, who do not fear the death, on the contrary they face it and defeat it, stressed Professor Álvarez Garay in her interview with GRTS.
FIRST PART
SECOND PART
"An Island on a Continent" 