Ambassador's speech on occasion of the celebration of the 35th Anniversary of Chevening
British Ambassador to Bolivia, Jeff Glekin, hosted a event on 21 March to celebrate Chevening's landmark 35th anniversary year.
“Good evening. Tonight is a celebration of British Education, but also British Music. So in the words of the Rolling Stones - please allow me to introduce myself.
It is wonderful to welcome you all in celebration of the 35th Anniversary of the Chevening Programme in Bolivia and around the world. Today, we welcome members of the Chevening alumni community, friends and colleagues from across the Embassy to meet one another, share memories and achievements, and to celebrate the successes of the UK government’s flagship scholarship scheme – Chevening.
The global Chevening alumni community has reached quite incredible heights – this year, Chevening welcomes its 50,000th scholar.
141 of these scholars come from Bolivia, consisting of passionate individuals who are engaged in world issues, respondent to global challenges, intent on deepening knowledge and understanding between the UK and Bolivia, and who contribute towards the future successes and strengthening of our bilateral relationship. You may be aware of the two Bolivian leaders who belong to the Chevevening Alumni, Mr Luis Arce Catacora, present Minister of Finance, and the former President of Bolivia Eduardo Rodriguez Veltzé.
This is a network to treasure and to be proud of, consisting of professionals from every walk of life and region across Bolivia. All of you have studied in universities across the United Kingdom. All of you have completed a dissertation. All of you have contributed towards building your own academic communities of thinkers and believers, and all of you continue to contribute to the wider international community of Chevening alumni. All of you are inspiring role models for current and future Chevening scholars and fellows, encouraging them to aspire to the highest levels in their chosen fields. For that, I offer my sincerest and most earnest congratulations and very best wishes for the future.
But I want to be ambitious. I want to build the Chevening Brand in Bolivia. To bring sponsorship from the Private and Public sector to support even more talented Bolivian leaders to study and experience the UK.
I was last posted in Colombia where a third of our places were paid for by Sponsorship. In La Paz we don’t have any sponsors at all. This will change and I would like to ask for your help this evening to identify opportunities.
Education is the key to social mobility and social change.
My own family came to the UK as immigrants over a hundred years ago. They were Jewish and had to abandon everything to escape persecution in Eastern Europe to find a better, safer life in the UK. I was reflecting on this, this morning when I discovered that part of my family had moved to Latin America. At the same time as my great-grandfather got on a boat to Glasgow, his brother moved to Buenos Aires. I received a LinkedIn message from Leonardo Glekin this morning, a lawyer in Buenos Aires. Now that we are neighbours, I look forward to meeting with my Latino Cousins.
My great-grandfather had a grocers shop in the toughest part of Glasgow. It was through the education that he provided for his four children - my grandfather studied Medicine at Glasgow University, that I can be with you today, proudly the British Ambassador to Bolivia. I hope my great-grandfather would be proud of what he achieved.
And I want the same for Bolivian students. I want the Chevening Scheme to attract students from all walks of life. That’s why today I’m announcing a mentoring programme that I will personally lead to find talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds who can succeed through education and opportunity.
And I want us to reflect on these British and Bolivian values. We are open, inclusive and ambitious. Tonight we celebrate British culture, music and food. You may know that I’m passionate about food!
My Instagram is the Gastro Diplomat. Please follow me, I don’t have many followers yet as I’m a bit too old to be a millennial and a bit too young to be an Ambassador.
Tonight we are eating Indian food. And to me that speaks volumes about the UK. We are multicultural - you might even say plurinational. I hope those of you have studied in the UK will fondly remember your time, experiencing this multiculturalism and dynamism. That you might even remember eating Indian food after a trip to a British pub with your friends.
And I would like to welcome those of you tonight who have applied for a scholarship this year. Best of luck and please do take the opportunity to network with former scholars.
I would also like to thank London Club for hosting this evening in this very British of venues. And finally can I thank my own team for all their work to make this scholarship scheme a success and indeed to make this evening a success.
Dear Chevening Alumni. You will always act as an inspiration for all young people across Bolivia. I ask that you keep in touch and work to strengthen the network more and more. We also hope you can continue to participate in the events the Embassy organises to promote Chevening across the country. For more information, please speak directly with representatives of our Chevening Team who are here with us this evening.
Congratulations and enjoy the evening.”