The Barefoot University

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The Barefoot University

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Venezuela names its first indigenous university Barefoot University.

11 June,2011 08:20 pm

Venezuelas first indigenous university with a 100-strong student body from various tribes is being named the Barefoot University, because most students arrive after wandering shoeless through savannah, watching out for boa constrictors as they go.The campus spans grassland to thick jungle and a sign at the door asks students to clean their feet before entering to huts to take classes that cover ancient customs and myths, alongside modern law and technology. Students say that quality of life is all about having a small sown field, a boat, a machete and tools for work. Indigenous people who attend regular schools in Venezuelan towns often sever ties with their rural homelands, but these students need no city clothes for class. They sleep in hammocks and cook on open fires.It is hoped the university will help indigenous communities create leaders who can defend land rights. A balance between old and new remains hard to strike.