{"id":100550,"date":"2017-08-21T13:21:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T17:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oncubamagazine.com\/?p=100550"},"modified":"2018-10-04T13:06:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T17:06:36","slug":"cubans-long-road-to-oxford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/society-cuba\/cubans-long-road-to-oxford\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cuban\u2019s long road to Oxford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her name is Patricia Zulueta Bravo and she dreams with studying for a master\u2019s in Oxford. \u201cFrom where I come that only happens in movies,\u201d she said the first time it was suggested to her. But the wish was aroused in her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patricia was born in Havana and she now lives in Hanoi, thousands of kilometers from the oldest English-speaking university. But at 30 she has already achieved half of her wish: she was accepted in Oxford to study for an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition.<\/span><\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t intend to go to the British university to study English. Strange as it might seem, her wish is to create a method that facilitates the learning of the Chinese language. Patricia is a professor of the language most spoken in the world: Mandarin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her link with that language was by chance. She doesn\u2019t have almond-shaped eyes nor does she descend from emigrants of the Asian country. In fact, her family roots are in eastern Cuba and her skin color is black. But she feels the Chinese language as her own.<\/span><\/p>\n

The MSc begins in October but before this, on September 28, Patricia must pay her tuition, some 25,000 dollars. In addition she needs money for her stay in the United Kingdom, although she is confident that when she is there she will be able to work the hours that her study program allows her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until now she hasn\u2019t been able to raise the amount she needs. But she doesn\u2019t even think of a Plan B. She doesn\u2019t refuse other\u2019s aid and she devotes all her energy to make her dream come true. She is all perseverance. Her watch is set on a countdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

A CUBAN IN CHINA<\/span><\/h3>\n

She was born in 1987, a few years before the Special Period. She grew up in a family of teachers \u2013 her maternal grandparents and her great-uncles studied in the Normal School of Santiago de Cuba -, but when she finished senior high, in the Vladimir I. Lenin Vocational Institute of Havana, she decided to take the tests to enter the Faculty of Foreign Languages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost like following the tide because what I was actually interested in was pedagogy,\u201d she says to <\/span>OnCuba<\/b><\/span>, \u201cbut that decision would change my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of her academic results she was included in a Chinese language program boosted by the Ministry of Higher Education. She was only 17 when she joined the program\u2019s first group, initially thought out to be carried out in Cuba. But then the possibility of going to China came up and Patricia got a scholarship to study in the Tianjin Normal University. She would spend four years there, together with students from countries like Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patricia
Patricia with her professors and classmates in Tianjin. Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Zulueta Bravo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2010 she graduated in Chinese Language and Culture and decided to return to Havana as a professor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany of my friends said I was crazy because I returned to Cuba after I graduated. They said I had lost the opportunity of my life by not staying in China or traveling to the United States, like many of my comrades. But something was telling me I was on the right path,\u201d Patricia says.<\/span><\/p>\n

A short time after her return, she started working in the Confucius Institute, which had been founded in 2009 attached to the University of Havana. She remained in the institution for two years. In addition. She gave Spanish lessons in Chinese companies and worked as a translator to help the family economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the institute she started losing sleep over her students\u2019 difficulties in learning Chinese.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was a direct witness of my students\u2019 frustration for not being able to learn the language well,\u201d Patricia comments. \u201cThe textbooks and the teaching methods were not the most appropriate for them, since they were based on the traditional teaching methodology in China. I tried to make some changes but I became aware that to achieve a real impact I needed more knowledge. I had to continue studying.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patricia
Patricia with two of her students in Havana\u2019s Confucius Institute. Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Zulueta Bravo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Patricia then applied for a master\u2019s in China and was accepted by the Language and Culture University of Beijing. It wasn\u2019t easy. More than once her intentions were questioned in Cuba. \u201cI remember with great sadness the day that someone said to me that the only way to leave was getting married to a Chinese man,\u201d she recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was given the exit permit only a day before her trip. Even so, she never lost faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI bought the ticket to China with my last savings, before I was given the exit permit. Many persons said I was crazy and today I recognize that it was risky, but I was sure I was going to achieve it. I hadn\u2019t the slightest idea about how it was going to be, but I took the risk because I was confident I would not fail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ROAD TO OXFORD PASSES THROUGH HANOI<\/span><\/h3>\n

Again in China, Patricia devoted herself wholeheartedly to her master\u2019s in Applied Linguistics. She had no doubts, she didn\u2019t lose a minute of study.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a classroom full of Asians where I was the one who attracted the most attention, not just because of my appearance but rather for my constant questions to the professor, something not very common over there,\u201d she reveals. \u201cWhile studying I became aware that my ideas were not so crazy and that they agreed with many professors\u2019 researchers, fundamentally in the western world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It was at that time that the idea of studying for a doctorate in Oxford or another important western university gained force in her.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why after graduating in Beijing in 2015 she started studying English \u201cin serious.\u201d The dominion of this language \u2013 the third in her case \u2013 was indispensable to be accepted in the United Kingdom or the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"During
During the discussion in Chinese of the thesis for her MSc. Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Zulueta Bravo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then she moved to Vietnam, where she found work as a Spanish and Chinese professor \u201cwithout the color of my skin or my nationality mattering.\u201d The St. Paul American School, an international school with a U.S. curriculum, welcomed her in its staff. She\u2019s been there since then, teaching junior and senior high school students.<\/span><\/p>\n

While in Hanoi she made her last English test. Before, she had already tried it another three times. The fourth time she was lucky. Among all the evaluated skills she got an average of 8.0 from a maximum of 9.0.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that backing, in 2016 she applied for a doctorate in Cambridge and Oxford, but was not accepted. Fate played a dirty trick on her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut a Cambridge professor advised me to apply first for the MSc and later continue with the doctorate,\u201d she tells <\/span>OnCuba<\/b><\/span>. \u201cI followed his advice and applied for MSc programs in the United Kingdom in 2017.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After handing in all the materials for the application and answering the questions she received from the universities, they invited her to an interview. \u201cAt that moment I seriously thought about the possibility that they would accept me,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Patricia had to travel urgently to Cuba. Her grandfather was seriously ill. While there she was unable to connect at the time of the interview. To top it off, her grandfather died. Everything seemed to be against her. But a surprise was waiting for her when she returned to Vietnam: the Oxford professors got in touch with her to offer her a second chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t prepare myself well,\u201d she commented. \u201cI was just sincere and told them about my passion for teaching and mi idea of making a change in the current methods for the teaching of the Chinese language.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The interview was done through Skype. She was accepted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AID FOR PATRICIA<\/span><\/h3>\n

This Cuban found out about the news that she was accepted at Oxford while she was with her students in a voluntary project in a rural region to the south of Vietnam. She was so happy she was unable to think of something so essential for making her wish come true: getting the financing.<\/span><\/p>\n

On her return to Hanoi, as on previous occasions, she would work to raise all the money she could get. Her husband La Roi \u2013 an American from Chicago and a professor like her in the St. Paul American School \u2013 would also help her, despite the fact that the MSc means being separated for a year.<\/span><\/p>\n

But she still couldn\u2019t raise all the money, she still had a long way to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

She then started seeking financial aid and grants to be able to pay for her studies in Oxford. She applied to some but wasn\u2019t lucky.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt that moment I read the story of a girl in Canada who paid for her university studies with donations through the internet,\u201d Patricia recalls. \u201cAt the beginning I didn\u2019t like the idea of asking for money, but my students helped me a lot and together we designed the campaign. My dream also became theirs. And that gave me the strength.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The professor created a page on the platform GoFoundMeCom, which facilitates the collection of the donations through digital means. Her students helped her write the text, choose the photos, make a video in which she tells her story. If she is able to get the funds she plans to reward the donors with prizes like an Oxford t-shirt, free Chinese lessons and a postcard with a traditional post stamp from the Royal British Post Service with the name of the donor written in Chinese calligraphy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Doing
Doing community work with her students from the St. Paul American School. Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Zulueta Bravo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In two months she has received close to 40 donations, although the collected amount is still very far from the one initially previewed: 30,000 dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Patricia doesn\u2019t fool herself. She knows that if she starts the master\u2019s in October she will be one of the few Cubans in history to study in the prestigious British university. But if she doesn\u2019t achieve it she will have to begin the entire process again from the start.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not blind and I don\u2019t expect the campaign will finance all my studies,\u201d she affirms, \u201cthat\u2019s why I don\u2019t stop working on anything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She even recovered from a minor surgery \u2013 a hernia and a cyst \u2013 and returned to the classrooms three days later, focused on her objective.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt times I felt I wasn\u2019t able to finish my class, but I gave myself a pep talk,\u201d she says without melodrama. \u201cAs soon as I got home I would go to bed to rest and recover for the next day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her greatest inspiration, she says, is her family. Although she is in touch with them several times a week, she regrets each day she is far away from her mother, her brother, her grandmother, who always motivated her to not abandon her books. \u201cAlways study even if studying bores you,\u201d she would tell her granddaughter, \u201cbecause an ignorant woman is a flower with no perfume.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two months from her zero hour, Patricia looks forward with security. She continues working and she personally thanks each one of her donors. Thus she is building her road to Oxford. A long and cobbled road she does not renounce to.<\/span><\/p>\n