— the Kinda Velloza story

By Jeune Van Keric
“I always knew I wanted to study law after being inspired as a court reporter assigned to the Berbice Assizes,”recalled Kinda Velloza, a New Amsterdam resident, who now resides in the US.

Back then, being a 16-year-old just out of school, she was attached to the local Little Rock television Station, where under the editorship of Daniel Da Costa, she covered cases at the Magisterial and Judicial Courts, with primary focus on criminal matters.

That aside, she pioneered the first regional online news agency “Berbice News .com” in 2002, when local news was broadcasted daily through the unfailing support of the business community.

Subsequent to her marriage and the birth of her son, Velloza migrated to the US in late 2005, and enrolled at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“My main focus was going to law school. I majored in Criminal Justice and excelled in my undergraduate studies, resulting in the college President inviting me to apply for the double degree programme, which afforded me the opportunity to graduate with my bachelor’s and master’s degree at the same time. I chose to do my master’s in Public Administration as I intend to return home and serve.

“After graduation, I successfully applied to the Charlotte School of Law in North Carolina. It was at this point my struggles began. As an undergraduate, I lived with my family and would commute from the Manhattan to the Bronx everyday. But, for law school, I had to uproot. My family stayed behind. This journey was most difficult having to focus on school and family. It resulted in a divorce and a custody battle. Nevertheless, I graduated with pro bono honors as I had joined the immigration clinic, giving free representations to persons from the Hispanic community, who could have ill-afford to pay their legal fees,” Velloza said.

Upon graduating from Law School, Velloza applied, successfully, for a post at the Associate Immigration Attorney at the Taylor, Lee and Associates Law firm in Georgia. After three years, she is still in the employ of that Law firm, and has since launched her own law firm, Velloza and Associates, which deals primarily with assisting Caribbean immigrants with visitor’s visas, consular processes and other immigration services.

Her future plans includes paying off her student loans and attending the University of West Indies to do the transition law programme before returning to her homeland where she can serve and run for a political office.
On a recent visit to Guyana, Velloza donated four computers and cash to her alma mater, the New Amsterdam (multilateral) Secondary School and offered a scholarship to sixth form law student, Anika Johnson of West Coast Berbice.