Foreign exchange students study abroad for roughly eight months and while they are away the country they left behind continues to change. Many students will return home to a different environment or a sinking economy, similar to that of the United States. Those students from the U.S. who chose to study abroad will return home to a new president. This feature is a look at the current events in a few countries that are represented here at Rowan University by exchange students.
Vietnam
Khoa Hoang is an exchange student from Vietnam who has been living in the United States for five years. Hoang said that the biggest news story right now is the Vietnam National Football Team, “the news about the team will be on every front page of the newspapers and magazines.” Vietnam defeated Malaysia with a 3-2 victory and is likely to advance to the 2008 Southeast Asian Suzuki Cup semifinals as reported by Quang Huy. The team will play Laos on Friday, which will be an important game for them. In an article on the Asean Football Federation website head coach Henrique Calisto says he won’t play the second string, ”We must win against Laos. It is very important that we beat them and it is because of that, we should not play with the second team.”
In the same article, the outcomes of the games ahead were predicted by a few. Thailand’s former striker Kiatisuk thinks that Vietnam may win (in the semi finals) but Thailand and Vietnam will meet again in the finals. Laos’ head coach Saysana Sawatdee forecasts that Thailand will beat Vietnam 1-0, and Vietnams coach foresees a draw between his team and Thailand.
Jos, Nigeria
Nigeria is located on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa; it is the most populous country in Africa. The official language is English however other languages such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and others are also spoken. Nigeria has a federal republic form of government and is divided into thirty-six states.
In an article published by Will Connors for the CNN Time website this past Friday, Connors wrote about the tragic result of religious violence going on in Nigeria. According to the article the violence that left over 300 people dead took place in the city of Jos, which is located between the Christian south and the Muslim north of Nigeria.
Ibrahim Saleh Hassan watched as his home was robbed and burned and all of the cars at his dealership were put on fire, but the saddest thing for him was finding out that his seven year-old child watched as the family’s four dogs were murdered.
There is no conclusion yet on who may have started the riots. Members of both religions are blaming the other group for the violence and damages. There was suspicion surrounding the intent of police and soldiers that were supposed to be calming the situation.
From the article Religious Violence Rages in Nigeria by Will Connors
Residents displayed three houses where they claim men dressed in army uniforms had killed eight, 11, and three people. Law enforcement officials had been given shoot-on-sight orders by the state governor and had used them. “The security that came to control the situation then started shooting randomly,” says Alhaji Muhammed, chairman of one of the political parties at the heart of last week’s contentious election. “Before the Army came it was the police that did that bad work. Instead of making arrests they started shooting.”
Bashir Mohammed, 26, is a resident of a predominantly Muslim neighborhood that was badly affected by the violence. “We saw hell here,” he says. “The police shot two of our friends. One died on the spot, the other died in the hospital. They were wearing army and police uniforms. We were about to calm everyone down when they came and started firing.”
It is clear that things are changing and Nigerians fear a time where there will not be peace at all between the two opposing religions.
Mumbai, India
Mumbai, India was the victim of terrorist attacks on November 27, 2008. The terrorists used heavy machine guns such as AK-47s and grenades to assault the city’s prominent places; most of the deaths occurred at the city’s two famous hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi.
Jenny Barchfield of the Associated Press notes in her story, India clears bodies from last Mumbai siege site that the United States requested that Pakistan cooperate with any investigation in finding those guilty; India blames the attacks on a Pakistani militant group. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari assures that these men had no affiliation to Pakistan’s government and warns against the investigation creating hostility. The group Indians are accusing were banned from Pakistan after Britain and the U.S. labeled them a terrorist clan, they are said to have reappeared under a new name but deny being involved in the Mumbai attacks.
On a lighter note, Rajo Devi gave birth to baby girl at seventy years of age in Haryana, India this week. After fifty years of attempting to have a child Devi finally turned to in vitro fertilization. According to the article from MSNBC news, the doctor who treated Devi had no worries about the health of either one, other than that the child may be orphaned due to the age of the parents.
Sichuan, China
When asked about the most crucial news in their country or hometown Chinese students said that the earthquake that struck China on May 12, 2008 took a toll on their country and affected them personally. As stated by The New York Times, the earthquake that was measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale assailed Sichuan Province in western China. The death count was at 12,000 the next day with about 2,000 of those deaths being children and teachers crushed under a school.
An article published in the New York Times by David Barboza held that the final toll, as of August, killed nearly 70,000 people while leaving millions more homeless and, “so thoroughly damaging the region that recovery efforts were expected to take years, if not decades,” wrote Barboza.
Seven months after the earthquake, people are struggling with the loss of so many homes and businesses, and the economic crisis that is affecting many countries is directly affecting the rate of tourism in China.
From a New York Times article Winter and Economy Chilling China Quake Zone by Reuters 8 December 2008.
“There are many fewer tourists here than before,” said a gatekeeper at a local scenic spot surnamed Teng. “Partly because of the earthquake, partly because of the economic crisis.”People will not go out for fun if they have no money.”
Yang Tingxiu and her husband, both in their 50s, ran a business before the disaster, but now scratch out a living doing cleaning jobs around their temporary housing community.
“We lost everything in the earthquake except our lives,” said Yang, who lives with her husband in a portable dwelling furnished with an old, donated television and a gas cylinder.
“We just scrape along. The only way for us to survive in winter is to put on more clothes.”
A natural disaster of this size affects such a large number of people and businesses; it is not hard to believe that it may take decades to fully recover. The American Red Cross donated $14 million dollars to the Red Cross Society of China, and sent 35,000 staff members and volunteers in an effort to help those suffering from the tragic aftermath of this earthquake.
Correction
I received a comment from Eric who works in public relations for the American Red Cross in Washington DC. The Red Cross Society of China sent 35,000 staff and volunteers to help communities affected by the earthquake, not the American Red Cross. He mentioned that the American Red Cross does support the Red Cross Society of China in order to recover and rebuild.
-Megan
Hi Megan! Thanks for the mention. I wanted to correct one thing that you wrote. The Red Cross Society of China sent 35,000 staff and volunteers to help communities affected by the earthquake, not the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross, one of the 186 Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies around the world, continues to support the Red Cross Society of China as it helps communities rebuild and recover from the devastating earthquake. Thanks!
Pingback: Have a Merry Christmas! « Rowan Worldwide