“This program was a good experience to bridge the gap between East and West,” said Al-Khreisha. “I was able to participate in numerous community events where I was able to learn and also share my knowledge.”
Humphrey Fellows also develop Capstone Projects as a part of the program. These are projects that aim to solve a problem in the fellows’ home countries.
Cundar is working on a project that will create a handbook about peer observation in education, a process that she says is missing in her country of Ecuador. She is hopeful that her project will help bring a new level of educational development to Ecuadorian society.
Stah’s project is a guide to project management that is tailored to her home country of Moldova. She hopes that she will be able to improve Moldovan society by sharing principles and best practices learned through the fellowship.
Another aspect of the fellowship is the professional affiliation where fellows work 240 hours with different professional organizations. This year, some fellows decided to work with large international groups like The World Bank and The Red Cross, but others chose to work with smaller local organizations such as the Centre County Women’s Resource Center (CCWRC). Banda worked with the CCWRC and hopes to replicate the CCWRC model in her home country of Namibia.
“I worked as an advocate for victims of domestic violence,” said Banda, who said she is eager to bring this knowledge back home to Africa by collaborating closely with the government officials in Namibia. Banda also developed the African Humphrey’s Forum, a group of sub-Saharan Humphrey Fellows who work to facilitate partnership between government leaders in Africa.
The fellows had numerous opportunities to attend courses and conferences through the year. The highlight for many fellows was the Global Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., a five-day event where participants had the opportunity to meet fellows from each of the other 18 host universities, as well as staff from the Institute of International Education, and key representatives from the U.S. State Department.
Not only were fellows intrigued by the formal courses and professional experiences, but they also were excited to see other aspects of U.S. culture that might not be found in a fellow’s home country. For example, many of the fellows were very interested in promoting the idea of recycling back home.
“I am very pro-environment,” said Al-Khreisha. “Every time I walk out into a hall and see the recycling bins, I wish we had something like this back home.”
Overall, the fellows said the year was intense, but extremely profitable for themselves, those they worked with and their individual countries.