Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008
YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
Radnor, Pa.
CABRINI COLLEGE
Pacemaker Winner Vol L, Issue 09
www.theloquitur.com
Project brings Iraqi students to U.S. Refugees hope to show world ‘good things about Iraq’
Iraqi students placed at 14 United States colleges brittany mitchell
meghan hurley
multimedia editor
guest writer
meg.hurley@gmail.com
bvm723@cabrini.edu
Editor’s note: Meghan Hurley and Amanda Finnegan received the Eileen Egan award for journalism because of stories they did for Loquitur on Fair Trade. This is the highest award for journalism given to journalists writing for Catholic publications. They are the first journalists to win who wrote for a college newspaper. As a result of their award, they traveled to Syria and Lebanon with Catholic Relief Services for two weeks at the beginning of October to report on the Iraqi refugee crisis. This is a report by Meghan Hurley on the Iraqi Student Project. The Iraqi Student Project was started out of the need for two Americans to do something for the country of Iraq. Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak started the project in 2007 after they saw how many young students had to flee Iraq and leave behind any opportunity of continuing their education. Based in Damascus, Syria, Huck and Kubasak are now preparing to send a second group of Iraqi students to the United States to receive a four-year college education. “This can help break down stereotypes Americans have about Iraqis and Arabs,” Kubasak said. They are currently preparing a group of more than 11 students to receive tuition waivers from colleges and universities all over the United States. Among the requirements for applying, which include being proficient in English and not having the financial ability to study in Syria or another Middle Eastern country, they have to be firm in their willingness to return to Iraq once they have graduated. The desire of the Iraqi students to return home to Iraq after studying in the United States was strongly apparent. Moustafa studied pharmacy for two years in Iraq before he had to leave. “I just hope to be a good phar-
REFUGEES, page 3
INSIDE
this week’s edition
Meghan Hurley/submitted photo
Meghan Hurley, Cabrini alumna ‘07, spends time with children she met at a shelter for Iraqi refugees and migrant workers. The children were from a family of eight children and are with both of their parents in the shelter, which is usually not the case.
Catholic Relief services
At a United Nations processing center near Damascus, Syria, an Iraqi refugee named Rahman entertains refugee children as their parents wait to be interviewed for resettlement. Rahman is part of the Iraqi Student Project, which helps Iraqis enroll in American colleges. He hopes to study theater in the U.S.
Lolla-No-Booza
Page 10
The Iraqi Student Project has placed 14 Iraqi students in various U.S. colleges and universities this semester. Since ISP’s recent posting of online applications, the students in need of U.S. educational assistance has doubled. “We’ve had over 30 applications for fall 2009 and we will probably call a halt to receiving more applications for this year. Our staff in Damascus [Syria] works carefully with every single application and applicant,” Jane Pitz, U.S. executive director of the Iraqi Student Project, said. “They [ISP] have been with us since the beginning, and they helped us to prepare for everything,” Jaffar Al-Rakabinasir, freshman at Saginaw Valley State University, Mich., said. Al-Rakabinasir is studying to be a computer engineer and is currently opening up his own computer company. Al-Rakabinasir sees this opportunity as “a good start, a slow start, to help rebuild my country [Iraq].” “It’s important to understand that the Iraqi universities are operating, but not well, not consistently, not without threat, and are having terrible problems in terms of their buildings, their maintenance and their faculty [they have been driven out],” Pitz said. Farah Abrahim studied three years of English at Damascus University, Syria. “It was one of the fine and honorable colleges in the Middle East, yet it was still not what I dream of,” Abrahim said. “I dream of getting a higher education, because if I want to achieve my goal in reviving my country then I should get a better education.” Abrahim, political science major at Dominican University, Calif., plans to take her new education and “work for a non-governmental organization, specifically to help rebuild Iraq. If that doesn’t happen, I would like to be involved in the political sector in Iraq and help my country in any possible way.”
ISP, page 3
Bittersweet Farewell
Page 13