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عباس علوية
كتبت صحيفة «كونتيكت بوست» في صفحتها الأولى نهار 21 اذار 2017 مقالاً بعنوان: «الأذكى والأفضل يأتون الى «بريدجبورت»: «متفوقو منحة فولبرايت». والمقال يتناول خمسة متفوقين «نالوا منحة السير جايمس فولبرايت للدراسة في أميركا وهي تعدّ المنحة الاشهر في العالم». ومن بين الخمسة إبنة النبطية ضحى يحي صباغ التي اختارت دراسة الاقتصاد السياسي.
المقال يتناول الحياة الجامعية للطلاب وتواجدهم في أميركا في هذه المرحلة الدقيقة. وتعبتر ضحى «أن منحة فلبرايت تهدف إلى خلق بعض من المعرفة والتعاطف في عالم العلاقات الدولية، لذا فإن التواجد في أميركا في هذه المرحلة وضمن هذه المنحة، جد ضروري، في مرحلة يتغير فيها الوعي الأميركي العام. ومن المفيد جداً أن نؤدّي دوراً، خصوصاً أن الشعب الأميركي بدا يدافع عن قيمه التي قد تغيبها السياسة أحياناً».
وقد كتبت ضحى على صفحتها: « مقالٌ على الصفحة الاولى من كونتيكت بوست، مهداة الى روحك أمي، لولاك ما كنت هنا».
Fulbright scholars: Best and brightest come to Bridgeport
Updated 1:00 pm, Sunday, March 12, 2017
BRIDGEPORT — Mohammad Yahya Nafi’s long-term goal of founding a bank in his Afghanistan village has taken him to the University of Bridgeport.
A newly minted U.S. Fulbright scholar, Nafi, 26, took to the internet last summer and saw Bridgeport was close to Stamford and New York City.
“I was looking for such a location,” Nafi said.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, UB was rising to the top of Doha Sabbagh’s short list of Fulbright study locations. UB had a major that combined global development and political economies — two of the 28-year-old’s passions.
In Tunisia, Fulbright officials were doing the picking for Seifallah Mejri, 26, who had his heart set on a master’s degree that blended engineering and management. UB had such a program.
In all, five scholars awarded the prestigious Fulbright landed at UB this fall.
They include Samantha Grand Pierre, 28, of Haiti, and Felipe Zapata-Roldan, 35, of Colombia. A sixth Fulbrighter, Lamia Ben Halim, 35, of Libya, was already at UB.
Six Fulbright scholars at one time is a record for the small private university, where one of four students is international.
“These students represent some of the best and brightest from around the world,” UB President Neil Albert Salonen said. “We are proud to welcome them to the UB community.”
A 71-year-old program run by the U.S. Department of State, Fulbright has provided grants to more than 350,000 students, teachers and others from 160 countries to study and conduct research internationally.
This year, there are 62 international Fulbright scholars in Connecticut, with more than half going to Yale University.
Despite uncertainty about world politics, travel visas and future state department funding, this year’s crop of scholars remain optimistic.
“The mission of Fulbright is to bring more knowledge, more reason and more compassion to the world of global affairs,” Sabbagh said. “To see American people defending their ideas, I think it is a very beautiful period to be here.”
Of the current UB Fulbright scholars, Halim has been here the longest — since August 2015. She was in the last batch of Fulbright applicants approved in Libya before the U.S. Embassy closed. She came with a husband and a young son. This May, Halim hopes to receive a master’s degree in technology management.
“When I go home I am thinking of taking what I’ve learned and developing projects to somehow enhance the education and learning in my country,” Halim, said.
After nine years spent working in information technology for English-speaking countries, Halim co-founded the National Awareness Movement, a nongovernment organization, or NGO, based in Tripoli. In 2012, her NGO organized a four-day Tripoli Human Rights Film Festival.
Nafi, the banker from Afghanistan, said what he learns at UB will help his country become less reliant on outsourcing. His bank will seek to serve small investors, he said.
“There is a need for skilled locals to assume those positions,” he said.
Pierre, meanwhile, is at UB to earn a master’s of business administration with a concentration in international business. Having already worked for foreign firms doing business in her country, she wants to do more to help companies invest in Haiti.
“I saw how difficult (it was) for countries coming in to get a foothold, to know how the process is supposed to be,” Pierre said.
For Pierre, getting the Fulbright took a year — and a visa process she called a nightmare.
“I found out the day before I was supposed to go that I got it.” Pierre said. “Other students did not make it.”
For Zapata-Roldan, of Colombia, the Fulbright application process took nearly two years. He is working on a doctorate in technology management that will take four years to complete.
“I will go back and do research for a couple of years,” he said.
“Another option is working for a government agency or industry,” Zapata-Roldan said. “Fulbright helps you create a professional network in different fields, different countries.”
