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Fulbright Program for U.S. Students

Fulbright U.S. Student
Grantee Newsletter

Issue 27 | July 2010

Making Lasting Local Connections
table of contents

 Program Updates

Experiencing the Middle East through an Entirely New Lens

by Sarah Alsamarai, 2009-2010, Jordan

Saint Augustine once said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”  When I was selected for a Fulbright grant to Jordan, I felt that the world had opened before me and that I had been given an opportunity to experience the Middle East through an entirely new lens.  Though I had heard a great deal about the region from my parents, both of whom were raised there, and through the many books I had read in college, the time was ripe to take my knowledge to the next level.  The time had come for me to engage with the social justice issues that matter most to me in a region very dear to me.

Sara Alsamarai, 2009-2010, Jordan 
Sarah Alsamarai, 2009-2010, Jordan (right), with two of her students from her art class
 
I began volunteering with the Jesuit Refugee Service that serves Iraqi refugees of all faiths while still fulfilling my Critical Language Enhancement Award to intensively study Arabic.  I co-taught an art class for a group of Iraqi children, aged nine to thirteen, with a fellow Boston College alum.  I was nervous and unsure of what to expect before the first class.  But to my relief and delight, the children immediately accepted me and my developing Iraqi Arabic dialect.  They were thrilled and stunned when they learned that, like them, I have an Iraqi father.  “I don’t believe you!” one especially adorable girl said.  I noticed a deep, six-inch inadequately treated scar on the side of her face.

I later found out that this child had been thrown from a roof by a member of a militia on the same day that her father was kidnapped and killed.  Among the other fierce realities with which I was confronted was that many of my students have jobs and do not go to school.  Some earn little over a dollar a day - a very small amount in Jordan’s capital - which has come to be known as an expensive place to live.  I learned that while the international community in many ways has forgotten about the Iraqi refugee crisis, millions of Iraqis live in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.  They need protection, support, and programs to ensure their futures.  Their lives have been disrupted, their educations halted, and in many cases, their incomes stopped entirely due to the war.

In thinking about the Iraqi refugee struggles, I am truly at a loss for words.  Perhaps Senator Fulbright summed up the cost of war effectively when he wrote, "We make policy apart from the image of what our world would be like after a war - apart from any awareness of the piles of decomposing bodies, the mutilated children, the cemeteries, and the broken lives that are always the tangible human results of any war."

Having completed my intensive Arabic courses, I have been conducting research on chronic health conditions among the Iraqi population and collaborating with the World Health Organization.  I wish my fellow Fulbright grantees the best of luck and encourage them to remember the premise of our grants - Senator Fulbright’s vision of world peace through promoting mutual understanding - so that we can hope for a future when no more wars will be waged.

To comment on and interact with other Fulbrighters about Sarah Alsamarai's article on the Fulbright Community on State Alumni, please click here.      



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Finding Local Solutions for Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh

by Christine Marie George, 2009-2010, Bangladesh

During my Fulbright fellowship, I have been living in Dhaka, Bangladesh working to develop community-based strategies for reducing exposure to and the bodily burden of arsenic in Bangladesh as part of my dissertation research for my Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University. 
 
Christine Marie George, 2009-2010, Bangladesh 
Christine Marie George, 2009-2010, Bangladesh, working in one of her pilot villages in Singair, Bangladesh to train locals to be arsenic testers and explain its effects on child intelligence  
In Bangladesh, over 50 million people are exposed to naturally occurring arsenic concentrations that exceed the World Health Organization’s standard.  Ingested inorganic arsenic can cause skin, bladder, and lung cancers and has been linked to reproductive and developmental effects, cardiovascular disease, nonmalignant lung disease, and skin lesions.

Providing field arsenic testing services and encouraging the switch to low arsenic wells is the simplest form of mitigating arsenic exposure for Bangladeshi villagers who drink from wells with unsafe arsenic levels.  Field testing, though significant, has only mitigated arsenic exposure for about half of the affected population in Bangladesh.  I hypothesize that this is at least in part because no systematic efforts exist to train local community members to measure arsenic exposure and disseminate information about its risks within their communities.  
 
Arsenic mitigation typically involves an outsider coming into a village to test the well water for arsenic.  After the tester provides the results, this person often leaves the village without offering resources to address health concerns or advice on mitigation options.  This lack of follow-up at the local level may be an important factor limiting the impact of arsenic mitigation.

 

 


Christine Marie George, 2009-2010, Bangladesh2 
Christine Marie George, 2009-2010, Bangladesh (right), training local NGO workers to conduct well water arsenic testing in one of her pilot villages in Singair, Bangladesh
 
For my Fulbright fellowship, I designed a study to test the hypothesis that training a local NGO worker who resides in a village to incorporate arsenic awareness education and well water arsenic testing will be more effective in encouraging villagers to use low arsenic wells than an outside person providing the same services.  I hypothesize that this is because of the additional reinforcement a local NGO worker could provide by living in the community.  I am testing this by conducting a prospective study of 1000 households located in 20 villages in Singair Upazilla, Bangladesh.  The study population is divided into two groups of 10 villages each: in 10 villages, a local NGO worker who resides in the study village carries out the arsenic education and testing; in the 10 other villages, an outside person provides the same services.  I plan to use the study's results in my dissertation.

My Fulbright fellowship has given me the opportunity to implement and evaluate a self-designed, community-based arsenic mitigation strategy.  Starting the project was quite a daunting process since I had to learn how to navigate the logistics of 1000 Bangladeshi household visits.  Through this experience, however, I have gained invaluable project management skills.  Most importantly, I have learned how to work with people from a culture very different than my own.  Learning Bangla has opened opportunities for me to communicate meaningfully with the villagers partaking in my study and to learn more about their culture.  The local villagers who trained to become arsenic testers have exceeded all my expectations.  As arsenic testers, they have empowered communities by providing information on arsenic's effects and well water arsenic testing.  My time in Bangladesh has been an unforgettable cultural experience that I will always remember.

To comment on and interact with other Fulbrighters about Christine Marie George's article on the Fulbright Community on State Alumni, please click here.      



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Connect and Share Your Experiences with Fellow Fulbrighters on State Alumni and Facebook


State Alumni

If you are not already familiar with State Alumni, it is a social network sponsored by the U.S. Department of State exclusively for all current and past participants of State Department-sponsored exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program.  To register for State Alumni and gain access to the Fulbright Community, go to https://alumni.state.gov.

The Fulbright Library

The Fulbright Library on State Alumni is a new way to share, connect and collaborate with other current and former Fulbrighters.  It offers a platform, categorized by subject area, for you to share your articles, blogs, classroom materials and other media related to your areas of interest and research, particularly work related to your Fulbright grant.

If you are already a member of State Alumni, you may access the Fulbright Library at https://alumni.state.gov/fulbright/library.

Share your photos with the Fulbright Community!

  • Step 1: If you haven't done so already, please register for State Alumni at https://alumni.state.gov.
  • Step 2: Once your account has been verified, login to State Alumni and navigate to the Fulbright Community from your community menu on the home page, or go directly to https://alumni.state.gov/fulbright.
  • Step 3:  Click on "Multimedia Gallery" to view existing photo albums, podcasts and videos. 
  • Step 4: To add your own photo album, click on 'Create a New Album' on the right hand side of the multimedia gallery page.
  • Step 5: Create your album by adding a title and description.  Please be specific.  Adding your name, home country, Fulbright country, field of study and year will help others to easily identify you and your photos.  Click "Save."
  • Step 6: Click "Add Photos" to begin adding photos to your album.  Photos may be added one at a time (Single File) or as a group (Zip Archive allows uploads of .zip, .gzip, and tar files). 
  • Step 7: For each photo or group of photos, enter appropriate titles, captions, keyword tags and a location. 
  • Step 8: Edit your album or the individual photos in your album, if necessary.
  • Step 9: The Fulbright Community Manager will be alerted of your new album and will approve materials before they appear live on the site.  Until they are approved, photos will display a "pending" status.
  • Step 10: Enjoy the Fulbright Community galleries and articles!

    Note: In addition to adding photos to the Fulbright Community Multimedia Gallery, you may also upload photos to the general Photo Gallery for all State Alumni members or to your user profile.  If you have a podcast or video to share, please email it to Fulbright@alumni.state.gov.
The Fulbright Program Facebook Page
 
The Fulbright Program now has an official Facebook presence where you can join discussions, comment on wall posts, and learn more about the program's many facets.  We encourage you to visit the Fulbright Program's Facebook page regularly to read about Fulbrighters in the news, ask questions, and engage with fellow Fulbrighters from around the world.


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A Call for Articles with Photos


We welcome articles with accompanying photos for future issues of the Fulbright U.S. Student Grantee Newsletter.  Articles should ideally be about your experience of being abroad as a Fulbright grantee (and cultural ambassador), and discuss your research, classroom or teaching experiences, as well as any personal examples about how you’ve achieved the goal of the Fulbright program: to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.  The length of the article should be no more than 500 words and not require much editing in order to be published.  The accompanying photos (preferably high resolution, 300 dpi or above) should show you engaged in program activities, be illustrative of your article's content and include captions.  Please submit your articles with photos within two weeks of the release of this newsletter.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We look forward to receiving your articles!

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