Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Mohammad Samhouri
Living as young minorities in largely white communities, Fulbright ExchangeAlumni Wen-kuni Céant and Leland Lazarus know just how challenging it can be to seize life-changing opportunities. They won a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grant in 2023, and hope to help thousands of students — among them minorities from historically under-represented communities — decide whether to apply to a U.S. government-sponsored international exchange program. If you ask them if you should go on an international exchange, Wen-kuni and Leland resoundingly say, “Do it.”
“Don’t be off-put by imposter syndrome,” Wen-kuni said. “I think a lot of young people, particularly students of color, suffer from imposter syndrome because they have not seen anyone in their communities that has done it before. That’s exactly what Leland and I were trying to remedy with the summit, as we wanted them to see that there are people who have, in fact, done it before.”
Now members of the Fulbright Association’s National Board of Directors, Wen-kuni and Leland became aware of the challenges that programs like Fulbright and federal agencies have in attracting young, minority talent. With the help of CDAF, a small-grant competition for U.S. government-sponsored exchange alumni to carry out policy-inspired service projects, Wen-kuni and Leland presented their solution: the Pathways to Global Citizenship Youth Summit.
Using their connections with the Fulbright Association and in the Denver, Colorado area, Leland and Wen-kuni organized the youth summit as a precursor to the Fulbright Association Annual Conference. Students from high schools in the Denver area attended the summit to learn about international exchange programs and what it means to study abroad. The sessions covered topics such as how to talk to your parents about studying abroad, learning a new language, embracing the local culture, and even facing potential discrimination.
“What we wanted to do was kind of develop an opportunity for young people to learn about not only Fulbright, but all U.S. Department of State-sponsored exchange programs –and an opportunity to be able to open and broaden their horizons,” Wen-kuni said.
Local partners on the ground — like the local Denver Fulbright chapter — had a tremendously positive impact on the event. With their help, Leland and Wen-kuni were able to assemble representatives from other exchange programs and organizations, including the Boren Awards, the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Peace Corps, and more. The mission behind bringing these organizations together was to present the variety of doors open to young people to break out into the world. Speaking on the success of the Summit, Leland said, “We left the event absolutely inspired to the point where we want to have another youth summit again this year, and years to come.
Caption: Representatives from USAID, PeaceCorps, and numerous international exchange programs attended the Denver summit. (Photo credit: Matt Silton / Torch Media)
The Impact of International Exchange
Wen-kuni first learned about the Fulbright Program during her undergraduate studies at Howard University, a historically Black university (HBCU). Initially, Wen-Kuni didn’t plan to apply to Fulbright. Her perceived prestige of the program triggered a self-doubt that she didn’t get over until she finished her graduate degree at Drexel University. But she said the exchange, which enabled her to work on a health infrastructure project in Kaolack, Senegal, was life-changing, and sparked her current career.
Witnessing the brilliance of people in Senegal inspired Wen-kuni to push herself even further personally and professionally. Fulbright also exposed her to the real-world impacts of governmental actions: A U.S. government shutdown during her exchange meant Wen-kuni and other Fulbright scholars did not receive their stipends for the duration of the shutdown.
This experience became the impetus for Politicking, an organization focused on galvanizing historically under-represented communities through ballot education, of which Wen-kuni is CEO and co-founder. Through a mobile app, Politicking empowers people to vote by streamlining information about politics, including valid forms of voter identification and politicians’ stances on issues.
For Leland, a New York-born son of Panamanians, teaching English in Panama through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) program provided him the opportunity to live in the country of his heritage. During his time in Panama, he says his students imparted parts of their culture to him, and that he was able to learn more about the Foreign Service from U.S. diplomats, eventually leading to his career in international affairs.
“I can directly tie my professional trajectory back to my experience in Panama, which then led me to the foreign service: I served as a Foreign Service Officer in China, Latin America, and the Caribbean. And all that due to my experience with Fulbright,” Leland said.
Although he is no longer working with the government, Leland is still making use of what he learned on his international exchange and in his time in the U.S. Department of State. Currently, he is an Associate Director of the Gordon Institute for Public Policy, a think tank connected to Florida International University.
Continued Advocacy
Fulbright remains a constant in both Wen-Kuni’s and Leland’s lives –from keeping in touch with former students to offering advice to the next generation of ExchangeAlumni.
Leland, a new father, is still in contact with one of his students from Panama, who is also a father and offers him advice from time to time. As former students who overcame hurdles and participated in a life-changing exchange program, both Wen-kuni and Leland echo the sentiment that all students should break the glass ceiling and participate in these programs. They offered parting advice for students who might be on the edge of applying for an exchange program.
“Don't be discouraged if, you know, you may not feel like you're worthy of this, because you are. I think the thing about these fellowships is that they welcome people from all different walks of life, all different academic backgrounds, all different geographic regions,” Wen-kuni said.
Leland emphasized that no matter where you are in life, there is some type of program out there for you. He offered this resource for students and career professionals who may be interested in exchange programs, and shared some insight from his experience as a U.S. diplomat.
“Whether you’re a professional overseas, or you’re a Fulbrighter, or you’re born overseas — you become a cultural ambassador for the U.S.,” he said. “You are a physical manifestation of the wonderful diversity that this country has to offer. Why not be a part of that?”
Written by Megan Turner, a VSFS Intern with the U.S. Department of State. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Forty-seven ExchangeAlumni women with expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math convened at the Alumni Thematic International Seminar (Alumni TIES) around "Women's Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)" in Cairo, Egypt. The seminar, which took place October 9-13, 2023, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and featured presentations from STEM leaders, workshops, and networking opportunities.
Among the panelists who presented at the seminar, we spoke to four trailblazing alumnae who shared their work expanding STEM education access in communities across Africa and the Middle East.
Roselyne Mariki
Roselyne Mariki has over twenty-five years of experience as a STEM educator and is the Tanzania Country Manager for So They Can, a non-profit organization working to advance access to quality education in rural schools in Tanzania. She chose to attend Alumni TIES to connect with other female STEM leaders. Since the seminar ended, she has been in contact with several alumni she met in Cairo and is planning collaborations with them to amplify So They Can’s positive impact on girls’ education in Tanzania.
In her role at So They Can, Roselyn establishes collaborative partnerships with local governments and other NGOs to advance the organization’s mission, providing schools across Tanzania with teacher development programs and the physical infrastructure needed to make them safer and more inclusive to girls. The organization also teaches students critical skills in leadership and business, technology literacy, and STEM.
“We are seeing children raising their voices, speaking up for their rights. We are seeing schools that are safe. We are seeing collaboration with different stakeholders who are standing for children's rights,” Roselyne said.
Shirley Gladys Nakyejwe
Shirley Gladys Nakyejwe is a senior information and communication technology (ICT) officer and intellectual property specialist at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance in Uganda.
When asked about her motivations for attending Alumni TIES, Shirley emphasized the value of learning from other STEM leaders: “There were very many lessons to pick from what other people are doing. And then, of course, things that I can borrow and add on to what I am doing so that it can enrich my initiative,” she said.
Shirley had the opportunity to meet several women with whom she plans to partner as a part of her initiative, Extend Impact, to further expand access to quality STEM education in her country.
Outside of her role at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Shirley dedicates a significant amount of time to Extend Impact. This program teaches girls STEM, vocational skills, and critical lessons in leadership. With this initiative, Shirley introduces girls to foundational computing concepts, teaching them to navigate computer systems before they begin building advanced skills in developing applications and websites. She then advises girls through the process of business matchmaking when they have successfully built tech solutions, providing mentorship as they embark on a career in STEM and offering the communication skills and pitch session education necessary for effectively promoting their product.
Dr. Temiloluwa Adeshina
Dr. Temilolouwa Adeshina co-founded Readland Global, an organization expanding literacy and digital skills for over 50,000 children in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.
While at Alumni TIES in October 2023, Dr. Adeshina enjoyed collaborating with women who are also deeply committed to expanding access to STEM opportunities in their communities. Reflecting on her work founding and expanding Readland Global, she said there are moments when she questions if she is having the greatest impact possible through her work.
At Alumni TIES, the work of the women she met reminded her that she is making a difference in her community. It inspired her to continue working hard to expand education access across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.
Reflecting on what inspired her own love of learning and passion for education, she said, “I lost myself in the world of books when I was 8 years old. And I guess at that age, I discovered the world.”
When her initial goal of becoming a banker did not come to fruition, she applied for a teaching job, was accepted, and quickly fell in love with teaching. While she cherished this role and the impact she was having on her students’ love of learning, her drive to and from work every day continually revealed a glaring inequity she could not ignore – children playing in the streets who were not going to school.
Wanting to expand access to education and introduce critical reading skills to the children in and around her community, Dr. Adeshina quit her job and decided to start Readland. She gathered community members, spoke with the mothers of children not enrolled in school, and assembled a group of volunteers in her community. She and her husband then cleared the furniture from their sitting room and invited 46 children into their home for a day of reading. She continued to host these reading sessions every Saturday and saw the group of children in her home grow from 46 on the first week to over 1,000 over the course of the first two years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Readland Global expanded its education offerings to include computer literacy and coding skills and, due to the organization’s widespread popularity, expanded its programming to serve communities in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. Under the guidance of Readland’s mentorship and education opportunities, children from communities across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia have won various coding and robotics competitions.
Imane Berchane
Imane Berchane, an industrial engineer and ed-tech consultant, is the co-founder of Play & Code Academy and of Robots & More. Imane attended Alumni TIES to share her work empowering girls in rural areas of Morocco through STEM.
While at the seminar, she had the opportunity to meet other like-minded STEM leaders. When asked about her takeaways from the seminar, Imane stated:
“I was able to connect and form meaningful connections that I am able to pursue after the seminar. So far, I have been able to work on partnerships with at least four of the participants from the program.”
In her home country of Morocco, Imane consults schools on how they can best integrate technology to bring their classrooms into the 21st century. In her consultant role, Imane also helps schools build STEM curricula linked to the national curriculum and trains teachers to improve student engagement in the classroom.
She also works to raise STEM awareness across Morocco, advancing sustainable development goals, sex equality and access, and geographic and social access to STEM education and solutions. She works with funders and Morocco’s Ministry of Education to deploy STEM programs in underserved populations like public schools, specifically in rural areas, and increase girls' access to STEM education and solutions. She has trained over 500 public school teachers across ten different cities on the benefits of robotics.
Reflecting on some of the most memorable moments in her career, Imane is particularly proud of her work with robotics teams in Morocco. Recently, an all-girls team went to Egypt to compete internationally and won an award for their robots. When the girls returned home to Morocco, many of their parents recognized for the first time that their daughters could have a future outside of being a housewife or teacher. Experiences like this are opening doors for countless girls to pursue careers in STEM.
When Banu Gulecyuz and Savanna Lim met in 2021 during their Fulbright English Language Teaching Assistantships (ETA) in Türkiye, they bonded over their interest in the country and a shared mission to take their English teaching beyond the classroom. Years later, the two ExchangeAlumni extended that mission, partnering on a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) project in the Mediterranean coastal town of Alanya, in the province of Antalya.
For one week in summer 2023, Camp cARTal 2023 brought together 100 middle school students from a range of backgrounds and cultures for an immersive English language camp through art, creativity, and self-expression.
“After I came back from Türkiye last year, I really wanted to go back and I felt really connected to Türkiye for multiple reasons,” said Savanna. “On Linkedin one day, I saw that the ExchangeAlumni LinkedIn [account] posted about this grant. And I thought, ‘Oh, interesting… What is this?’ I looked through the previous grant winners decided, ‘Okay. This is definitely something I could do.’”
Savanna, a photographer whose work is featured in the “Impact of Exchange” exhibition, noticed that there hadn’t been a CDAF-funded project in Türkiye for the past two or three years. She thought there was a gap she could fill with her background in the arts.
But the real inspiration for Camp cARTal’s revolutionary structure comes from both the U.S. and from Türkiye, from both Savanna and her co-project lead, Banu. While putting the camp together, Savanna drew on her experience at Middlebury College’s well known language immersion program and her time in arts high schools in Singapore, where she was born, and Houston, Texas, where she was raised. Banu, a Turkish-American from Illinois with family roots in Eskişehir, where she was placed for her Fulbright, drew from her time working at a similar camp at an elite private high school called Robert College in Istanbul, Türkiye. To this day, the school – founded by an American philanthropist and an American missionary – provides an American-styled education.
Hatice Türkel noted that the project and approach to pedagogy were something else. The English Language Teaching student from the Black Sea town of Samsun, Türkiye, was one of the teachers recruited for the camp. Hatice says that normally, language learning in Türkiye focuses on grammar and textbook learning. Camp cARTal focused on a task-based teaching approach,
“It's a very different way of teaching from the Turkish education system with regards to languages,” said Hatice, who studies at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University. “Our main goal was to make them create something about art and something that they're interested in. And we used English as a tool in this process. We didn't directly teach them English...And I think it was more fun than being in an actual class.”
Hatice, who is now a final-year student, said that the students rapidly grew in their confidence in English with this more dynamic method. But it also gave her confidence as well.
“In my second year or first year [of school], I always thought that I wouldn't be the perfect teacher in a classroom because I thought that maybe I don't have that much patience for the kids,” she said. “Maybe I can't control them in a class. So I always thought that I wouldn't be such a good teacher.”
One of the goals of the camp was to hire local university students in the English Language Teaching Department – and to hire an ethnically and nationally diverse group, which Banu and Savanna managed to do, with two Kurdish teachers from Türkiye and one from Myanmar – and Turkish teachers from all over Türkiye. What helped was that Alanya itself is very diverse, with a large expatriate community that lives there year-round, in addition to the steady flow of international tourists in the summers.
The main criteria was that the teachers spoke English at a high level and were passionate about teaching, Savanna said, and this showed up in the curriculum and lesson plans they designed, as well as the activities.
To maintain the immersive experience, all the teachers took on different names, like Jelly Bean and Brooklyn, including the ExchangeAlumni. Some of the kids loved that so much that they too took on different names, feeding into the immersive experience, which was the main aim of the camp. The final aim of the camp was that the student body be as diverse as its teachers, with a focus on including students who had been displaced by the twin earthquakes in southeastern regions of Türkiye earlier in the year.
In the end, Banu, Savanna, and Hatice all reported that the parents had never seen their kids so energized and so happy to come to school.
“Some of the parents were even like, ‘You know, my kid never has liked to go to school,’” Banu said. “‘This is the first time I've seen them want to go to school. I wish all our education constantly was like this. It was really hands on.’”
While there have been requests for another iteration of Camp cARTal in Alanya, Savanna and Banu are setting their sights elsewhere in Türkiye for another community impact project. Banu herself continues her work giving back to the country with her non-profit, Kuzum Foundation, which provides small scholarships for university students in need from rural Türkiye.
“There's so much potential in them,” Banu said.
She wants the students to know that someone sees them and that they have a future –the same spirit of generosity and belief in the power of small actions to make life better for others that inspired Camp cARTal.
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The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (known as CDAF) is a funding competition for up to $10,000, open exclusively to U.S. citizen exchange alumni in teams of at least two, to carry out public service projects that utilize the skills and knowledge they have gained through their exchange experiences. More information on CDAF can be found at alumni.state.gov and https://www.globaltiesus.org/cdaf/.
Written by Claire Rudinsky, a VSFS Intern with the U.S. Department of State. She is currently majoring in International Relations with a focus on Economics at the Joint Degree Programme with College of William & Mary and the University of St Andrews
Rural areas usually have fewer resources and economic opportunities, which is why programs like the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) - which offer the ability to support existing rural livelihoods - are vital to promoting a well-balanced economy. Often overlooked by society, rural women are the backbone of many economies, working as farmers, teachers, and entrepreneurs, all while establishing creative new ways to improve their communities.
In remote southern Papua New Guinea, AWE Exchange Alumna Grace Dou started her business, Yara Delta Fish Farm, with the hopes of encouraging proper nutrition and health along with alleviating poverty in her community. In 2018, Dou noticed the lack of opportunity for growing cash crops in the marsh-like environment, and decided to focus on raising fish and other livestock. While her family-run company sells their products to the local community and markets in other nearby towns, reaching their customers is not always easy.
“The number one challenge is transportation, such as road access,” Dou says. “To get from the farm to the highway, it is only accessible by 4-wheel-drive, so often we have to carry all of our produce to the main highway or the marketplace. Electricity can also be a problem, because if we do not have this it makes keeping the fish very difficult.”
Her community and family are extremely supportive of Dou's collective; over 100 people helped with the construction of a pond habitat, and her family frequently work throughout the farm with her. Currently, she continues to work by day as a science teacher and uses her evenings and weekends to bring her business to life. Often, Dou transfers her experience and knowledge from farming to the classroom.
Irene Nalwoga, another creative entrepreneur and AWE alumna, left her career in finance in 2011 and launched her company Renews Tour and Travel, where she offers a variety of safari and hiking tours based in Uganda. Drawing from her own traveling background, she realized that she wanted to provide a safe and enjoyable experience, especially for solo female travelers who want to come to Uganda. In 2016, she created Women Tours Uganda, which offers unique safari tours specifically for solo female travelers. Nalwoga’s business is majority women-led, with many of her employees working on her team since 2011.
AWE alumni Irene Nalwoga with one of her tour groups for the female solo travelers safari in Uganda. Photo Credit: Irene Nalwoga
“I’m always looking for talent and passion beyond anything else. When I'm hiring, you've got to really love what you're doing, and I will give you the platform and train you. We have a lot of loyalty, we are like a family here.”
While both women learned through hands-on experiences, they credit their participation in AWE for upgrading their businesses to the next level. Since its creation in 2019, AWE, which operates under the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has provided U.S.-style learning and support to women around the globe as they launch and grow their businesses. Whether through education, connection, or access to better materials, the AWE program has helped more than 25,000 women across 100 different countries. Each cohort receives instruction specific to regional or individual needs, as well as access to DreamBuilder, a free online learning platform created by Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Management in collaboration with the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation. Classes cover topics in marketing, financial management, marketing, and other skills essential to starting and maintaining a business. Having self-paced classes was vital in the rural environment, as it allowed the women to work according to their access to wifi and electricity.
Dou highlights “after [participating in] the AWE program, I had knowledge about accounting and marketing, so I began keeping a cash-book, which helped me pay myself and my family when we worked overtime. With marketing, we also started to focus more on what the consumers want.”
Similarly, Nalwoga’s marketing strategy changed after completing the AWE program. By focusing on an audience of female travelers, she was able to target specific websites and exhibitions. With the backing of a U.S. government exchange program, she developed an exceptional reputation and set her business apart in the international tourism market.
“I had lost the energy to run my business [after COVID] because I felt like I’d lost too much, even though I’m not the type of person to give up. But when I got my training, it really pulled me from that downside of self-doubt. What I was looking for when coming to the AWE program was market exposure and opportunities that I couldn’t reach where I was. They have a lot of financial opportunities as well, but the AWE program saw me for what I was doing and gave me back my energy.”
At a recent United States exhibition convention, Irene Nalwoga proudly presents her stand for Women Tour Uganda and prepares to talk to potential customers.
Photo Credit: Irene Nalwoga
Looking towards the future, both women hope to continue expanding their businesses. Dou is hoping to talk to experts on fish breeding and potentially expand her consumer markets through Papua New Guinea and surrounding islands. Nalwoga wants to focus on marketing directly to female travelers, and recently attended her first two exhibition conferences since the COVID-19 pandemic. Her company now consistently runs tours every month with solo female travelers, and her goal for the future is to increase to two groups during each month (follow their journey on Instagram and Facebook).
Reflecting on her time with AWE, Nalwoga said, “I really made so many connections with people in the program. I think in Uganda there are very few spaces for women entrepreneurs, so I saw the alumni as a platform where, if you want to grow your business, you have people to support you.”
AWE alumni in Uganda pose for a photo. Photo Credit: Irene Nalwoga
AWE created a supportive environment for rural women to collaborate and learn together, which is a privilege that many urban entrepreneurs overlook. Having people with similar aspirations and challenges can be essential to success, because a community allows these women to learn from each other and celebrate their collective achievements.
Dr. Dénes Akos Nagy speaks with Ambassador David Pressman after his part in the successful rescue of of the American caver, Mark Dickey, from the Morca cave in Anamur, Türkiye.
Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Isabella Romine; edited by Asha Beh and Maria Eliades
In September 2023, Hungarian-American Enterprise Scholarship Fund (HAESF) ExchangeAlumni Dr. Dénes Ákos Nagy’s interests in medicine and caving combined - and it was not the first time. In this instance, he helped coordinate the medical response for the rescue of the American caver, Mark Dickey, from the Morca cave in Anamur, Türkiye, and he did it remotely. Nagy, who is the medical chief for the Hungarian rescue team and the chair of the European Cave Rescue Association’s medical commision, couldn’t go to Türkiye because his child was imminently due, but he worked tirelessly from his home in Hungary as part of the management team for almost 200 rescuers.
The rescue was near-unprecedented in its scale, according to Nagy, because caving is a safe activity and accidents requiring such international effort are rare. Rescues are typically handled by the rescue teams of the country in which the rescue is taking place, but the Morca cave rescue required a large response for several reasons.
As Dickey was over 1,000 meters (3400 feet) deep in the Morca cave system, the distance itself required an unprecedented amount of resources. The rescue was further complicated by the fact that the cave is still an active exploration site, and as such it was not rigged or equipped to the standards many cavers are accustomed to, especially for a rescue situation.
“Going to 1,000 meters deep, it’s challenging for most cavers,” Nagy said. “Even from the rescue teams probably about half of them have been to that [depth].”
Dickey’s condition also required immediate treatment and the doctor sent from the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service arrived on the afternoon of the fourth – two days after Nagy and his colleagues received a call from expedition member Jessica Van Ord providing the initial information about Dickey’s critical condition.
“That was the first challenge,” Nagy said, “[finding] somebody, a doctor, who is able to get there and stabilize Mark’s condition. The actual rescue operation was only possible afterwards.”
The rest of the rescue included coordinating the volume of people and equipment needed on site, as well as convincing the Turkish authorities to extend official invitations to other nations who could assist in the rescue. Prior to September 7, when the Turkish government extended invitations to the Italian and Croatian rescue teams, the rescue was coordinated entirely by volunteers, which Nagy says was difficult as the available personal and material resources were limited.
Further challenges in Dickey’s rescue included anticipating Dickey’s ongoing medical needs as there was no contact with the first doctor to reach Dickey for nearly the first three days of the rescue. Caves block nearly all wireless signals, therefore communication is conducted through phone lines and runners. When the rescue started the phone line was only established to about 500m depth, and to reach it a runner arriving from Dickey’s location needed to travel about 7 hours. This created an about 7-14 hour communication delay. Adding this to a travel time of about 17 hours (Base camp to Dickey’s location) means that resources would be 24h delayed if they are only sent in when requested from the patient’s side. One of Nagy’s roles during the rescue was to anticipate what medical resources (such as fluids and blood transfusion supplies) will be needed, and coordinate them, in advance to prevent such delays. This work included communicating these needs to the Turkish administration, the other rescue teams, and the runners bringing them from the surface to the patient.
Nagy’s main role, however, was coordinating international cooperation and trying to find the right people to fill the needed roles. Nagy credits his international exchange and his other experiences working in foreign countries for preparing him to work on such a global rescue team.
Nagy noted that more cavers are going on international expeditions, many of which are taking place in countries and in remote areas where rescue teams are not present or not equipped to handle complicated rescues. There are ongoing conversations on how to handle situations like Dickey’s, including at the annual European Cave Rescue Association meeting, which Nagy recently attended in Portugal.
Dickey was finally pulled above ground in mid-September after more than a week of around the clock efforts. Nagy noted that one solution to similar scenarios is greater cooperation between international cave rescue teams, such as through cave rescue training initiatives such as the International Instructor Exchange Program, which Nagy was inspired to establish after his exchange program, wherein he spent a year in Washington, D.C., developing his professional skills and exploring the regional cave systems.
“I think if you want to make something like a rescue on this scale happen, then you need to know a little bit about how other people…. on the other side of the phone are the same people as you,” Nagy said. “You can talk to them the same way you would talk to somebody from your own nation. I think that’s probably the biggest benefit [of my international exchange program]--that you are open to communicate with people from other nations.”
Dr. Nagy shakes Ambassador Pressman's hand.
Mark Dickey and Dr. Dénes Ákos Nagy on the European Cave Rescue Association's yearly meeting, one year prior to the rescue. (Photo courtesy: Dr. Nagy)
Dr. Dénes Ákos Nagy at a practice rescue with the Hungarian rescue team. (Photo courtesy: Dr. Nagy)
Dr. Dénes Ákos Nagy at a practice rescue with the USA National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). (Photo courtesy: Dr. Nagy)
Written by Office of Alumni Affairs Intern Mohammad Samhouri
For some, where you grew up is simply the name of a place on paper. For Fulbright ExchangeAlumni Victoria Blanco, it was the starting point of a journey to understand where her family has called home for generations.
Growing up by an international border in the sister cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico gave Victoria a unique opportunity to discover life in the Chihuahuan Desert. From a young age she felt called to write, but it was in her undergraduate studies that she discovered an interest in her family’s home on the Borderlands, which would eventually cement itself as the key aspect of her career.
A challenge, solved
Victoria spent nearly 50% of her life growing up next to Mexico, but that she was born on the U.S. side of the border meant most of her life was based in the U.S. — and that she had a huge gap in understanding the Rarámuri, a group of indigenous people native to the Chihuahuan Desert, whom she was conducting field research on. It was the Fulbright Program that enabled her to experience living in Mexico for the first time, which provided her with a “cultural connector” that had been missing. But she still struggled with not interacting with the group enough for her work.
“I couldn’t write about home without leaving them out, and yet I couldn’t write about them in any meaningful way,” she said.
Her understanding of that gap led her to apply to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in Creative Writing, which allowed her to live in an apartment in Chihuahua City and take a daily trip to Oasis, a walled-in, government-funded indigenous settlement in the middle of the city that was home to 500 Rarámuris who were displaced from their home in the Sierra Madre Occidental because of environmental degradation and the impact of the drug trade.
Much of Victoria’s first year of her Fulbright Program was spent establishing relationships within the community, which still mistrusted the outside world due to violence.
Ultimately, her work from her time in Oasis — including early drafts of her upcoming book Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance — led to her acceptance to the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of Minnesota.
“Fulbright has been the gift that keeps on giving,” she said. Even after Fulbright, Victoria continued conducting her field research in Oasis with the help of grants and other outside funding.
Community building with the help of the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF)
But the Fulbright wasn’t the end of her involvement with the Rarámuri community. In 2020 and 2023, Victoria sprung into action with two Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grants, which enable U.S. citizen ExchangeAlumni like Victoria to better their communities by providing the tools necessary to combat issues that matter to them.
“By now I had, you know, really close relationships, and I understood really well, the struggles and the goals of the people in that community as a whole,” she said. “And I thought, well, you know, what does writing do for them?”
With that in mind, in 2020 she reached out to Amalia Holguin, the Rarámuri governor of Oasis, to find out what the community needed and applied for a CDAF Rapid Response Grant, creating a Rarámuri Facemask Sewing Circle project with a fellow Fulbright U.S. Student Program ExchangeAlumni.
Their project focused on developing an informative COVID curriculum to teach Rarámuri women about the virus, incorporating Rarámuri belief systems and global practices to create culturally relevant material. They paired the curriculum with a face mask sewing circle, where Rarámuri women sewed designs that coordinated with traditional Rarámuri dresses.
In 2023, Victoria — alongside fellow Fulbright ExchangeAlumni Lauri Valerio — was awarded funding to launch another CDAF project: the Rarámuri Cultural Reclamation Program, a storytelling workshop to teach Rarámuri children more about their culture and ancestral land. Using the curriculum developed with Amalia, Rarámuri women learned to teach their community’s children about their culture with stories in Rarámuri and Spanish.
“I think the CDAF, one of the best things about it, is that it fosters connection and, in general, people really want and look for that,” Victoria said. “Certainly engage your community in the development of the project, try not to come up with something that you're gonna go in and impose — figure out what they need, what they want, and then go from there.”
As Victoria awaits the release of her book, Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance, in June 2024, she reflects on how CDAF has helped her expand her footprint in Oasis.
“CDAF has helped me solidify my role in that community as an active supporter of their autonomy,” she said. “That is the ultimate goal of the community: to have self-determination and to route their own lives without the imposition of mestizo culture, including the mestizo government.”
Victoria’s advice to potential Fulbrighters and ExchangeAlumni. “Don’t go it alone,” she said. “Get in touch with professors that you have a good relationship with and who understand your research interests. If your university has a Fulbright office, use that resource — use all your resources.”
Masks created during Victoria’s 2020 CDAF project, using traditional Rarámuri dress patterns. (Photo courtesy: Victoria Blanco)
Children sit around during a Rarámuri storytelling workshop in Oasis, Chihuahua, Mexico. (Photo courtesy: Victoria Blanco)
Children draw during a Rarámuri storytelling workshop in Oasis, Chihuahua, Mexico. (Photo courtesy: Victoria Blanco)
Written by Megan Turner, a VSFS Intern with the U.S. Department of State. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
With the backing of an Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) grant, exchange program alumna Pujaningsih and her team at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta launched the 2023 Universal Design in Higher Education Summit. Facilitated by workshops in Padang, Banjarmasin, and Yogyakarta, the Summit focused on developing a more equitable education system for university students with disabilities. Attended by 217 online and offline lecturers from 75 universities, the workshops and online MOOCs introduced Universal Design for Learning (UDL) case studies and taught educators how to incorporate UDL practices into their own teaching.
Pujaningsih’s desire to expand education equity for disabled students began long before she received the AEIF grant, originating from her time as a Fulbright Foreign Student in 2015 at the University of Northern Iowa, where she studied Leadership and Special Education. During her exchange program, colleagues often invited her to visit their home academic institutions across the United States, and she quickly witnessed how increasing education equity for all students, regardless of their disability status, required efforts from all sides of the education system – from policymakers to educators.
When she finished her program in Iowa and returned to Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Pujaningsih began applying for grants, determined to expand education equity for disabled students in universities across Indonesia. After receiving the 2022 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund, she and her team began planning the best strategy for their Universal Design in Higher Education Summit. The workshops took a unique approach because the educators in attendance were already contending with large workloads, and many were resistant to reworking entire teaching systems to boost inclusivity. Instead of overloading the workshop attendees with information, Pujaningsih and her team asked the educators to make one initial change to increase accessibility in the classroom.
The knowledge educators gained through the workshops have already directly impacted the lives of many disabled students. Prior to last year, a particular hearing-impaired student at a university in Indonesia struggled to understand course materials without any accessible systems in place to support him. When the student’s professor attended the Universal Design in Higher Education Summit, he committed to taking one simple step to enhance the student’s academic experience – providing class materials before lectures. By taking this seemingly small action, the professor drastically increased the student’s access to his university coursework. He was able to graduate on time and now has an incredibly successful career at a prestigious bank in Indonesia.
Following the success of her team’s Universal Design in Higher Education Summit, Pujaningsih hopes to continue holding workshops across Indonesia, continuing to pave the way for a more equitable education system for students with disabilities. In addition, she would like to provide training for school administrators on the importance of accessibility in education, a step that will make institutions more inclusive from the top down.
Pujaningsih’s advice to aspiring changemakers is to focus on building intentional teams composed of people around them who are passionate about shared goals. According to her, the secret to maintaining a healthy team involves, “Listening, communicating, and having fun.” She attributes her own team's continued success in expanding education equity in Indonesia to their alignment as a group and recommends that anyone who wants to make a difference in their community should build a strong, supportive team around them. The AEIF grant allowed her and her colleagues to take action on their shared dream of a more inclusive higher education system, teaching educators across their country and building a more accessible future for students with disabilities.
Smart Girls is the name and empowerment is the game for Jamila Mayanja, the 2023 Mandela Washington Fellowship Leadership Impact Award winner, Smart Girls Uganda Founder & CEO, and MentorTalks guest.
“I think my work started at that time, when I realized who I was, and I wanted to give it back to other girls,” Jamila said, speaking of her time attending Nabisunsa Girls’ School, and how it became her safe space. She attributed her success to the ExchangeAlumni network she gained from her time as a Mandela Washington Fellow.
Join Jamila on MentorTalks to hear more about the impact of her exchange program, her design-thinking approach, and her initiatives to empower young girls in Uganda, available above on Facebook and on Instagram @VoicesofExchange.
Speaker Bio
Jamila Mayanja is a serial social entrepreneur, CEO, and 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship ExchangeAlumni. She is the founder of Smart Girls Uganda, a non-profit whose mission is to empower young women through career training, STEM education, community development, and menstrual health education.
She is the winner of the 2023 Mandela Washington Fellowship Leadership Impact Award for her work with Smart Girls Uganda. Jamila is also a recipient of the 2022 World of Difference Education Award from The International Alliance for Women, and was a 2021 Duke-UNICEF Social Innovation Fellow.
Alongside other Youth African Leadership Initiative (YALI) alumni in 2015, Jamila was recognized by President Barack Obama for her work founding a door-to-door laundry service that employed youth and helped them build entrepreneurial skills.
