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One of my friends goes to George Washington University in Washington D.C. and she is a member of a student organization called Banaa. The students at GWU created this organization from scratch and have been working really hard to raise the money to host a scholarship student from Sudan. They focused on Sudan because of the incredible ongoing violence and destruction in the country. There have been many articles written about the group because their first scholarship student recently arrived at GWU. The student will attend GWU until he earns a degree. However the scholarship is contingent on him returning to Sudan and working to better the country. The group is looking to start other chapters at different schools and eventually set up multiple scholarship students around the country. I think this program is a great way to make a difference in Sudan. By providing education and resources to the youth of Sudan, this program creates a real possibility of change. What are your thoughts? What do you think about the condition of the scholarship? What do you think of their slogan "the Sudan Educational Empowerment Network"? Do you think it's fitting? Do you think other chapters of this group will start at other schools?
5 comments:
I think it's a great start! I think it's also wonderful to focus on Sudan. What are the requirements for the student in Sudan to be chosen to recieve this honorable scholarship?? Bradley should start one.. I mean.. why not?
Overall I think it's great, but why just one student? Why not 5?? I know it can be costly, but the more students we can afford to educate, the more the student can work as a team in Sudan to better their country.
Wow, this is amazing. I am so impressed. I wish there was a chapter here at Bradley! I can see why the terms of the scholarship require that he goes back to Sudan to better the country. I think he will be able to get a fantastic education here and be able to use it to possibly help those in his home land. The slogan really represents the goal and core of the group. How did they go about getting this group together?
I was so happy to read this! I think this, at least on a small scale, can improve globalization in the Sudan. With students being educated in the outside world, they can bring back to the Sudan different perspectives. Perhaps if they weren't so "cut off" from the outside world, they could actually visualize improvements that could be made to their country.
Here are some answers to your questions and some more information about Banaa:
1)The applications are evaluated holistically, but the criteria that are really important is that the scholar have a high knowledge of the English language and a demonstrated commitment (esp through essays and recommendations) to going back to Sudan.
2) Banaa is trying to sponsor as many students as possible, but is still a fairly new organization. Banaa is reaching out to other universities to get other programs started. The point of the program is to have a "critical mass" of these Banaa scholars studying at universities over the next few years so that they can actually go back to Sudan in large numbers and affect real change.
3) Banaa was started at GW when a divest from Sudan campaign was turned down by the university. Instead the administration compromised with students to offer this full scholarship.
Starting a Banaa chapter at Bradley is very doable - the outreach campaign to other universities now consists partly of letters from the GW board of directors to private, liberal arts schools like Bradley to let them know stuff like 1) how awesome the publicity is and 2) how viable the program is. 3) So yes, the money for his actual scholarship was endowed by the university, but the actual operating costs were covered by small fundraisers on campus. The bigger donations we've gotten to our actual group have been through private channels. The Clinton Global Initiative gave us $4000. The "How-to" kit is available at www.banaa.org, too, along with a more in depth history of the organization.
If anyone is interested in starting a Banaa chapter at Bradley, let me know and I can put you in contact with my friend who helps people start chapters at other schools. You can email me at rkimpel@bradley.edu.
This is so cool! I think that it's really rare for students to be able to feel that they are part of something that is really helping someone. I like that they are trying to prevent "brain drain" in Sudan and if schools all across the country get involved, the graduates of this program can really make a difference. It will be interesting to see how Deng does at GWU and what he will do when he graduates.
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