Giving peace a chance
by Michele Nardelli
We
all remember where we were when we first heard of the attack on the
World Trade Centre. Those enduring images of carnage in New York opened
the 21st century with an indelible sense of horror and foreboding.
Generally speaking we have seen an ‘in kind’ response to that violence – war and fear remain the global aftermath of September 11.
So it is all the more uplifting that we have been able to welcome two young and hopeful scholars to UniSA through a scheme that is promoting peace.
Lizzette Corzo from Mexico and Graham Fenn from South Africa are winners of IDP Peace Scholarships which were established after 9/11 by IDP Education Australia to support students to study in other countries in a bid to improve cultural understanding, international relationships and underpin education as a bridge to international peace.
The scholarships are funded by UniSA and administered by IDP and the $100,000 investment will ultimately support study fees for four semester places a year at the University for three years.
Lizzette has been in Adelaide for more than six months and will return home to her studies at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in June this year. An international relations student, Lizzette has not been disappointed – in many ways she has found ’the world’ at UniSA.
“It has been really exciting because I have met so many lovely students from other countries,” she said.
“I think initially I was mistaken for a range of different nationalities, from Indian and Chinese to Malaysian and Korean. This is great because it has been a conversation starter for making friends with other students from across the region.”
With a special interest in Asian politics and economics, Lizzette has had the chance to hear the personal views of international students from the Asia Pacific region but more than that, she has used Adelaide as a launching pad for some extra travels. Through the friends she has made at UniSA she has been welcomed into homes in Singapore and India and shown the sites. From riches to poverty and from elephant rides to camel treks she has experienced it all.
“It has been truly fantastic,” she said. “The opportunity to see other countries and cultures at a more personal and genuine level has been very special.”
A second year visual communications student from the University of Johannesburg, Graham says the Peace Scholarship has given him a prized opportunity to travel.
“The impact of apartheid left South Africa quite closed and separate from the world – so I find while I am keen to learn as much as possible about the innovations and trends in design and communications, the people I meet are also very curious about South Africa – its politics, the changes, the cultural mix,” he said.
“I think it is very easy to focus on your own back yard – but when you travel you come to know other countries and cultures through the people you meet – that personalises a place. It is through that kind of contact – living and learning in another place – that you get a strong sense of connection.
So this experience will not only be important to me because it offers opportunities for me to learn more about the study area I am passionate about, it also opens me up to the concept of a world community.”