Amherst Bulletin: Editorial: Iraqi initiative at UMass helps bridge gap
The Amherst Bulletin published an editorial praising the UMass Civic Initiative and the 24 students who participated in its Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program this summer. Sponsored by the US Embassy in Baghdad, the program brings students from distinct regions of Iraq to UMass Amherst to study American culture, public policy and civic engagement.
At a fundraising event for the Amherst Senior Center, the students discussed the violence that has escalated in their country over the past few months and how, in addition to giving them an opportunity to learn more about America, the Young Leaders program was a chance to bond with fellow Iraqis, who are members of a variety of sects back home.
“Here we are all Iraqi people,” Karzan Fadhil Suhbat, 23, told the Bulletin. “There is a brotherhood among us. What we see among the politicians at home is not what we see here.”
Read article: Editorial: Iraqi initiative at UMass helps bridge gap
July 30, 2014