The Good Doctor of Egypt

This blog post was contributed by Mohammed Hassan who is a 2019 alum of the Study of U.S. Institutes (SUSI) and an Egyptian citizen.  Being a medical student in Egypt wasn’t as promising as I thought it would be. The journey is frustrating for most students. However, something changed my mind and gave me the hope and motivation to follow my dream to become a good doctor. Many doctors in Egypt work in poor places with unsafe working conditions. Despite what is normally seen as a profitable profession, Egyptian doctors have the lowest salary in the country, and one...

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Meridian Youth Programs Alumni Leading Covid-19 Response

In celebration of International Youth Day, on August 12, 2020, this blog post was contributed by Wiem Jbeli, the Atlas Corps Fellow with the Global Connect Division at Meridian International Center. The GlobalConnect Division specializes in the design and implementation of customized programs to address specific issues of need, including youth leadership development, reverse trade missions, professional study tours, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and cultural orientations for U.S. Department of State and foreign embassies, nongovernmental organizations, foreign governments, and private sector organizations around the world.  In the midst of the universal struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, youth are playing...

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IVLP Alumni Spotlight: Volunteering from Oklahoma to Kazakhstan

The following was written by Bob Lieser, Vice President of Program at Tulsa Global Alliance. In October 2018, Tulsa Global Alliance (TGA), a Community-Based Member of Global Ties U.S., collaborated with Meridian International Center to host a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) from Kazakhstan titled “Volunteerism: Charity and Civic Action.” Their schedule included tours of the Little Light House, a faith-based non-profit providing free educational and therapeutic services to children with special needs, and Jenks High School, where they learned about special needs education at a public school district. The visitors also volunteered at Iron Gate,...

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