The MU Council on International Initiatives presented the International Engagement Awards in the Reynolds Journalism Institute on Thursday afternoon.
The award commemorates the work faculty, staff and students have done to extend MU’s global reach and understanding, according to its website.
Students Patricia Vewenda-Mabengo and Yuan Tian, staff member Jake Halliday and international scholars John Foley and Joseph Hobbs were award recipients this year.
Before the awards were presented, international students Sarah Almahmoud and Kiho Ogura gave a presentation on “Mizzou for Japan.” After an earthquake and tsunami struck the country March 11, Almahmoud and Ogura wanted to do something to help. They created the “Pray for Japan” T-shirts that are being sold around campus and also collected donations. So far, they have raised $7,000.
“This is hope; let’s see how much hope we have now,” Ogura said. “We can still smile and be happy again. We are at a new starting point.”
The presentations had pictures of Japan before and after the disaster and personal testimonies from the girls on their experience with disaster.
Ogura talked about searching for loved ones on a list of missing people after the earthquake in Japan and finding a friend’s name on the list. A few days later, she learned that her friend was alive and someone else had the same name.
Almahmoud talked about when she was in Beirut, Lebanon visiting family during the beginning of the conflict in summer 2006.
“I know how it is when something happens and people don’t really know about it,” Almahmoud said.
She said spreading awareness is important, especially because we live in a global society and everything affects us now.
“There is this one auto part factory in Columbia that works for Japanese car firms,” Almahmoud said. “They’ve been cutting back hours for their workers so the earthquake happened in Japan, but it came all the way to Columbia.”
Student-recipient Tian is the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars President and devotes her time to sharing Chinese culture with Columbia by producing events like China Night.
Vewenda-Mabengo, the other student-recipient of the award, moved to Columbia from the Democratic Republic of the Congo when she was 8 years old. She is president of the African Students Association and is completing her bachelor’s degree in International Studies with an emphasis in Peace Studies.
“I believe that MU has a very broad international community and one of the things that I’ve been very proud of, as far as being an MU student, is how they let us express ourselves as far as the international community,” she said. “We have so many different international organizations. There’s so much that goes on in the world today and we’re so interconnected. With the globalization it’s important to understand the different communities and how we still have to connect and take that time out to help each other out.”
She said it was important for MU students to get involved with international programs.
“Take the time out, go to one of the international organizations, one of their meetings or events,” she said. “You don’t have to be from outside of the United States, as long as you take the time out to understand the culture and get involved.”
