‘US Exchange Programme Started So Humanity Could Recover from World War II’
Conducts orientation for Nigerian participants
The United States Consul General, F. John Bray, yesterday said educational and professional exchange programmes were started 75 years ago to figure out how humanity could recover from the effects of World War II.
Bray said this during the 2016 pre-departure orientation for Nigerian exchange participants in the most prestigious educational and professional exchange programs sponsored by the US government held in Lagos.
The statement from the consular said the participants undertook orientation on health, and safety, and how to be successful as a US exchange programme participant.
The statement read: “Last year, we celebrated the 75thanniversary of the first exchange programs that the United State government attempted. We have learned a lot since about how to design a fantastic experience.
“We started such programmes, trying to figure out how humanity could recover from World War II. But there has been one immutable lesson we have taken away from organising bilateral exchanges during and after the Cold War.
“As President Dwight Eisenhower said when he was advocating people-to-people programs in 1956: “If we are going to take advantage of the assumption that all people want peace, then the problem is for people to get together and to leap governments—if necessary to evade governments—to work out not one method but thousands of methods by which people can gradually learn a little bit more of each other.
“Over these 75 years we have had hundreds of Nobel Prize winners, legislators, governors, ministers, heads of government, and heads of state grow in their careers and emerge as leaders with these titles after they had their immersion experience in a US exchange programme.
“You are a truly impressive group. You are about to attend the leading, most prestigious exchange programs we have to offer, as Humphrey Fellows, Fulbright scholars and researchers, and participants in the Study of the US Institutes program, the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Programme, and TechWomen.
“You may not yet realise it, but I promise you – your lives will be changed forever, both professionally and personally, as researchers, teachers, and entrepreneurs.
“In 20 years, you will remember the American friends and colleagues, the universities, the cities and rural areas where you find yourself. It will shape your thinking and your career in ways you never expected. I urge you to be as open as you can be. Be a sponge, soaking up everything you can, and push your boundaries.
“I urge to you to remember that these exchanges are not just one-way. They are bilateral. We want you to learn as much as you can from what you see and experience in America. But just as importantly, we want you to share Nigeria with Americans who will never have encountered your culture before.
“You have so much music, folk stories and sayings, traditional attire, and ways of thinking that will fascinate Americans. We are a urious people, as you will see.
“Mutual understanding across cultures and national boundaries makes a tremendous difference in international affairs for generations.