Students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville have an opportunity to learn Arabic and Yoruba, thanks to two Fulbright scholars, one from Palestine and the other from Nigeria.
“At first and perhaps second glance, Arabic can look difficult, if not strange,” said Ahmed Bshara from Nablus in the northern West Bank. It reads from right to left and all the letters in a word are connected at the bottom.
“Arabic is totally different. It has different letters and a different system. But I believe nothing is too hard to learn, if you have the will.”
The 25-year-old Palestinian, whose first and last names loosely mean “thank God” and “good news,” came to the U.S. for the first time when he came to SIUE in August as a Fulbright Scholar. Also arriving at the same time to the University was Fiyinfoluwa Onarinde, Fulbright scholar from Ilesa, Osun State.
“The Yoruba culture is a very old and rich,” said Onarinde. The 30-year-old’s first and last names loosely mean “praise God” and “an artist has come.”
The two scholars will teach elementary Arabic and Yoruba at the University for one year.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. Department of State’s flagship international education and exchange program. It is designed to foster mutual understanding through people-to-people exchanges, which can lead to a more peaceful and prosperous world.
Besides teaching, Onarinde said he is a poet, actor and humanist.
“I believe and want to work toward world peace,” he said. “I believe every human has the right to education, health, freedom, freedom of expression and the right to life.”
The Nigerian expresses his passions about life through his poetry, which has been published worldwide. Onarinde’s poem, “Rohilala” was written for the late South African President Nelson Mandela and published in the book, Mandela – The Man, His Life, It’s Meaning, Our Words by Inner Child Press.
Onarinde said he was excited when he learned about the Fulbright Scholar Program, because it would afford him an opportunity to teach about his country, culture and language.
“The students are eager to learn Yoruba and about Nigeria,” Onarinde said.
Nigeria has three major languages: Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, according to Onarinde. There are 250 ethnic groups in the African country with their own languages, and Yoruba is spoken in the southwestern portion of Nigeria where the West African instructor lives.
“Apart from teaching Yoruba language and culture,” said Onarinde, “I’m here to learn from the American people and to make friends across borders.”
Bshara said he has made several friends during his first weeks at the University and has found people to be welcoming.
“I had no reservations about coming to the U.S. as a Palestinian,” Bshara said. “I worked in an organization in Nablus where there were Americans, and I found them to be OK.”
However, Bshara said, his family had some concerns about American’s perception towards Palestinians.
“But I told them that the U.S. is not like what we see in news reports,” he said. “They think all American people are like the U.S. government and its policies.
“But I told them that Americans are all varied. And I tell my students that Palestinians are the same way. The majority of us are do not like the (Muslim) terrorist version of jihad or the ISIS (Islamic State). We’re all human. There are no real essential differences. You will discover that once you learn different languages and cultures.”
Photos:
Ahmed Bshara
Fiyinfoluwa Onarinde