Growing up around the Globe: First of three parts
John Aruma, a junior in electrical engineering at Utah State University, isn’t used to turning the lights on or turning on the coffee machine when he wakes up in the morning, much less using the Internet on a regular basis.
Aruma is from a community in Kenya, Africa, where his family does not have electricity or a plumbing system.
“The plumbing is used from tanks that gather water from the rain,” Aruma said.
“Because you are here, you have the opportunity, you have the time you do your best. Don’t take it lightly and, if possible, travel the other places in the world where things are not taken for granted; support people in the other countries and learn something that will change your life forever.”
USU accepts more 1,200 international students from more than 85 countries each
year, according to the Office of International Students and Scholars Web site.
International students have many of the same incentives to attend Utah State as
the locals do, including family ties, scholarships, the variety of programs, research opportunities, and the like. But while American students are dating as usual, eating the same foods and listening to the same music, foreign students live a completely different life in a new country.
Aruma said it is important for college students to be very determined in taking advantage of the education that is available to student in the United States.
“People should know – as much as people joke around with education – somewhere there is somebody who wants to get it and doesn’t have that chance,” Aruma said. Growing up as a child on a cattle farm in Kenya, Aruma said he desperately wanted an education that, at the time, was out of reach.
“Most people go to elementary level, but high school is tough for disadvantaged communities. Especially those who raise animals, who rely on natural things, subject to drought or [cattle rustler] raids,” Aruma said.
When he was accepted into the national high school, Aruma said his family did not have the money to support him. They saved all they could for two months and were raided by cattle rustlers who stole all of the family cows, he said. The family had to start their farm all over again and start saving again. Eventually, he said the family was able to sell two cows to send Aruma to school. Although at the time they only had enough money for the uniforms, after the exam scores came out, Aruma said he had done so well that the school paid for him to continue his education. Aruma studied as much as he could, arriving at school at 5 a.m. for a personal preparation hour. After the principal was promoted, the financial help from the school was no longer available because the new principal didn’t understand Aruma’s situation, he said. Aruma said he began spending his days selling bread to pay his way through high school.
“I would go and sell bread so that I could study when I wasn’t in classes,” Aruma said. Aruma said he was was eventually sponsored by a woman in the United Kingdom who heard about his situation through her granddaughter who was observing the schools in Kenya.
“That was such a blessing that I feel I need to extend that blessing to others,” Aruma said.
Aruma said one of his goals is to try to help other people in his country.
“To live a different life would be so many ingredients that will make you someone better in life,” Aruma said. “Even though you help a country by giving money in donations, you can’t help a people who can’t help themselves. That is my personal victory in life. I must make sure I have sponsored a little girl or boy who can’t get their main education. Seeing as how it was so hard for me to get my education, the only thing I can do to make a difference is to help at least one other.”
Varuna Ponnamperuma, a sophomore in business from Sri Lanka, said although education is completely free in Sri Lanka, it is far from easy to succeed.
In Sri Lanka, when you get out of junior high, she said you select the stream of what you want to study. “The senior high school is like the basic level of the college,” said Ponnamperuma. “At the end of the senior high school exam, they give you a rank … depending on your rank, out of the 600,000 student in the country, less than 50,000 get selected to go to college.”
This test can be taken three times, but Ponnamperuma said the kids who don’t get into college start taking foreign exams to go to school outside of the country, or can get into college through athletics.
“College is paid for by the government and you have to buy your books, that’s why that exam is so hard,” Ponnamperuma said.
Ponnamperuma said high school is much harder and is taken much more seriously in Sri Lanka than it is in the United States.
“If you have three A’s in high school, you can get up to 40 transfer credits … and you can never use a calculator.” Ponnamperuma said.
Because of the heavy focus on school, Ponnamperuma said the youth have restrictions on dating, mostly enforced by the parents.
“In our culture, you have to tell your parents if you are dating someone. Here, you can get married at 20 and you can take care of your own life, but you can’t do that there,” Ponnamperuma said. “You are dependent on your parents until you enter the real world, [and] you can support yourself after college.”
She said because of the strength of family relationships, there are few cases of single-parent homes or divorces in Sri Lanka.
“We are so close to our parents; we tell them everything everyday they are right behind us… It’s not a big problem, officially no one walks out on the family, if there are problems they try to solve them. Family is very strong. Knowing what your kid will do, making sure they are in a good place,” said Pommanperuma. “They stand behind you from kindergarten to senior high.”
Many students in Nepal also have a very close relationship with their parents. Of course, that may be because it is their parents who will be choosing their spouse.
Durga Kafle, a Ph.D. student in physics, is a member of the married population at Utah State Univeristy, although he may be the only one who had an arranged marriage. Kafle is from Nepal, where his parents and the parents of his wife arranged their marriage.
“We don’t have dating customs,” Kafle said. “Dating is not permitted at all. Some young people will still do it, but very few. We don’t date, we don’t digest dating. It’s not against the law, it’s not legally in the legislation, but it’s the cultural norm that dating is not permitted. Society doesn’t see it as a good thing.” Arranged marriages are still practiced by most of the families in Nepal, but forced marriage is not, he said.
“The girl’s parents and the boy’s parents get together and compromise an arrangement for proposal, then the boy and the girl get together and if they don’t agree, they will not get married. There is no forcing; the boy and the girl must accept, but the bride and groom are not freely left to their own choices.”
Kafle said today his own marriage is successful, although he was a little nervous at first.
“My parents let me know I was going to marry that girl and I thought, ‘Oh, how will I like her? And ‘What would I do if I didn’t like he?’ But once I saw her and I talked to her, it worked out.”
With the highest paying job providing only $300 per month in Nepal, supporting a family in the United States might be a little easier, however Kafle said the education in Nepal is much cheaper than it is here.
“The public universities are between $15 and $20 per semester,” Kafle said, “Private schools are more like $30 to $40 per month.” Kafle said the schools are the same quality as they are in the United States, but given the family income in Nepal, the education is much cheaper.
Students from all over the world come to Utah State to further their education, each with a different story from a different land. Find out how it feels to have your grades deflated or to never own a credit card as we continue to travel around the world this week to gain a glimpse into the lives of 20-something-year-olds across the globe.
-etippets@cc.usu.edu