Hashi.org announces 2018 American Scholarship Winner!

9/01/18 – Hashi.org is proud to announce the winner of the 12^th annual Travel Scholarship to an American citizen! This year, choosing one winner amongst the many outstanding applicants was extremely difficult. We received dozens of applications with essays describing a variety of ambitious and laudable backgrounds and aspirations – exchange students going to Japan or Korea to study International Affairs, some hoping to enter the field of international diplomacy, some reconnecting with family members they’ve not yet met.

And so, we are deeply gratified with the ambition and accomplishments of our applicants this year with the common theme of wanting to reach beyond our borders and be a part of these bridge-building efforts in our world today. But none more so than this year’s scholarship winner, Anyssa ElManfaa. 

Her ambition and accomplishments towards international diplomacy, advocacy, education, and unity are perhaps the most gratifying and impressive that we’ve ever had the honor of recognizing. The following are excerpts from her winning application essay:

“In the late summer of this year, I returned from an experience that rerouted the course of my education, refined my sense of diplomacy as I visited foreign territories, and ultimately, changed my life. I was given the honor to embark on a unique research Study Abroad opportunity, as funded by my two-year institution and the selective Benjamin A. Gilman international scholarship, to visit Hiroshima and Mt. Koya, Japan. As an undergraduate, my social research in Hiroshima, Nara and Mt. Koya, Japan solidified my goal of serving as a diplomat in delegation of nuclear victims and an advocate of international unity and progress.

The most honorable aspect of my Study Abroad trip was the privilege to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial and first-handedly record and speak with one of the remaining Hibakusha, or Atomic Bomb survivor. Not only was our select group given the privilege to simply listen to this wonderful individual’s story, we were urged to promise her that we would continue to advocate on behalf of nuclear victims as we move on through our lives. I am writing this scholarship application with her story in mind and my dedication to fulfill the promise I made to her, and thus, a promise to the entire nation of Japan. The intimate story-telling of this particular Hibakusha woman, now in her late 80’s, changed the route of my life. I returned to the United States and began an Intercultural Youth Program to delegate for cultural tolerance among American youth. In addition, I set up workshops and leadership opportunities to help other financially disadvantaged, first-generation students in their quest to research abroad.  My priority is to prepare a new generation of young scholars to embark into the world with mutual respect, a sense of intercultural awareness and the strength to delegate on behalf of entire nations.

As a first-generation woman of Middle-Eastern descent seeking foreign service in conflict resolution, I will use the momentum of these Japanese memories to help battle terrorism in the Middle East. I also wish to make change in my geographic region of the world by conducting speeches on the importance of grassroots delegation, make initiatives towards the eradication of nuclear arms and stress the pivotal role of an education in anthropology as we continue to neutralize global volatility with terrorism.

I ask for your support as I seek return to Japan to continue my studies. I have studied the social byproducts of nuclear radiation and heard the story of the Hibakusha first-handedly from the survivor herself in Hiroshima. My next ventures, if I am granted this scholarship, is to apply the funds to return to Japan and continue my research of the Hibakusha in Hiroshima, the modern relationship between Japan and the United States, specifically the Nuclear Umbrella Policy and our partnership with our great ally. I will identify interdisciplinary approaches to nuclear disarmament, utilizing my social research in Japan to make a global difference if I am able to reach that far. I will consider the movement for federal acknowledgement of the Black Rain Hibakusha and apply it to my studies of Ukrainian nuclear rehabilitation. Finally, I will use the cumulative of my experiences as I continue through school and seek diplomatic foreign service in anti-terrorism efforts and advocacy on behalf of nuclear victims, victims of terrorism.”

We find her ambition to work with international relations, one person to another, and one country to another, to be exemplary of the mission and ideals of hashi.org.

We are proud to award this $1,000 travel scholarship to Anyssa ElManfaa! Congratulations and best wishes to all our applicants in their aspirations!