9/01/18
– Hashi.org is proud to announce the winner of the 12th 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!
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