Of One Blood: How a small Kentucky college fulfills big dreams—an international student perspective

By Oana Harrison

"Of One Blood" showcases the perspectives of a diverse group of individuals who attended Kentucky's extraordinary Berea College. Pivoting on current issues like an alarming rise in xenophobia and ever-increasing tuition, these stories illuminate the challenges of leaving your own country and the valuable contributions diverse groups provide in their new homes.

Virtually unknown in many parts of the world, Berea College is a powerful community changing lives for the better. Berea College lives up to its creed: 'God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth' (Acts 17:26). The school is distinctive among post-secondary institutions for providing free education to students and for having been the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. "Of One Blood" celebrates this unique American institution and proves that cultural diversity and education are our greatest strengths.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098337902

Book preview

cover.jpg

God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth (Acts 17:26)

—Berea College’s creed

Of One Blood

How a small Kentucky college fulfills big dreams—an international student perspective

Copyright ©2020 by Oana Harrison

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Published in the United States of America.

No portion of this proposal or book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

Editors: Steven Friedlander, Lee Ann Wolff

Information at oanaharrison.com/of-one-blood

Cover Photo by Crystal Wylie; Courtesy of Berea College

ISBN: 978-1-09833-789-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09833-790-2

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Oana Sirboiu, Romania

Romania

Life in Communist Romania

An International Connection—and High School

Coming to America

Life in Berea

Work

Classes

Friends and Family

Life After Berea

Life Lessons

Soneath Hor, Cambodia

Faruk Pilav, Bosnia

Suleiman Oko-Ogua, Nigeria

Sheila Jichi, Lebanon/Sierra Leone/Nigeria

Chinwe Kpaduwa, Nigeria/United States

Sanjeewa Goonasekera, Sri Lanka

Yilkal Enkuhawariat, Ethiopia

Sumore Alemu, Ethiopia

Nyima Yangzom, Tibet

Tine Shrestha, Nepal/US

Lina Stulpinaite, Lithuania

Epilogue and Advice

Afterword

Gratitude

Foreword

Oana’s love for travel is most often on display through her blog GreatEscapetations.com, but this time she takes you on a trip through a beautiful collection of stories that transcends continents and cultures, while being grounded in one simple truth: God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth. Be prepared for a journey where with each story the snow globe is shaken, the landscape changes, and a new character appears—a character who will share personal ups and downs, wins and losses, humor and sadness, but most importantly, a stop at a unique and special place called Berea College.

Oana’s selection of characters is a testament to her love of humanity and you will not be disappointed in the diverse perspectives and experiences captured in her book. Each story that is shared contributes to the thousands of threads that make up the fascinating and inspiring quilt of international students who have embarked upon an education at Berea College—an education that is a life-changing experience where all peoples of the earth are welcomed.

Luke Hodson, Associate Vice President of Admissions, Berea College

Introduction

Who would have thought that in 2020 a country once thought of as the epitome of democracy, positioned among the most forward-thinking countries—the great United States of America!—would be so divided and its democratic foundation shaken to the core? According to the Economist Intelligent Unit’s Democracy Index: The United States has fallen in the global rankings over the past decade, from 18th place in 2008 to 25th in 2018 and 27th in 2019.¹

Globally, trust in democracy has been deteriorating over time, as based on five categories monitored in the report: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. This downward trend is most clear in the functioning of government category, the United States’ lowest-ranking category in the Democracy Index, with consistently low scores for transparency, accountability and corruption. The rise in political engagement (voters’ participation and activism), combined with a continued crackdown on civil liberties (with freedom of speech being the most at risk despite world-wide platforms like social media), is a potentially volatile mix, and could be a recipe for instability and social unrest in the future.

We don’t need to look at the reports, of course, to notice the shift. The rise in hate speech and hate crimes in the United States is concerning. Civility has suffered: The lines between personal expression, made accessible and escalated by social media, and hateful speech are dangerously blurred, and personal attacks have replaced debate and conversation.

As a modern day means of communication, social media is a double-edge sword. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the like give voice to those who otherwise might not be heard, helping to bring important issues to light and sometimes amplifying them to solvency. On the flip side, social media encourages anonymous and unfounded opinions—and allows hate to spread under the label of free speech. I believe we’ve lost the ability to engage in reasonable and informed conversations about society and politics. We must return to the days when we listened to one another, when we were civil to one another, and when we could engage in difficult conversations without confrontation.

Hate often arises from ignorance—and ignorance emerges from an unwillingness to see different perspectives or consider various other opinions. It is easier to hate someone if you don’t acknowledge their humanity. Berea Colleges’ creed states: God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth (Acts 17:26) and I subscribe to it: I believe we are all more alike than we are different.

I invite everyone to read Of One Blood, which tells the stories of real people who might look a little different and speak with an accent—but who came to the United States with the same dreams as the founders of this country: in search of liberty and better lives for their families. These people have often left behind terrible and dangerous situations—but they succeeded in navigating the unfamiliar territory of a new culture, achieved their dreams, and now give back through their knowledge and service.

Growing up in communist Romania, even visiting America was a far-fetched dream. Everyone I knew regarded the United States as the ultimate cradle of democracy and freedom. People journeyed to the United States for a better life. Through a serendipitous series of events, I learned about and applied to Berea College, a top private liberal arts school in Berea, Kentucky. I was accepted to Berea College in 1997—and I couldn’t even believe that my dream was becoming a reality! I, of all people, was going to study in the United States! I would get to live my dream! I remember reading and re-reading my acceptance letter, still afraid that there was some catch that would ruin the dream.

Berea College lives up to its creed: God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth (Acts 17:26). Berea College operates according to Christian values, and insists on the power of love over hate, human dignity and equality, and peace with justice. The school is distinctive among post-secondary institutions for providing free education to students and for having been the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Virtually unknown to my part of the world (as was Kentucky!), Berea is a powerful community changing lives for the better.

As an international student and Berea College alumna, I wanted to tell the stories of some of my classmates and offer testimony to the impact Berea has had on our lives. My brilliant and good-hearted international classmates are now making a positive impact throughout the world as doctors, lawyers, human-rights activists, cultural attachés, spiritual leaders, and mothers and fathers, empowered by their well-rounded Berea education. I want you to get to know my friends and learn about their experiences at Berea.

Just as spices enhance an otherwise bland dish, diversity enriches our lives. We should appreciate and embrace the different perspectives that help us to avoid narrow viewpoints. In addition, money talks: According to a study published by the United Nations, immigrants make significant contributions to both their adoptive and native countries. In their host countries, immigrants contribute more than they receive: According to data published by the National Immigration Forum, immigrants in the United States paid an estimated $328 billion in state, local, and federal taxes in 2014. This represented more than a quarter of all taxes in California and nearly a quarter of all taxes in New York and New Jersey. Over the last 75 years, the level of higher education for immigrants increased from 27 percent to 50 percent as recorded in US Census data. The future fiscal benefit of immigrants arriving after 1990 is also estimated to rise.²

I am a concerned United States citizen (I became a citizen in 2012), and I observe several challenges that lie before us, including the ballooning costs of education, particularly higher education, particularly higher education; and the surge in nationalism that has led to a rise in xenophobia and a misplaced fear of immigrants, both legal and illegal. There are reasonable and sustainable solutions—but we must approach immigration issues not with anger but with constructive concern and consideration. As Berea College emphasizes, we are all interconnected—and our local decisions can have global ramifications.

In December 2017, the Trump administration passed new taxation policy that imposed a 1.4 percent tax on college endowment earnings in excess of $500,000 per student at colleges that enroll more than 500 students. As the bill was being finalized, Berea College’s President Dr. Lyle Roelofs worked with the Kentucky congressional delegation to exclude tuition-free colleges from the bill in an attempt to shield Berea’s endowment from the excise tax. Just before the Senate vote, the language narrowing taxable schools to those with tuition-paying students was removed from the bill. This omission meant that $14 million dollars would be taken away from Berea’s $1 billion annual endowment. Berea’s $1 billion endowment averages about $750,000 per student. According to Roelofs, a tax of $1 million a year on the college’s endowment represents the costs of educating about 30 students. Fortunately, in February 2018, a two-year bipartisan budget deal was signed, reinstating the exception, thus sparing Berea College’s funds. This was, however, a scary moment for Berea College that was driven less by social implications and more by dollar signs.³

Berea enrolls 1,600 students annually, approximately 120 of whom are international students. More than 90 percent of Berea College students are eligible to receive the Pell Grant (those eligible come from a family with a median annual income of or below $29,000), and 70 percent of those students are from Appalachia—where nearly one of every five people live below the poverty line. More than half of Berea’s students are first-generation college students. The tax issue shed a spotlight on the college’s commitment to low-income students and the importance of protecting such institutions. The omission of the specification tuition-paying was just semantics to some government officials, but this type of detail is a personal matter to many students whose unique chance at a better life is through the life-changing education offered at Berea.

As international students, or as domestic students of foreign descent, my colleagues and I came here to study, and in the process learned a lot more than what was in the books. Being in the United States gave us the opportunity to meet Americans, live among them, ask questions, answer questions—and learn about the real America.

This book is a modest attempt to pull back the curtain on a diverse international group brought together by a small yet powerful and remarkable American educational institution, making its contribution to a democratic society and facilitating affordable higher education since the 1800s. I’ve collected these interviews because these stories deserve to be told—and I share these stories with gratitude to Berea College.

Do you believe that higher education should be available to youth regardless of their financial limitations? I hope you find inspiration in Berea College’s example that affordable higher education is attainable. Do you believe that xenophobia is a threat to our democracy? Then I hope you will listen to our stories and get to know us. I hope we can once again find common ground and engage in meaningful—and not mean—conversations.

---

1 The EIU Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories. The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid regime; and authoritarian regime. The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, the sister company to The Economist newspaper.

2 Leveraging Economic Migration for Development: A Briefing for the World Bank Board - World Bank Group

3 The Little College Where Tuition is Free and Every Student is Given a Job – by Adam Harris, The Atlantic

Oana Sirboiu, Romania

I’m Oana (pronounced wanna, as in wanna dance?). I was born and raised in beautiful Romania, land of Dracula, Nadia Comaneci, and sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls—and you’re seriously missing