The Humphrey Fellowship Culture at VCU!!! by Omar El Shahawy

Starting the BLOG series...

Hi everybody,
I am not sure if you have direct connections to this Humphrey Fellowship Program, but since you are reading these lines, most of you probably do in some way! There are all sorts of things I want to post; they are all amusing in many ways, at least to me, but I think we should have a short introductory blog. It’s my first time writing a blog, so I hope I do an OK job!

Also, this is one of the things the fellowship provides; on the job “Fellowship” training. There are interesting opportunities offered all the time to enhance our experience here that I am sure you will get to know as we post our blogs. It might seem like an easy task, to be the first one to post a blog about our group but ,it’s hard if you want to capture what’s beyond the basics of the group. Every one is unique and we have two Brazilians, which is not easy if you think about it. ;)

The easy thing about this group though, is that I won’t worry about paying attention to "balancing" my notes, balanced in the  sense that our group is made up of four women and four men; as diverse as backgrounds could be. But still, there is an amazing harmony embedded in the group dynamics. I don’t know if it’s the program or just my personal experience that I gave me such positive vibes about coming to VCU, but if you stick around til the end of the blog you might know for yourself.

Coming to VCU and meeting the Fellows

I will try to sum up some basic info from the beginning so that you all get to know the people I am talking about. Starting with the basics, please check our biosketches through http://www.vcu.edu/idas/humphrey/fellows/index%2010-11.html I will include some info from that later.



Professional Field trip to the Division of Legislative Services

This is a picture of our first field trip to Division of Legislative Services, Ms. Sara Stanton (on the right) was our host. Please visit this link to see the professional pictures for this year http://pictures.vcu.edu/galleries/#id=album-18&num=4320.

Housing The special thing about this year was the QUEST for housing. Some of us were lucky to find something quickly but, we all got lucky in the sense that we got what we wanted eventually. Some of us did it the easy way (looking around for a week or so) and some of us did it the hard way. I don’t think you have time to understand what that means, it’s a LONG story :). Thanks to Pam Haney from Global Education Office at VCU, she gave all of us a good hand and sound advice to help us make good choices. Our coordinators also helped a lot and made us feel we had a family here in the US.

Host Families I first did not understand the concept of host families till I came here and went through, along with other fellows, the orientation week. It was not until I met my host family that I realized what a great idea this is. My host is faculty at VCU as well and guess what >>?? He Lived in Egypt for 13 years teaching English there. So, I got my conversation partner set all right :), (one thing got done by itself in my IPP). I went to his house one time to have a great Sunday brunch with his family including his Mum and Dad. I simply enjoyed every minute of it. He has two kids that are simply ACTIVE, I know I am getting old but I succeeded to keep up with them so I think I can make this conclusion; Host Families keep you in shape along with the other cultural expected part :). I think each one of us would talk about his or her host family, but there is Larry and his wife that I must mention who are the host family of Dafina. He is a dear friend to all of us now! He is Faculty at VCU as well, but has a sense of humor off the charts!

I will start now with talking about all the crew individually. Since this Blog’s audience would be primarily the VCU Alumni. I should not really talk about Bob, Randy or Crystal since you all know them. Or maybe I should put it in one word, simply AWESOME! I would elaborate later, but in case you don’t know why then I guess there is only one way to find out, become a Humphrey Fellow at VCU!

Annual trip to Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle

I mentioned t I would speak of certain events later; but actually I want to leave it to other Fellows for later. But, I sneakily want to post the above picture of our trip to Williamsburg. It is phenomenal to be able to live in the past for a bit, we kind of did!

Dafina Muçaj (pictured below, second from the left), from Kosovo, is a trained in psychologist and works with substance abuse clients. She is a good listener and likes to think of all the odds before taking a decision. She has an outgoing personality.

Dorra Amira, Dafina Mucaj, Oranooch Sungkhawanna (Nut) and Moses Ojo enjoying the Virginia State Fair

Dorra Amira (Pictured above, first from the left), working in toxicology laboratories, made her precise and has an eye for detail which again made the matters better or I should say different when she and Dafina decided to team up to look for an apartment. That sounded easy in the beginning, but some of us thought to post a bet on the day they would get it, unfortunately this didn’t get operational. They wanted to get something good and I must say their efforts paid off at the end and they are in this beautiful BIG apartment in a very nice area. They promised to invite us all for a party. The reason I mention that now is to make it public and BINDING, although I think what I said might exclude me from the guest list. ;)



Maia and her husband Sergey and youngest Diana at Byrd Park by the duck pond.

Maia Rusakova, she has multiple ongoing affiliations and a beautiful family. She is a very cheerful and knowledgeable person. She shares the office space with Dafina, Moses and me (Omar). We have our bits of fun working in the same room in the office.

Mario and his family daughters Amanda and Bianca, his son Bruno and wife Suely at our Brazilian Barbecue

Mario Sobrinho, aka ‘Drug Courts’, is a Public Prosecutor  from Brazil. You can sense the warmth of his personality in his voice and he is a family man as you can see from the picture above!  He is also the author of the very famous quote “If it’s FREE, invite ME”. This was a joke we had during the start of the year regarding student events that took place around campus. He is a wonderful and generous host, we are waiting for a second Brazilian barbecue, and then we’ll wait for the third and so on!

Moses Ojo, (pictured below on the left) one of the psychiatrists we have in the group. He is a wonderful person, seems quiet but gives excellent feedback all the time. And if there is someone laughing in the room, it’s either Moses or Moses and someone else.

Moses and Omar at the official VCU Humphrey Professional Photo Shoot

Omar El Shahawy, (pictured above on the right). As I am the blogger now I will not talk a lot about myself. I am sure the next blogger would enjoy getting back at me for what I have written ;). I am impressed so far with the way we all interact; feels like a family in many ways, especially in our interaction with the IDAS staff.

Oranooch Sungkhawanna, (pictured below in front) A very cheerful lady from Thailand with excellent     photography skills. She works at the Headquarters of the National Drug Control Policy Unit in Thailand. Other than that, she is the devoted camera-woman of the team and we are all grateful for that.  It's worth it to mention that all the pictures added to this blog are from her camera. Her nickname is Nut (pronounced as “Noot”). Nut and I study together and attend the same courses, so we are called “Study Partners”. I enjoy it a lot; she is a hard worker who knows how to make the learning process enjoyable.

Assistant Coordinator Crystal Thomas, Rogerio da Paz and Oranooch (Nut) Sungkhawanna

Rogerio da Paz, (pictured above on the right). The other psychiatrist in the group; someone who brings a smile to the group and good with gadgets. He is a fun loving person and has lots of professional activities too; I should say he has a witty sense of humor. He is from Porto Alegre, you should come and hear him talk about it and then you would book your ticket the next day to go there. He is known as the COFFEE MAN of the group, we became addicted to the coffee he makes. I could just say he has lived (as a Brazilian) up to our expectations!

Omar getting grilling lessons from Dr. Bob Balster at the Labor Day Pool Party

Ongoing Events Round the Clock

It’s really hard to touch upon what’s going in our lives here at VCU, either professionally or socially, because there is too much to talk about! We had some parties at Bob’s , others planned at our houses, we’ll start the movie night soon, our professional contacts are growing and you can see that in the way we dress up on a certain day (when we have scheduled meeting I mean) . I think it’s better to leave the events to the next blog, not to make this one super long. In short it’s busy in a very pleasant way.

I am sure you all know most of the Humphrey Program Staff, I think; Bob, Randy and Crystal and how great and helpful they are. We cannot measure the degree of devotion they give to the program. One thing we all share though, we don’t think they are just doing their jobs, they do it form the heart which makes it worthwhile. We are also thankful to Diane and Lana of all the help they have given us so far. I think you all probably know them(if you are a VCU alumnus)! I am sure we willcover more in the upcoming blogs. If I missed basic info, it's because I figured you knew already!

One of the many professional field trips

Important News >> We have a new Academic Coordinator. I will take the opportunity then to introduce Dr. Breland. Alison is the new Academic Coordinator to the Program. She is doing a great job with the seminars and advising us all. On top of that, a great smile as you can see in the photo above (pictured on far right).

I hope you enjoyed this little introduction about the Fellows of this year. There is one more thing that should be shared. There is a photo we took just for fun during our professional photo shoot. I think it reflects the spirit of this year’s fellows, I think it’s a very interesting photo!



'The Real Humphrey Fellows of VCU'



Have a good day; another colleague will talk to you on our next blog. Now it’s 9 pm in the East Coast on October, 13^th, 2010. Wow, I mentioned the month first; I am such a fast learner that I impress myself at times!

Warm regards from lovely Richmond...

Omar El Shahawy