Elia Alberti beams at these words from his host “father,” Berkeley Police Chief Mike Meehan, who is sitting at his family’s dining room table. It has been nearly nine months since a then-16-year-old Alberti stepped off the plane from Milan, frantically plugging “the airline lost my luggage” into Google Translate. Misplaced bags and a tenuous grasp of the English language were only the first adventures that Alberti and his host family would tackle during the year to follow.

The state's Turkish International Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has launched a rural development program for one of Namibia’s most important ethnic groups, the San people, an official statement said Saturday. The San, also known as the Basarwa or Khwe, have deep roots in Namibia going back some 20,000 years.

A group of Chinese delegates are getting a taste of southern Alberta hospitality as they strengthen community ties with Lethbridge. The five-member delegation, accompanied by an interpreter and guide, arrived on Thursday from Anyang City, China, for a two-day visit to foster closer educational, cultural and economic relationships with the city. The delegates include high-ranking municipal and government officials as well as leaders of educational institutions.

Skipping over community input seems to be common practice for class projects during my experience taking courses about Global Health at the UW. But while some may think that no one would be harmed with hypothetical school projects, this practice could have long term effects. Students can’t develop the practical skills of creating partnerships with the local communities where they someday will work.

Michelle Obama plans to promote her year-old global girls' education initiative during upcoming stops in Liberia, Morocco and Spain on what could be her final solo overseas excursion as first lady. The White House announced Wednesday that the three-country trip is booked for June 27-July 1. Her travelling companions are daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson.

International Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union. It honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 on that day in South Africa where thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976, in a march more than half a mile long, to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. 

Every school year, foreign exchange students — some on short visits and others on year-long exchanges, walk the halls of local high schools. Spending time in the U.S. gives the students an opportunity to immerse themselves in American culture, language and customs, an experience they embrace and value. But it’s not only the students who are enriched — the families who host them also learn about cultures and people distinctly different from their own.

Ewha Womans University is providing its online Korean studies lecture to a Kenyan university. The university said Wednesday that it launched a 16-week lecture series by Professor Min Byoung-won on the Korean economy and development for students at the University of Nairobi in the Kenyan capital on June 3. About 40 Kenyan students majoring in Korean studies are participating in the real-time online lectures.