Abdo Khal

Okaz newspaper

 

From time to time, we hear exhilarating news about our scholarship students abroad. Such news confirms that the future of this country will be bright when its sons and daughters who spread across the east and west of the world return to build their homeland armed with scientific knowledge.



Among other heartening news was a report that US President Barack Obama had recognized a Saudi scholarship student for social activities he carried out with a team of volunteers from the University of Nebraska at Omaha while studying for a bachelor’s program in 2010.



The student, Hussein Ali Aal Al-Sheikh, took part in community service by teaching prisoners in the State of Nebraska how to use computer and its applications.



Some people may look down upon this act and regard it as something unworthy of praise. However, those who appreciate voluntary social work shall find it otherwise.



For the president of the world’s most powerful nation to honor a young foreigner, and award him a medal and a certificate of appreciation, is something that strengthens the concept of voluntary work, whether pursued by a citizen or a foreign resident, in his country.



I think we should emulate this experience by calling our young people who are proficient in computer science and distributing some of them to our prisons to teach the inmates. This will be a great gesture, especially as literacy nowadays is measured by one’s knowledge of computer applications. In addition, we can encourage thousands of young people all over the country to participate in voluntary work in the same manner.



The community has multiple needs and we can make a huge difference by combing the efforts of young volunteers in various fields. Foremost among the benefits of such voluntary activity will be molding the youth of this country to participate in nation building by consolidating their sense of social responsibility. The Makkah governorate has taken the initiative to involve young people in several voluntary projects overseen by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, the emir, himself.

 

Besides the news of the US president honoring the Saudi students, there were heart-warming reports about many young scholarship students who excelled in different areas of work during their studies.



We need to project the achievements of our scholarship students, especially after many distortions that affected their image. There have been deliberate attempts at intimidating society by claiming scholarship students would lose their values during their stay abroad, which I believe is a superficial view. The detractors would say the young people went out not in pursuit of knowledge but in search of frivolous entertainment and would easily fall prey to temptations.



Now, we have a tremendous wealth of human resources that must be developed and made proper use of. It is important to make life easier for scholarship students so that they can devote themselves to their studies and return home to contribute to the nation’s development.



Any scholarship student, who takes new initiatives or displays distinctive talent, has a right to be recognized. Scholarship students are our real wealth of which we will really be proud of tomorrow.