• Coping with culture shock

  Filed under News
  Jul 3

  JEDDAH: A 26-year-old Japanese exchange student was assaulted in February inside a YMCA co-ed student-housing complex in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

  A man donning a mask turned out the lights of the laundry room and grabbed the woman from behind. She screamed and broke free. Other students came to the rescue and, according to local news reports, detained 19-year-old Khaled Al-Harbi. The student, who was in Canada on a Saudi government scholarship, was diagnosed with psychological problems and has been seeking counseling.

  In another case in Bournemouth, UK, earlier this month, another Saudi student was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail. His identity has been registered for seven years on a local law-enforcement list of sexual harassers, according to the Daily Echo newspaper. In that case, the student, 23, was found guilty of public intoxication, stripping naked and chasing a 36-year-old woman through the streets. The woman punched the man and fled.

  While cases of criminal bad behavior may reflect just a few bad apples among an estimated 60,000 Saudi men and women studying in 26 countries under government scholarships, some are wondering if the Ministry of Higher Education should do more to pre-empt bad behavior through more intense pre-departure counseling.

  The Kingdom is spending more than half a million riyals for each student it sends abroad. It would be worth it to provide necessary orientations, which would only cost SR1,000 for a week or two, presenting some specifics about a certain country, its culture, its people, its traditions, its women, and so on, said Loay Alfi, a 26-year-old currently studying in the US on the King Abdullah scholarships program.

  Alfi said bad behavior among Saudi students abroad is embarrassing to the country, and he called on education officials to do more to discourage such incidents before they occur.

  Many Saudis who study abroad must cope with culture shock and homesickness, and they can be easily tempted into bad behavior when faced with more liberal social mores, especially pertaining to alcohol and the mingling of the sexes that are banned back home.

  Most reported cases of Saudi students behaving badly abroad involve men who abuse alcohol or drugs and cross boundaries when relating to women. When it comes to women, they perceive the law (and the women) to be more lax in these countries than they are in Saudi Arabia.

  Eyad Bogari, 25, who is studying in Canada, said the Ministry of Higher Education provided his group an orientation program about how Saudis should behave abroad. They talked about women, life and religion, said Bogari. One of the lectures was about psychology and how we would adapt to life there, plus how we would react to becoming homesick. The ministry declined requests by Arab News to speak on the matter.

  Bogari said Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal met his group and asked the men to take care of the Saudi women. After Bogari arrived in Canada, he received an e-mail from Saudi Royal Embassy with a list of places to avoid and urging him not to get into trouble.

  Osama Feda, a 27-year-old postgraduate student at Indiana University in the US, said he did not receive any pre-departure orientation. He was one of the first recipients of the government scholarship, and he points out that things may be different now.

  At that time, no one gave us any kind of orientation and information, said Feda. Unfortunately, there are some students who have never been anywhere outside the Kingdom and they were sent to America without being given any information.

  But, he added, when he arrived in the US, a Saudi Embassy official met him along with a group of students and gave them a short briefing on living in the US. He talked about some issues here in the US, including dealing with women, he said.

  Alfi, who is also studying in America, said there are many incidents of Saudi students harassing women, including fellow Saudis.

  What is happening here is sometimes embarrassing, he said.

  The United States, the UK and Canada are the primary destinations for Saudis studying abroad. The website of the Ministry of Higher Education provides no information on what happens to the scholarships of students who get in trouble with the law abroad. It does, however, warn students that while the government will provide legal counsel, students will be responsible for their conduct and will be liable for all legal expenses if theyre found guilty of committing crimes.

  

  

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