Press "Enter" to skip to content

A week of Perspective and Surprises

Ah, the grand Democratic Republic of Tunisia. To be honest, I can’t say I truly lived in Tunisia given that our trip was never intended for us to explore the country on our own, but I’ve never felt so welcomed and respected in my life. The trip involved the team meeting two former prime ministers and some ambassadors, ministers of state, and the nation’s brightest minds at the University of Carthage. Their willingness to interact with us and answer our difficult questions was fairly mind-blowing. I don’t think these kind of interactions are common for any set of University Students to experience while studying abroad. I mean, we got a tour of the Prime Minister’s Palace by the secretary of state for crying out loud. I got to sit in his chair and feel like a million bucks. Every day felt like I was an ambassador from the United States and in a way, I was. Along with my Duke peers, we were representing an entire nation and one of the world’s finest universities. There was a moment in our last session, where the previous Tunisian ambassador for the United States asked us if there was a word to describe our entire Tunisia experience and I said Surprising. But, I also believe that ‘perspective’ as Matt Majsak said would be very appropriate. I mean, just a couple years ago I came to the United States from Mexico because we no longer had the financial capability to live in our hometown. I remember feeling very behind academically, very poor as we were homeless, but I still had a dream and an undying optimism that things would turn out alright. Today, I get to stay in fancy hotels, attend high-level meetings with founders of the Tunisian Constitution, and meet Prime ministers and Congressman after lunch. But that’s only the personal context that keeps running through my mind. 

 

The real perspective also came from experiencing Tunisians accepting the death of their president, who guided them through their newly founded democracy. The optimism in the people’s voice was incredible and a light-heartedness in the conversation was a sign that Tunisia, although in rough economic shape, has never been better! As Congressman Oussaid Sghaier said, “despite economic upsets in Europe and a civil war in neighboring Libya, and the Moroccan-Algerian conflict, Tunisia is still staying afloat and keeping stable!” How incredible is that? Just a couple years ago, actually, around the same time I went back to America, Tunisia went through an entire revolution, and today it’s a working democracy! 

 

Life is good. Long live Democracy!

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *