Graphic’ Ubyssey

THE POSITION of the National Executive Repre- sentative to PEI for the Canadian Federation of Stu- dents is now open for all in- terested parties.

The person that assumes this position will have the fol- lowing responsibilities:

1. He or she will serve as a permanent liason between the UPEI Student Union and the Canadian Federation of Students.

2. He or she will be re- sponsible for expressing the

Educated Ethiopians live free with

Abraham YaYa-Ele, a soft spoken Ethiopian, is hes- itant to talk about the “po- litical problems” which made him flee his native country in 1981. Instead he talks of the poor social and economic liv- ing conditions that refugees face in a foreign land.

“Nobody provides with assistance. You can’t

you

find jobs because young peo- ple who leave their home country are generally un- skilled and the country of asylum wnats employ their own people,” he said. The people living in Ethiopia today want to be educated, but the few who manage to flee political opression often find the situ- ation in the countries where

to

they seek asylum as bad as the situation they left. YaYa-Ele is one of the lucky ones who is accepted from the hundreds of refugees who apply yearly for sponsership in the refugee program of the World University Service of Canada (WUSC). But luck is not all that got him into graduate studies at the Uni- versity of British Columbia. “These students are not given special consideration. They still have to meet the enterance requirement. But

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these are above average stu- dents and many of them.tend to be on the dean’s honor role,” says Chris Freisan, a student refugee coordinator at the WUSC committee at UBC.

The refugee’s education and living expenses are cov- ered by a fee levy establishes by a UBC student referen- dum for refugees in 1983.

“Tf students were told about the refugee program and where their money was going, I’m sure they would be paying double (for the fee

- levy) than they pay now,”

says YaYa-Ele.

“The money. goes wards the individual’s tal living expenses for a pe- riod of twelve months. This includes help with tuition, books, room and_ board, a “clothing allowance, and monthly spendongal- lowance,” says Friesen.

The budget must al- low for the fact that most refugees arrive with very few personal belongings.

But a who tries to make it Canada is only one of many people waiting for a chance to lead a full life, free from political opression. :

Worku Abebe is a docturnal student who left Ethiopia in Septem- ber 1984 and spent a year in Sudan before coming to UBC through WUSC.

-“By chance I happened to come here, but there are so many people like me wast-

ing their time there. It’s not just a question of get-

to- to-

student refugee into

i

ting an education, it’s saving lives. Even if a student fails while he is here it’s better than leaving them in coun- tries of asylum,” says Abebe. “The situation is miserable over there.”

Abebe received a mas- ter’s degree in England, then returned to Ethiopia to work as a lecturer at Addis Ababa University.

Other faculty members he encountered at the school, mostly East Germans, sented his foreign education, which they claimed was.cap- italist and at cross-purposes to their so-called socialism.

“The East Germans (fac- ulty members) didn’t like my presence there. For exam- ple, if something was: miss- ing from the department,

re-

they would blame me,” says Abebe. After having his life

threatened and being thrown in jail, Abebe fled Ethiopia in 1984. Abebe looks at YaYa- Ele and they exchange a bit- ter laugh when they speak of why Abebe was imprisoned.

“There are hundreds of excuses,” Abebe says. ‘The whole aspect lies in the dif- ference of political opinion. The Ethiopian government listend to what the East Ger- mans say. I can’t say any- thing. In my country, I was treated as a second class cit- izan.”

Abebe is not afraid to be blunt.

“Since 1984, in Ethiopia, we have had a military gov- ernment supported by Rus- This

sians. government,

province’s views regarding post-secondary education to the CFS National Executive. 3. He or she will be responsible to see that all services offered by CFS run smoothly. ie. SWAP, Stu- dent Saver, and Travel Cuts.

4. Requires travel with no renumeration.

For further information, please contact the UPEI Stu- dent Union before March 30 1988 at 566-0530. =

ernments that has ever ex- isted. Even more cruel than the South African govern- ment.” ‘

YaYa-Ele and Abebe are both critical of Canadian ig- norance of Ethiopian, and other Third World, issues.

“Canadians all know Ethiopia because of the famine,” says YaYa-Ele, as he explains that the prob- lem still exists there.

“People generally think that the famine happened because of unproductive land

or because th people are -

weak. The main cause is hu- man.

“Tf they really wanted to help, Canadians should be- come aware, not just give grain,” says Abebe.

Compared to the situa- tion he came from, Abebe is content with the life he has

-. in Canada now, but he says

that he really feels just like another student.

“Nothing is really good or bad. I’m just living as ex- pected. I saved myself, I can live, I can survive, and I have an education.”

WUSC is the 6nly Cana- dian organization that has a program for refugee stu- dents Since the program begn in 1978, 168 dents have been sponsored by 90 local campus commit- tees. Most of the sponsored students come from main- land Africa, Uganda, South- ern Africa and Ethiopia.

“We're

ing on spreading our contacts

stu-

work-

By

help of Canadians seatseccur

from what I’ve experienced, is one of the most cruel gov-

into Central America,” says Friesan.

But one obvious prob- lem with the program is the lack of sponsored women stu- dents.

“Women applicants are few and far between. About 95 percent of applicants. are men, which is really bad. WUSC is slowly get-* ting more applications from women,” says Friesen. é

“In many of the refugee’ camps, the situation is much worse for women than for’ men. They don’t have the. same educational opportuni- ties, or they may have many children to care for,” he says.”

While both Abebe and YaYa-Ele are grateful to WUSC for the assistance they’ve received, Abebe continues to focus on the urgency of changing the desperate situation of the refugees. He speaks of the economic hardship and hop: lessness of their situation.

“At this time, Ethiopi- ans are one of the largest proportion of refugees to. fo- cus on the urgency of chang- ing the desperate situation of the refugees in the world. There are more than 500,000 Ethiopian refugees in the Su- dan alone. The situation is very bad,” he says.

“The best thing we can do is increase the sponsor- ship. If the WUSC local committees can be increased to other universities and col- leges and even high schools, we'll be making a strong move in helping more peo- ple,” says Abebe. | .

area March 24th=1983==

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