Grand Island Rotary Club welcomes ambassadorial scholar

Story and photo by Donna M. Webb
Grand Island Dispatch, February 16, 2007

A Rotary ambassadorial scholar from Bangladesh is pursuing an advanced degree in the Buffalo area. Three members of the Grand Island Rotary Club are serving as his counselors. In the photo, from left, are Rotary Counselors John Harbison, Kent Webb and Bob Helenbrook, as they flank Ambassadorial Scholar Mohammad Iftekhar Husain (third from left). At the far right, stands Dick Earne, who is the district governor for Rotary District 7090.

A Rotary ambassadorial scholar, who hails from Bangladesh, was welcomed by the Grand Island Rotary Club at their meeting on Jan. 31. Mohammad Iftekhar Husain, who is called “Ifte” by his friends, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in computer science and engineering at the State University at Buffalo.

Husain’s sponsor is the Nanyo-Higashi Rotary Club of Yamagata, Japan. In 2006 he received his bachelor’s degree in computer science while studying at Yamagata University, which is located on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. Husain was in that country for the past six years. “I have an associate’s degree in computer engineering from the Sendai College of Technology,” in Japan, Husain said. He can read, write, and fluently speak Japanese. As a matter of fact, he had to take all of his university exams in that language.

His wife, Kanta, is still back in Bangladesh. They were married on Aug. 18, 2006. Kanta is studying for her medical degree and should be receiving that later this year.

The Ambassadorial Scholar Program is the Rotary Foundation’s oldest program. “Since 1947 nearly 37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices,” according to the Rotary Web site, www.rotary.org. The purpose of this scholarship program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people in different parts of the world. While studying abroad, the ambassadorial scholars give presentations about their home countries to local Rotary clubs and other community groups. When they return home, the scholars share with Rotarians the experiences they had in their host countries. Husain will be giving a talk about his native Bangladesh at one of the upcoming Grand Island Rotary Club’s meetings.

The start of this scholar’s experience in the United States was fraught with difficulties. “I reached JFK safely with an 11-hour delay with British Airways,” Husain said. Since the amount of time it can take to get through Immigration varies, he did not make a reservation for a connecting flight to Buffalo from New York City. Once Husain cleared Immigration, he could not get a flight here on a timely basis, due to weather conditions. Luckily, he was able to stay with a relative in the Queens area for a day or two. Husain then took a very long Greyhound bus ride to get to Western New York.

After reaching Buffalo, Husain was without his luggage for several days. British Airways claimed they had shipped it to him via Federal Express; but when Husain contacted the company, they had no record of his bags. In the interim, he acquired a few things from a store on the UB campus. When he finally received his luggage, Husain discovered “one of the bags was broken rudely (apparently due to an inspection); fortunately, the inside contents were intact.”

The delay in receiving his visa while in Japan caused further problems. It meant that Husain could not reach the Buffalo area prior to the start of classes at UB. “I had to run for late registration, a college card, health services, bank accounts, etc., while attending the classes,” he said.

At their Jan. 31 meeting, Rotarians learned Husain has an interesting connection to a noted banker and economist from Bangladesh – Dr. Muhammad Yunus. “I helped him set up his Web site,” Husain said. Yunus developed the idea of microcredits: small loans to entrepreneurial people who could not otherwise qualify for bank loans. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in 1976 to loan money to poor Bangladeshis. Small groups of borrowers apply together for loans, act as co-guarantors of loan repayment and support each other’s efforts. Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Part of the announcement read, “Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one means.” A number of countries have emulated the microcredit system that Yunus began in Bangladesh.

Husain will contact Yunus to see if he would be available to speak at the Rotary District 7090 conference, which will be held at the Grand Island Holiday Inn from May 4-6. Grand Island Rotary Club members said they hoped Husain’s experiences in Western New York would be enriching and enlightening ones, and look forward to learning from him, as well.