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There’s nowhere more critical to current world events than the Middle East or more central to U.S. history than Africa. The first Western civilizations of Phoenicia, Assyria, and Babylonia arose in the Middle East. The many tribes of West and Sub-Saharan Africa built glorious societies with wealth from gold, salt, diamonds, and abundant wildlife. The myriad cultural exports of the Middle East and Africa—Kufic script, Rai music, kente textiles, ritual dances—influence artists worldwide. Modern Africa focuses on political evolution, economic development, and globalization while African descendants are part of the modern life of countries from Canada to the Caribbean. The Middle East struggles to resolve its conflicts while retaining its traditional values. Meet these people, hear their stories, and write your own. We offer you the chance to live your story on a CIEE program.
But which? The wildly different cultures of Africa and the Middle East wait to welcome you. Botswana, with its diamond-strong pula and lush Okavango oasis. Ghana, the namesake of West Africa’s first great empire—and the first black African nation to win independence. Senegal, land of teranga (hospitality). South Africa, rife with opportunities to learn and serve. Jordan, both moderate in modernity and part of humanity’s most ancient history. Locked between three continents and criss-crossed by five empires, Turkey has been multicultural since forever. How should you think about studying in Africa or the Middle East? CIEE programs are designed to help you get the most out of your experience, and we’ll help you find one that’s right for you.
study the road less traveled
Continue your college career while learning the subtleties of a vastly different culture. Leave with an understanding of contemporary politics, art, religion, and philosophy that you’d never get if you visited on vacation. Explore hot issues—Middle Eastern peace, development and underdevelopment, race relations—from a neutral vantage point. Most programs require you to take at least one course about the culture and society of your new home. Then, you can choose electives to satisfy your major or your interests a wide range of university arts and sciences courses.
What entices you? The people of Accra, Ghana’s capital, will welcome you into their culture with their famous friendliness. Ten miles away, humid, rambunctious, sociable Legon is home to Africans ready to teach you their dance and drumming. Learn the history of South Africa—either in centuries-old Cape Town or the winelands of Stellenbosch—and then admire the new national optimism and progress. Witness Botswana’s shining example of stability and progress. Feel the power of Senegal’s influences: Muslim, French, modern. Understand how Jordan reconciles progressive thinking with traditional ideas. Discover how Turkey—cris crossed by five empires, both Muslim and Christian—has been melding east and west since 7,500 BC.
speak the language(s)
In most places in Africa and the Middle East, you’ll be studying in English, but to communicate with the world around you, you’ll need to build your conversation skills in the local language (don’t worry, we know most everyone will have no previous training).
In Ghana, you’ll learn Twi, its most commonly spoken language. In Botswana, you’ll study Setswana. In South Africa, you have the choice of studying Afrikaans, developed from 17th-century Dutch, or Xhosa, the language of the Bantu. In Turkey, you’ll begin studying Turkish. And in Jordan, you’ll learn both colloquial Jordanian Arabic as well as classical Arabic, a skill more valuable than ever. If you’re a more serious student of Arabic—with five semesters or more of study under your belt—the Arabic language program in Amman will build your skills into proficiency. You can put your French into action in francophone Senegal—if you’ve taken at least one semester already—with language courses ranging from beginner to advanced. To speak with your neighbors, you’ll learn to speak Wolof, the local language.
join the continent for a while
Be part of a community’s evolution through internships or volunteer service. In Cape Town, we offer a program dedicated to service-learning. By volunteering in an area such as the arts, child development, the environment, health, sports, or technology training, you’ll learn how to meet needs identified by the community. You’ll also take courses that will help you conduct your own social research project, the program’s cornerstone.
Learning from—and becoming a part of—the community can become a part of almost any program. You can incorporate service into your coursework in Accra and undertake for-credit internships in Legon and Dakar. Interact with locals during independent research projects in Gaborone. Non-credit volunteer opportunities are available everywhere. In Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Jordan, or Turkey you can become part of the fabric of the country by living with a family in a homestay.
Explore what options are available on the programs you’re interested in, and seek out these opportunities every chance you get. You will see yourself slowly become part of Africa or the Middle East...and the place you choose become part of you.
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