The Covid-19 pandemic situation currently being faced across the world has an impact on the world of education, including the impact on foreign students who are studying in Indonesia, as well as those who are studying in Undip. To ease the burden on foreign students, on Tuesday (6/22/2020) the Undip International Affairs Office has again distributed basic necessities. This assistance is a form of concern for foreign students so that they feel secure during their study at Undip since they do not have relatives in Indonesia. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were not many Indonesian friends around them because most of them returned to their homes.
“However, our core business is to protect foreign students at Undip and for that reason we prepared funds for their welfare so that they feel secure, safe and happy here,” explained Kartika Widya Utama, SH, MH, Head of Diponegoro University’s International Affairs Office.
In addition to basic necessities, Undip also provides assistance in the form of ready-to-eat foods, vegetables and fruits. Assistance was given for 12 weeks and distributed every Tuesday at Rusunawa. This week. it has entered its 5th week since it was first distributed at the beginning of fasting month. For foreign students who live outside rusunawa and unable to attend the distribution of the assistance, the assistance was sent using an online courier service.
The foreign students really appreciate the assistance given by Undip this far. With this help, it reduced their activities outside their home stay which avoid the crowds. In addition, they can focus more on dividing their time to study and not worrying about the lack of consumptions.
“Very grateful for Indonesia, especially Undip. I am from East Timor, actually there was aid from the Government, but until now it has not come yet. So, this help from Undip is very helpful to me. During Covid-19 Undip is the one who provides aid such as food, basic necessities, and vegetables. It really helped us, ” said Joaquin Tavares, an East Timorese History Student from East Timor.
“This program really helped us, reducing our going out activities, helping our time management so we can focus more on learning here (rusunawa). We really appreciate our friends from the International Affairs Office who spend their time every week coming here to distribute the basic necessities, ” explained Mahmood Saeed, a Chemical Engineering student from Yemen.
Currently Undip has 34 foreign students, they consist from several levels of education and programs including S1, S2, Regular S3 programs and Darmasiswa programs. They came from various countries, such as Egypt, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Sierra Leone, Malaysia, Uganda, Rwanda, China, Madagascar, Libya, Yemen, Burundi, East Timor, and Tanzania.
