Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Eurasia and Central Asia

UGRAD Student Visits UN and Attends Darfur Rally

When Baira Dyakieva imagined studying in the United States, she dreamed of visiting the United Nations headquarters in New York. Less than a month after arriving in America, her dream came true when she had the opportunity to meet the British Ambassador to the UN and participate in a rally organized by the Save Darfur Coalition in conjunction with the 61st meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Dyakieva, who hails from the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation and attends Moscow State University, is studying political science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA as part of the UGRAD program.

Dyakieva joined twelve classmates from the UN course she is taking at Duquesne and 100 other Pittsburgh residents for the trip to New York earlier this fall. The Duquesne group met with the British Ambassador to the UN, Sir Emyr Jones-Parry. Dyakieva says the meeting “broadened her views” on international politics, UN affairs, and interstate relations, and notes that she was particularly interested to hear Jones-Perry’s opinions on Russian domestic and foreign policy. The meeting "made everybody present think about and reconsider many issues facing our generation."

Following the meeting, Dyakieva joined 30,000 people for the Darfur rally in Central Park, which included speeches by former US Secretary of State and US Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright and former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, along with celebrities and activists. The peaceful nature of the rally and the solidarity displayed by its participants left a lasting impression on Dyakieva. "The rally assured me that world interdependence is not expressed only in terrorism and violence but also in help and support," she says. "I'm glad I'm not alone in this view, as all the people gathered in Central Park on that sunny Sunday believed the same."

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