Global Students: Turning Foreigners into Friends

An alumnus of Virginia's Old Dominion University is using his personal experience and kindness to help international students.

His name is Kurnia Foe. He is the founder of Global Student Friendship, an organization that serves students from other countries.

"When we moved to the U.S., I asked God what he wanted me to do here. I didn't have many things I could give or share. The only thing that I could share was my love, attention, and commitment to serve others," Foe told CBN News.

As a former international student, Kurnia is able to understand the challenges students face when they are away from their families. Many arrive in the United States with luggage and dreams of a promising career.

The majority of them don't have any local connections to help them get settled. These reasons are what led Kurnia to create the GSF.

"Kurnia arranged for a family to host me for a week and introduce me to this university," Felicia Grey, an international relations Fulbright Scholar from Jamaica, said.

The program assists with everything from providing furniture to calling utility companies. GSF also sets up social outings to help students get acquainted with their new town.

"We contacted him [Kurnia] and he provided some furniture. That means a lot... it's not about furniture, but at least you feel more like somebody is looking after you," said Ali Aloosi, a doctoral student from Iraq studying in structural engineering.

Foe doesn't do this alone.

"So we like to meet them at the airport… and then we try to take care of them, and meet some of their needs, and we want them to come into our home, so we mobilize the Christian community to open their homes to welcome internationals in,"GSF Chairman Rich Hardison said.

Hardison and his wife Kathy love international students. They open their home to them year round. Right now, they are in the process of building the Global Friendship House to assist even more international students and their families.

Kathy Hardison serves as the director of GSF.

"It is the Great Commission that Jesus gave us to reach the nations and disciple them, but we are the number one place in the world where students want to come and study," she said.

Figures show the number of international students hit a record high last year, with over 820,000 enrolled in colleges and universities. Most come from China, India, and South Korea.

There has also been a large increase in students from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil. All together they're contributing nearly $25 billion to the U.S. economy through tuition and living expenses alone.

Overall, American universities have alumni in nearly every country and territory in the world. This increases the potential impact of each student's experience while in the United States.

"Since Christianity in Iran is a minority, I didn't have opportunity to communicate with them and know more about their beliefs. So it's a very nice experience here communicating with Christian people," engineering management student Nima Shahriari, told CBN News.

"Kurnia is so nice to us… and his work is beyond the lines of religion or any caste and creed," Wajid Kahn, who is studying engineering, said.

The majority of these students only spend about two to six years in the the United States. It's a relatively short time, but it's long enough to establish long-term relationships.

Oksana Nosova is one example of the long-term impact of these basic but crucial interactions. Nosova lives in Russia now, but she comes to the United States during the summers to volunteer with international students.

"God had a plan when he brought me here all the way across the ocean, so I will meet Him here… and then later He had the plan to use me so I can help other international students because I can totally relate to them," Nosova said.

"It is very much like the ministry of Jesus... we just say we are turning foreigners into friends who become followers of Jesus," Kathy Hardison added.

GSF is sowing seeds here in America, hoping to shape the future of the world one relationship at a time.