Daily Sitka Sentinel

Getting Home Poses Problem for Students

By ARIADNE WILL
Special to the Sentinel

Four of the five foreign exchange students in Sitka stayed in town after the end of the school year May 22.

The four, Nicoline Huse Christensen of Denmark, Kanish Djaker of India, Cleomara Sande of Mozambique and Mihaela Motca of Romania, are still waiting to return home. 

AFS exchange student Issa Al Bawwab returned home to Jordan earlier this month, departing from the U.S. on a repatriation flight arranged by the Jordanian embassy.

Sitka AFS director Connie Kreiss told the Sentinel that exchange students usually leave in early June, indicating that the remaining four have not stayed longer than usual. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated travel plans.

These complications mean that they can expect little advance notice of when they must be on the plane for their flight home.

AFS exchange student Cleomara Sande attempted to fly home April 3 but was sent back to Sitka after spending four nights in Washington, D.C. She had two days’ notice, Kreiss said.

“(Cleomara) got as far as Washington, D.C., and then it was clear that the plane on (to South Africa) was likely to be canceled,” she said.

Kreiss said Sande stayed in an airport hotel for four nights before it was decided she should fly back to Alaska. 

High school exchange students in programs at Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High school got together for a portrait at Sitka High in February. Pictured are, front from left, Cleomara Sande, from Mozambique; Mihaela Motca, Romania; Shurui Wang, China; and Yuhan Zhang, China. Back row, from left, are Nicoline Huse Christiansen, Denmark; Kanish Djaker, India; and Issa AlBawwab, Jordan.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

Despite the uncertainty of travel, Sande said, she had been happy to be on the way home.

“I’m excited to go home,” she said. “When I was in D.C. I was already ready to go home because of all the energy with my friends. I’m ready to go home when they decide to send me home.”

Rotary exchange student Nicoline Huse Christensen, on the other hand, had been looking forward to spending another month in Sitka. She had planned to leave for home on July 11.

Instead she was told in late May that she had to leave Sitka by June 6. She is now scheduled to depart Thursday, June 4.

“The Rotary district here said that they weren’t going to send us home because it was safe here in Alaska and because it wasn’t safe to send us home,” she said. “When Rotary decided that I needed to leave before June 6 it was a big shock.”

Huse Christensen had hoped to spend more of the summer in Sitka. She has been hiking and kayaking with her friends, and wanted to spend more time in the outdoors.

“There is so much I want to do before I go home,” she said. “I want to stay for Fourth of July and I want to be able to go camping and hiking and just hang out with my friends without having to worry about school.”

Like other local exchange students, Huse Christensen was disappointed when school was moved online in mid-March.

“I didn’t (just) come here to go to school,” she said. “I came here to make relationships and to be a part of the American culture.”

Mihaela Motca, an AFS exchangee, also said the online switch interfered with her plans for finishing out the school year.

“I thought I could say a proper goodbye to my teachers and classmates at Sitka High School, but because of the pandemic I can’t,” she said.

Despite the abrupt end to in-person classes, she said she’s felt safe here.

“I am really happy that I am in Sitka because it’s one of the safest places during this pandemic,” she said.

Nevertheless, she misses her family back home.

“Being far away from home and not having my family from Romania (made me worry) about them and made me think about their safety,” she told the Sentinel.

AFS exchange student Kanish Djaker also has been worried about the distance between Sitka and his home in India.

“I was in a really bad (mental) shape a month ago as a result of all the uncertainty,” he said. “I am feeling a little homesick and I miss my dog so much.”

He said he’s also concerned about his parents at this time.

“Keeping my parents from not panicking is a little hard right now,” he said.