By Lulu Abraham, Papua New Guinea
August 14, 2024 was a very busy, tiring, yet fulfilling day. It was our first morning in the Big Apple. At around 8am the SUSI group congregated at our designated meeting spot to begin our tour of the New York City highlights. What was once a dream was about to become a reality, to walk through the famously known ‘city that never sleeps’. With our google map set, we begin our journey through the maze.
One of the highlights was the walk through the financial hub of the United States, ‘Wall Street’. Located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, Wall Street is home to some of the most important financial institutions and stock exchanges. From reading about it in books, to now walking through it was a profound and awe-inspiring experience. It has so much history and significance, the very place where some of the most influential decisions in finance have been made- decisions that have shaped not only US economy but economies of the world. Studying and reflecting on the events that have taken place, from the 1929 stock market crash to the Great Depression (1929-1941), the road to recovery afterwards and American today, it is a testament of resilience, adaptability, and the strength of collective effort and solidarity. Something that can be generally applied in life.
Amid the street stood a girl, a ‘fearless girl’. According to my brief google search, it was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, an asset management firm, as part of a campaign promoting gender diversity and the inclusion of women in leadership roles. As a young Melanesian woman, I can resonate with that- that is me, I can be, and I am the ‘Fearless Girl’. Attending the SUSI program is not only for me and my career building, but it is for my daughters, sisters, aunties, and mothers back home in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. A testimony that, where we come from does not define us, but we can be who we want to be amid all the challenges a woman faces every day. In our own capacities we can be the ‘Fearless Girl”, we can represent the strength and potential of women while challenging societal norms and encouraging progress towards greater equality.
After the morning tour we rushed off to our afternoon lecture at the Colombia University, by then you can see that everyone was already tired from all the walking. Regardless, it was a fulfilling day! My SUSI experience has been very enriching and empowering. I am blessed to be given the opportunity to attend this program and being expose to the world-class standard of teaching and learning both in and out of classroom. I look forward to sharing my experience when I go back home. Thank you, US government!
All opinions expressed by the program participants are their own and do not represent nor reflect official views from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, or of the Institute for Training and Development, Inc.
