By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-957105.mp3
Murray, KY – Murray State University's international students have to give up a lot when they come to study in the United States. Most importantly, they separate themselves from their families. Some students go home once a year, or every few years. Sometimes parents come to the states to visit, but that's not guaranteed. A graduating student may want his or her parents to come for the graduation ceremony. If they do, they need to start planning early. Plane tickets are expensive, and families must go through lengthy waiting periods for passports and visas. As Angela Hatton reports, not every family can afford to come, but at least one student is working to make it happen.
Elena Volovich is graduating in May with a Bachelor's degree in International Business. She could be studying, or writing a paper for her Marketing class. Instead, she's cleaning. She works up a sweat as she sprays and scrubs tables, wipes windows, and moves around furniture for the vacuum cleaner. Volovich isn't cleaning just to earn a few extra bucks. It's part of a project with a goal. Volovich is raising money however she can to bring her mother to Murray for graduation.
"I babysit, I walk dogs, or cats whatever you need I can housesit, I can do some office work, I can be a Russian tutor."
Volovich grew up in Tajikistan as part of the Russian minority there. Volovich's mother used to be an event planner for the Soviet Union in Tajikistan, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain, she cleans house professionally. Volovich helped out on jobs when she was younger, and cleaning now, reminds her of then.
"It reminds me how she would set certain standards for me, how I should perform each job, and I try to stick to her standards. She would remind me to clean under the edge of the table. Don't forget to do that."
Murray State University International Student Advisor Misty Lanham says when a student invites his or her family for graduation, an advisor writes an invitation letter which the family then gives to the immigration officer in their country. Lanham says getting the right documentation is a lengthy process.
"I mean it can take two months before you get an interview. Then they would interview in April, March or April. And they would find out then if they get to come in May."
Lanham says not every family can afford to fly to the area for a visit. She cites current airfare rates between the United States and Korea.
"They're paying 18-hundred dollars to get here to watch graduation, and then, y'know, they're here for maybe a week and then they're going back home."
James Kampamba Lopa is a student from Zambia graduating with his MBA this spring. Lopa also got his undergraduate degree at Murray. When he first walked for his diploma, Lopa's mother made the trip, but his father didn't.
"I don't wanna say I don't think he cares, but I don't think it's like such a big deal to him cause he's in the army, so it's like You're a man, you're supposed to be able to live by yourself.' Certain things are just like small, like me being there, it's a big deal, but it's not that big, y'know."
This time neither of his parents are coming, which isn't unusual for international students. Lopa says he's gotten used to being far away from his family. He went to boarding school when he was younger, which helped condition him But he says coming to Murray was still hard.
"I'm the only Lopa in the states, y'know and I have some friends from Zambia and other states, but I don't really have any family, so, I mean you can depend on people you so much who ain't your relatives, or not your relatives rather."
Elena Volovich hasn't seen her mother in four years, though they talk regularly. Volovich says for the first two years at Murray, her excitement at being out on her own overrode any feeling of homesickness.
"But then I realized there is more to the story. There is a person who really cares for me, and worries about me, and she wants to see me. So it wasn't just Elena Volovich having fun in Murray."
Volovich says she'd be fine graduating without her mother there. But she says it's not about her.
"I just want to be a good daughter. I want her to have this opportunity."
International Student Advisor Misty Lanham says the university won't have specific graduation numbers until the semester ends, though she expects around 100 will get degrees. Students say whether their parents are there to watch or not, they know they're making their families proud.