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Meanwhile... In Iowa, three young Tanzanian visitors seem to have touched the hearts of residents

And in Morocco, 110 synagogues have been restored, while in Bolivia, Thailand, and Tunisia, women outnumber men as research scientists.

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Courtesy of STEMM
Back home from Iowa.
  • By Staff

In Sioux City, Iowa, three young Tanzanian visitors seem to have touched the hearts of residents. 

The three Tanzanian middle-schoolers were rushed to Sioux City from Tanzania last May after they were in a bus crash that killed 33. A group of American volunteers from the Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries just happened to be near the site of the crash. Concerned that the three teens needed emergency care best provided in the United States, STEMM flew them to Sioux City. 

By August, all three were almost fully recovered and ready to return home. It had been quite a summer. They went swimming, attended sporting events, were offered the key to the city, and developed relationships with both Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Fourth District Rep. Steve King. “They were rock stars everywhere they went,” STEMM board president Steve Meyer told the Sioux City Journal.

The ripple effects of those friendships will continue to be felt. Thanks to scholarship money raised in Sioux City, all three teens will be enrolling in private high schools in Tanzania. And plans are under way for their return to Iowa. “We’re already in discussions with [local colleges] about finding a way for the three of them to be brought back to Sioux City to complete their college education,” said Mr. Meyer. 

In Morocco, 110 synagogues have been restored. A center for Judeo-Islamic studies is expected to open in the coastal city of Essaouira. The country is also home to the Arab world’s only Jewish museum. 

All of the above were reported by The Economist, which notes, “No Arab country has gone to the lengths of Morocco to revive its Jewish heritage.” The Jewish population in the country numbered 250,000 in 1948. Today it’s closer to 2,500, but the kingdom’s Jewish heritage sites draw about 50,000 Israeli visitors each year.

In Bolivia, Thailand, and Tunisia, women outnumber men as research scientists, according to a
UNESCO report on women in science around the world. 

The study includes some surprises. The percentages of women who are scientists (out of the total population) in Bolivia (62.7 percent), Tunisia (53.9 percent), and Thailand (53.3 percent) surpass percentages in Western European and North American nations, where the average number of women working in scientific research is only 32.2 percent. 

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