Fulbright-Chile Annual Celebratory Breakfast
Fulbright Board of Directors President, Jaime Arellano Q.
Closing Remarks

I thank all of you for being here this morning, especially the representatives from the Embassy of the United States, headed by Ambassador Craig Kelly, the distinguished officials from the Chilean Foreign Ministry and my colleagues on the Fulbright-Chile Board of Directors.

I am no fan of long-winded speeches, so I will confine myself to offering a few reflections, which might be useful to you in the new phase of your lives that is about to begin.

As I look around this room, I am reminded of memories from some years ago - I'm not going to say "memories of my youth," because I still feel young (and I am, in spite of a few gray hairs!), but memories from my era as a student.

Like many of you -- in fact the great majority -- I lived through that time of nervous anticipation as I waited for news on whether I had been accepted as a Fulbright scholar. I, too, had to prepare myself, focus my energies and control my excitement as I began what has been, without a doubt, one of the periods in my life that has marked me most strongly.

Today we say goodbye to those who are leaving to begin a new chapter in their lives. We welcome those who are returning, feeling justifiably proud of their achievements. We offer greetings and express our appreciation to those who are arriving to study or teach in our country.

Today, on a date that is particularly significant for us - the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Fulbright Commission in Chile - I realize that I feel a sense of satisfaction. Satisfaction because in this room, we can breathe the spirit that Senator Fulbright sought to forge within the international community. The spirit of the Senator from Arkansas, who rejected war and who understood - as he publicly declared - that educational exchanges may be the most significant and effective tool of a foreign policy that seeks to integrate countries and their inhabitants.

Thanks to the dream and the vision set forth by Fulbright -- a humanist and a man of peace -- we have the tools today to make a real contribution to tolerance and world understanding.

We are part of a group that includes a quarter of a million participants from 140 countries, who -- thanks to their academic and professional skills and their leadership potential -- have had the opportunity to study and teach abroad, to expand their knowledge for their own benefit and for the benefit of their countries and cultures.

Last July, when I became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Chile's Fulbright Commission, we agreed that the need for ongoing education and training -- in all professions -- has increased dramatically in this globalized world. We also agreed on the central importance of the opportunities for cultural and educational exchange provided by the Commission.

In fact, those of us who have participated in a Fulbright exchange program are uniquely poised to convince others of the benefits of this aspect of globalization.

In my personal case, I am particularly grateful because my experience as a Fulbright scholar -- the opportunity to continue my education in Washington, D.C. -- has served me immensely in my development as a person. It has broadened my vision of the world, and it has been infinitely useful in the performance of my current responsibilities as a public official, a "happy public servant" within the government of President Ricardo Lagos.

But if you ask me what it was like when I arrived in the United States, or when I returned to Chile after finishing my studies, I can tell you that it was not easy.

My old Volkswagen Santana was an embarrassment to my family and to the entire Chilean community in the United States.

Even my relative fluency in spoken English became a disadvantage during my first months at American University, because I could participate quite well in the classroom debates in my graduate-level courses, but later I would have to explain the poor quality of my papers ("What college did you graduate from?", was ironic, jarring typical question from my befuddled professors). Writing decently in English was a great challenge for me throughout my student years, and it will probably always remain so.

My wife, Alejandra, always had to explain why her children had a different last name from hers. (Her response was: "because I married Jaime, not his family" - and you must imagine this in the defiant tone of a Chilean lawyer studying for her LL.M.).

Becoming integrated into a completely different world is a difficult task. Add to this the rigorous academic demands you will face and the lack of family support in many cases (it is hard to believe, but Americans don't complain about missing their brothers, sisters, parents, aunts and uncles in Chile!). These are factors that will weigh heavily on you and make the challenges that lie ahead even more complex.

But for those who will be leaving for the United States in July 2005, I invite you to take full advantage of the opportunity to continue your education in a country that is a leader in knowledge, but above all, one that will provide you with new experiences in human coexistence and community life.

I don't know if it was necessarily the best idea -- in fact, it had its disadvantages -- but when we left for Washington, Alejandra and I decided that we wanted to live in the "real" United States, not in the artificial environment of a university campus.

So we rented a small house in Wheaton, in the Maryland suburbs. And on our first day there, we were greeted with a home-baked cake from our neighbors (it seems that our neighborhood was frozen in time in the 1970s). We raked leaves in the fall (with a real rake, not a leaf-blower), shoveled the snow from our driveway and sidewalk in winter, and tracked down an elusive repairmen in the summer to fix our air conditioning (because only hell itself compares to August in D.C. without air conditioning). Once, during the storm of '95, I even climbed up onto the roof to break through a block of ice that was holding back rainwater, which had somehow found a way to drip down the walls of our living room.

I spent many spring days with Alejandra and our daughter Trini in Wheaton Regional Park; we borrowed books and videos from the community library; we enjoyed play groups and birthday parties with the neighborhood children, and we happily took advantage of the services of teenaged babysitters. We celebrated Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, September 18th (with empanadas!) and the Fourth of July with the community.

In other words, we experienced "real life" in suburban America.

In addition to the personal benefits that this kind of experience brings, I invite you also to reflect upon, and incorporate into your actions, the collective interest of a country such as Chile, which sees in you an opportunity to promote artistic, cultural, scientific and economic advancement. These are what we call the variables of development and social well-being, toward which we aspire as a country.

To those who are returning, congratulations! It will not be easy to reintegrate yourselves (please remember, don't go around saying "they do this much better in the United States"!). I'm sure you already know that re-entry can be difficult, and that you will have to draw upon the skills you have gained to carve out a new niche for yourself, where you can develop your comparative advantages to the fullest.

But what is most important, I believe, beyond all of the political, philosophical, religious and ideological choices every person makes in life, is that we do not forget the ideals that have inspired us. We must ensure that every one of our actions, in our private lives as well as our professions, is infused with the principles of humanism, solidarity, tolerance and mutual respect. This must be one of our hallmarks as Fulbright scholars.

To the scholarship holders from the United States who will be living temporarily in our country, I would like to express my appreciation and assure you that Chile stands behind you. In addition to advancing a particular area of knowledge, we are confident that you will assist us in our worthy quest to make Chile a bilingual country.

Honored scholars, dear friends:

After the Second World War, the Fulbright program - or the Fulbright Act, as it was called after its approval by Congress - began with only 83 students from four countries. Today, as I mentioned earlier, some 250,000 individuals from 140 countries have taken part in these historic exchanges.

Here in Chile, the program has also enjoyed significant advances. Not only have nearly 1,500 Chilean men and women benefited from these scholarships, but since the year 2000, the Chilean government -- and particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- has committed itself to supporting the program financially. Last year, 300,000 dollars were dedicated to this aim, giving concrete evidence of the value placed by the Chilean government on our endeavors.

I should also mention the important work of the English Teaching Assistantships (ETA) program, which assists universities throughout Chile in training future English teachers; the alliance between the Fulbright Commission and Conicyt to implement a doctoral program in science and technology; and the Scholarship for U.S. Specialists, in which outstanding scholars at the height of their intellectual and productive careers undertake instructional projects with their Chilean counterparts. The Visiting Scholars Program also deserves special notice.

As you can see, we have made much progress and have many reasons to feel proud of our accomplishments.

******************

In conclusion, I would like to express my appreciation, congratulations and good wishes to each one of you, and I reiterate my call to keep Senator Fulbright's legacy alive and to incorporate it into our daily lives: respecting others and working to achieve peace around the world. These values represent a way of life for the Fulbright community, and I hope they will be reflected in every one of our actions.

Thank you very much.