Brain Gain

Published: Dec. 15, 2018, 2:30 a.m.

b'

"Brain Drain" is what happens to a country when its best and brightest minds leave and don\'t return. The flip side of this is called "Brain Gain." But even when countries benefit from new arrivals, they don\\u2019t always make it easy for them.

We meet Maria Merza, working hard to overcome bureaucratic and social obstacles standing in the way of her education. Also: We visit a school in California that provides classes for parents as they drop their children off in the morning; We look at new training programmes for skilled trade jobs, aimed at immigrants; Also, Francenette SaintLouis D\\xe9fonce was a nurse in Haiti, but the US won\\u2019t recognise her qualifications or experience; Finally, Harvard University student Jin Park pushes the boundaries of who can become a Rhodes Scholar.

(Ayat Alfares, left, is a \\u201csuper senior\\u201d at Grace M. Davis High School in Modesto, California. Sarah Yousif, right, graduated from the school when she was 21 years old. Both students came to the US as teenagers and began high school later than most of their classmates. Credit: Maria Merza/The World)

'