Connecting Cultures: Our Experience in the Global Cultural Link FGD | by English Club SMA Unggulan Rushd | Oct, 2025

At SMA Unggulan Rushd, there is a program that connects our students with international students called “Global Cultural Link.” This event is held every Wednesday. The students come from different countries and universities.

When it’s the 11th-grade boys’ schedule, the international students come from UNNES (University of Semarang), but they actually come from different countries such as Ghana, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, and Pakistan.

During the Focus Group Discussion (FGD), my group got to know two students — one from Ghana and the other from Pakistan. The student from Ghana was named Emmanuel, and the one from Pakistan was Ihsan. Both of them came from farming families, but their lifestyles were quite different.

Emmanuel worked with his parents to take care of their crops, helping to replant and harvest. Meanwhile, Ihsan’s family was wealthy and owned a farm, but he didn’t need to work there. He just watched the workers and then went back home to rest. He admitted that he was quite spoiled and didn’t have to do much around the house.

The first topic we discussed was about household life in Ghana and Indonesia. We discovered that both countries have a similar family structure and responsibilities, so there were not many differences.

The second discussion focused more on household responsibilities in Ihsan’s family compared to ours. In his family, he was responsible for supervising the workers on the farm to make sure everything ran smoothly.

To conclude, I think this program is really meaningful because it allows us to share experiences and learn about important responsibilities in different families and cultures. It also helps us understand more about life in other countries.