Disclaimer: This is part three of a multi-part series. This story focuses on the emotional coping mechanisms of international students facing instability back home, which includes but is not limited to protest, war, and natural disasters. Hence, it does not attempt to convey any political opinion of interviewees, or the author. Some of the quotes in this piece have been edited for length and clarity.

The NYU Abu Dhabi campus never felt more lively as winter brings in its chilling winds, and misty dawns. It never felt better to be outdoors during a sunset under The Palms watching the winds play catch through the mazes of seats and trees.

Much of the October heat seemed to fade away, along with the tension some of the students felt during the time watching their home country being enmeshed in a maelstrom of war, protests, or social instability.

Suddenly, their once-turbulent country is no longer a journalism hotspot. When stories of the aftermath stopped appearing on everyone’s newsfeed, quietness pervaded as if from then on nothing else happened; but one is sure this is never the case. So what happens afterwards?

Many of the countries undergoing massive Gen Z-led protests in September had undergone vastly different socio-political trajectories ever since.

In Indonesia, violent civil protests in late August to early September died down following the government’s replacement of 5 key economic and security ministers, along with revocation of 3000 dollars housing allowance for lawmakers – the controversial bill that enraged nationwide anti-corruption protests in the first place.

However, contention over government policies continued after the introduction of another allowance increase just one month after the initial protests. Meanwhile, Indonesia continues to suffer from catastrophic floods and landslides.

On the other hand, for Nepal, a short period of martial law ensued as civil protests had dissolved the previous parliament. An interim government, featuring Sushila Karki as the first female Prime Minister has now been established as the country welcomed its new election on Mar. 5, 2026. Meanwhile, participants, and observers of the violent protests in September grappled with sights of burnt parliamentary buildings, schools, and public venues.

Protests in other countries, such as Morocco and Kenya, seemed to die down, all while facing violent repression. Hostile relations between once-warring states, such as India and Pakistan, continued to be delicate.

The topic of reconstruction has never been so prevalent, particularly as insider-outsider relations raised barriers to open conversations.

I had the opportunity to talk to Mandip, Class of 2025, from Nepal, as he shared his journey being a speaker on forums for the country’s socio-political redevelopment.

In the aftermath of protests, he witnessed younger Nepalis eagerly engaging with political topics, such as constitutional reforms, and the upcoming parliamentary elections. Mandip also shared his hopes that with new civic engagement, corruption cases that once fueled protests can now be more effectively prosecuted.

While Mandip was still in his research fellowship in Abu Dhabi, he still engaged in public forums in his home country through Zoom to raise awareness on important political knowledge, such information about the constitution, or to engage in two-way dialogues with many young people.

Though his perspectives have resonated with many Gen Z groups in Nepal, some still questioned his entitlement to discuss issues in Nepal, as Mandip remained an international student.

Some would regard him as a foreigner merely because of his education. Messages from some old high school close friends would come as, “You never come back, and then why are you so much involved in this sort of stuff?”

He found those sometimes-accusatory questions to contradict his grief and pain observing the protest from afar.

“I have been getting few of the messages about, ‘Who are you to speak about those issues that would be not affecting you.’ But deep down, definitely, that's [Nepal’s protests are] why I couldn't sleep for a few of the days, and that's why I'm part of the conversation,” said Mandip. “Studying here, it doesn't mean that you don't care about anything [back home]. Maybe, you want to get an education over here, then serve back home, but people don't know that side of the story.”

In fact, over the past years, when time permits, Mandip had consistently been back home to work alongside Nepali Members of Parliaments on informing policies in his capacity. Those who were aware of his work had been supportive of him now as he engaged in knowledge-sharing, and open discussions.

Despite such pushbacks, Mandip continued what he did, with the support of many of his long-time friends, and followers.

The events of September, and also others earlier this year, saw people from different countries sharing hope for justice, healing, and brighter days, even ifthey seemed to end in vastly different ways.

I asked all of the students, “If you could send a message of inspiring hope or comfort to other international students who are facing similar instabilities back home, what would you say?”

I was fortunate enough to be able to bring these hopeful messages into a collage of human care, and compassion.

“It's important to be kind to yourself. If there is definitely a problem that you are facing, and [...] you may feel that you're struggling with it [...] for a long time, it's definitely something that you should not ignore.”

“If you want to deal with it, then I would definitely inspire you to seek avenues where you can find hope. Especially, I believe faith is a really huge thing that can really help with not just one difficult event, but even for your whole life. I feel like it's hard to share the problems with other people, and so I would say that I would encourage you to look into the different faiths first and see what they have to say about hope and help for your situation.”

“And second, if you find yourself being more okay to share, I definitely encourage you to talk to a trusted friend of yours, and sometimes you can tell them, like, exactly what you need. Like, is it just you want someone to listen? Or do you want someone to help you in other tangible ways? [...] It will help you know that there's someone out there listening, that there's someone out there who cares. And that helps you to live [through these times].”

“I always say this, “It's at the end of the day. As long as you believe in yourself, as long as you're better than you are from yesterday, it is good enough.’ Keep yourself occupied in something that makes you happy, stay connected with your family and keep up to date with things. It's really all the things that make you better, as small as possible, or like even as small as possible than yesterday. It's great,”

“For hope, it's hard because you don't want to lie to someone while you fully know the situation of their country. You can't give them hope because it's not in your hands. It's more of the politicians’ hands. So the slightest thing would be, if you post about [it], if you talk about it, [...] if you make sure to share this information, that would help.”

“Because I feel, personally, that [this] is the only way people can feel good about themselves in a situation [like this and it] is when they feel that they are helping. And if, when you feel that you're helping, it kind of makes you feel less guilty about the situation. So I kind of feel like, ‘Yeah, just have a hand in it!” And if anything goes wrong, you feel that … at least you did something, [and if] anything goes right, you'll be like, ‘Oh, I was a hero in it.’ So it's like, win-win!”

“I think it's important right now to use your voice on social media to post more quality news, for example, news that are authentically displaying what is currently happening right now, and not to follow biased reporting.”

“Please call their families and friends, try to understand what [situation] they're living [in]. It's very different from what you live here abroad, [...] [and] very different from what you see online. So call them, [...] understand what they're going through and try to understand what's happening, formulate an opinion, and see what you think is right, what you think is wrong.”

“Maybe you can choose to express [yourself], [but] it very depends on the country. You can choose to, [...] as I said, clarify, and post more on what's true, and what is right in your opinion [...].

“Keep it light. Be optimistic as well. Sometimes it can be very hard, especially if it touches your family or like, it's very close to you. Any problems? Okay, that's when you want to be very, very, very attentive and calm.”

“And check the resources on campus. We have the Dean of Students who always supports students when they come from [countries that] are [facing] political issues or danger, like security issues. So yeah, check the resources and, yeah, … get help and stay calm.”

“The important thing is not to lose ourselves in the grief [that] we are facing, not to lose our values, our morals, and just keep the spirit of what you feel is right and what's the right way…right thing to do, and let that guide us,”

“Because it's very easy to fall into hate, especially in the aftermath of grief. It's like a very easy pitch to fall into. [...] Even if we can't have some of our own individual impact, our thinking is what we can control, our thought process is what we can control, and our interactions with other people. So the things we can control, we should do them right,” he said about our sense of control over the situation.”

“To me, I would just say that you need to realize that [from] the position that you're in,... there isn't really much that you can do …, and instead of worrying about that and overthinking…, you need to just accept the situation and focus on the other things that you do need to do. Of course, I'm not preventing anyone from advocating for something that they might be in support of. That's an entirely different situation in itself.”

“And … in situations like these, I think if someone's concerned about their families, their relatives, their friends back home, just keep in contact with them very regularly. Don't stress out in front of them that will make them stress out even more. You know, just make sure to be there as a pillar of support, and support them emotionally and mentally as you can, even if you can't be there physically, I think that's what matters most. And don't beat yourself up about not being there, because that's not something that's always in your control. And don't try to feel guilty about things that, again, you aren't in control of.”

“In this situation, the most important thing is that: Be connected. Conversations are the most important things. There are a lot of things happening back home, which you can't explain by yourself, [and] you need somebody else to explain it to you. There could be some online communities that you could be part of and be part of the conversation. Maybe you always have your family back home. So… they are the anchors for you to rely on whenever you have these terrible times and these sorts of situations.”

“It's always difficult for yourself to contemplate these things, these sorts of situations and then get out of it. So sharing it with the people who resonate with your emotions is important. …Don't hesitate to ask for help. There were a lot of friends who had not known about the situations back home. Some of them were very disturbed [about] these political debates as well as what was happening back home. So I tried to explain those things to them. So maybe that helped them to be a little bit [more] informed. Those sorts of conversations help you to understand the situations and then maybe sometimes console yourself.”

“I mean, not everything is over. [But] there is some hope as well, [and] we will get into peace. There are some good sites to rely on as well. So most importantly: [You]have to have conversations! Talk with people.”