Mom works tirelessly to get Spelman College daughter studying abroad back to U.S.

ATLANTA — A Spelman College student’s mother worked tirelessly for two weeks to get her daughter home from a study abroad program in Morocco due to coronavirus concerns.

Channel 2’s Kristen Holloway found out Friday that the student is finally coming home.

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Arianna Valbrun is a junior at Spelman College majoring in international studies.

She left for Morocco, north Africa for a study abroad program Jan. 10.

Her mother, Valda Balbrun says her time there was going great until about two weeks ago.

She says due to coronavirus concerns, her daughter feared for her safety.

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“She was referred to as the N-word, and one of her friends happened to be of Asian descendant so they were expecting a lot in terms of just not being treated nicely,” Valbrun said.

Valbrun says her daughter told her that her host family really didn’t want her there anymore.

“I guess many people there have concerns about Americans and coronavirus. The host family had a small child and they were expressing concerns and making her feel uncomfortable,” Valbrun said.

“As a mother, when there’s chaos in the country, you want your kid nearby,” Valbrun said.

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Getting her daughter home wasn’t easy.

“They closed the borders and they stopped all air travel to and from, and that happened late last week,” Valbrun said. “She sent me video yesterday of violence in the streets in Morocco and that’s when I got extremely concerned and so I posted a message to Twitter and said ‘Hey Spelman, what are y’all doing about these kids studying abroad?'”

Eventually, Valbrun says her daughter was able to get on flight late Thursday night.

“She’s on her way home. I have my health, she has her health, there’s so much to be grateful for and I’m going to try and sit in that space,” Valbrun said.

If everything goes as planned, the student should land at Miami International Airport Saturday afternoon.

Holloway reached out to Spelman College to see if more students are trapped in other counties and if they are doing anything to help them. We had not heard back as of Friday evening.

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