Gambia, Afghanistan School Robotics Teams Rejected Visas To Attend US Competition

A school robotics team made up of five students from The Gambia has joined Afghanistan's all-girl robotics team in having their one-week visas rejected by the U.S. in order to attend the First Global Challenge robotics competition in Washington D.C. The five Gambian students on the robotics team will have their robot shipped from the West African country to the First Global Challenge competition in the U.S., which takes place from July 16-18. But the teens will not be able to attend the prestigious international event themselves, Al-Jazeera reports. Despite saying they worked "rigorous shifts" of seven hours during Ramadan to complete the robot, they will instead have to settle for presenting it via Skype. Director of The Gambia's ministry of higher education, research, science and technology, Moktar Darboe, told Al Jazeera that the students are "very disappointed" they won't be able to attend the competition.