Annie Kearns, Brazil, Spring and Summer 2008
This picture was taken during Annie's time volunteering at GACC, a
Ronald McDonald-type house specifically for children with cancer. On this
particular day the kids were learning about indigenous Brazilian cultures,
and having a great time doing it!
Annie spent six months in 2008 in
the state of Bahia, in Northeast Brazil. Her spring semester was spent
with SIT's public health program, mostly in Salvador (Bahia's capital).
Through SIT she took part in guest lectures from Brazilian public health
experts, helped put on health programs in rural communities, and
learned Portuguese. She also spent a month volunteering at an
HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment clinic in the northern part of the
state, where she helped follow up on patients (and their children) that had slipped
through the cracks over time. Back in Salvador for the summer, Annie interned at a
public maternity hospital, serving the poorest mothers from in and around the city. She
conducted a study to determine why mothers of premature babies, who are hospitalized
as long as their baby is, stop breastfeeding sooner than their counterparts with full-term
infants. Her results showed that staff at the hospital need to talk to the mothers and
families more consistently about breastfeeding, something that will be prioritized there
in the future.
Kate McDermott, Cameroon, Summer 2009
In this photo, Kate is employing a
Cameroonian teaching method to
take a break from some pretty
heavy topics and get the students
re-focused. She wishes Cornell
professors would give it a
shot. The whole class stands and
is taught a song with
accompanying hand
motions. Here, Kate and her
student Derek spell the word
“coconut” out with their
bodies.
Kate spent eight weeks
in Buea, Cameroon developing
and teaching HIV/AIDS
sensitization classes and
workshops. She traveled to Cameroon through AIESEC, a student-run organization that
works in over 107 countries. The AIESECers in Buea matched Kate with the Elyon Rock
Foundation, a Cameroonian NGO. Kate and other international AIESEC trainees working
for Elyon Rock developing an age-appropriate curriculum for HIV/AIDS sensitization in
secondary and high school holiday classes. The leaders in creating these lessons were
Cameroonian AIESECers who have developed a sustainable program called ASK
(Answers Solutions Knowledge). The program mobilizes international trainees in
teaching about health and HIV/AIDS, while exposing them to the global health issues
important in Africa. This truly immersive experience opened Kate’s eyes to the
fundamental complexities of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: misinformation in some schools
and complete lack of information in many more, and cultural norms that complicate
health messages. Working with peers from Japan, Germany, Cameroon, and China
helped Kate develop as a teacher, especially because each individual’s teaching method
and approach to the subject matter were unique.
Anna Kress, China, Summer 2009
This is a picture of Anna and two
friends taken just before the start
of the Great Wall Marathon—a
26.2-mile run encompassing 5164
steps of China’s Great Wall. Anna
was running for team Prevention
Through Education (PTE); a small
non-profit NGO in Beijing, China
that works to promote HIV/AIDS
education among Chinese children
predominantly from migrant
worker families. PTE trains
university students to teach in
migrant schools about HIV/AIDS
discrimination, transmission, testing, treatment, etc. In the spring semester of
2009, Anna volunteered at PTE and helped to raise money and coordinate volunteers for
China’s only anonymous online HIV information discussion forum. During the Great Wall
Marathon, Anna’s team raised almost $24,000, which will be used to train roughly 2,400
volunteers to teach in migrant schools, allowing PTE to reach over 700,000 Chinese
students.
Ginger Golub, India, China, and South Africa, Spring 2008
The bazaar in Bangalore, India was loud and crowded,
but the owner of a store welcomed Ginger with a
blessing and prayer flowers. Such generosity and
greetings made the market a less overwhelming and
more enjoyable experience.
Ginger spent her semester enrolled in the
International Honors Program- Health and
Community, a study abroad program that focuses on
comparative public health and travels to Switzerland,
India, China, and South Africa. In each of these countries, the program organizes
homestays in order for students to fully immerse themselves into another culture and
way of life. Ginger discovered how close one could get with a family through the use of
gestures only, as was the case in her Chinese family. Each of the families welcomed her
into their daily lives: taking her to Hindu temple for prayer, to Beijing parks for
traditional dancing, and to South African braais (BBQs).
Academics involved guest lectures, site visits to clinics and alternative medicine
facilities, and independent case studies in which the students could explore a topic of
their choice. Ginger decided to research HIV and prevention education interventions in
each of the countries by conducting interviews and focus groups with support groups,
doctors, and NGO directors. Ginger extended her stay after the program ended in South
Africa, where she worked with an NGO and assessed the conditions of refugee camps
established in response to recent xenophobic attacks by holding focus groups and
informing displaced people about their rights.
Ellen Smith, Costa Rica, Summer 2008
This picture, taken at the Hogar de Esperanza
(HIV home), shows Ellen (standing far left in
blue shirt), other volunteers, some of the
residents of the home, and the home’s
nurse. Pictured on the ground in front is a
volcano that they made and erupted as an
activity with the residents.
Ellen Smith, ’10
spent her summer volunteering with an
organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions, in
Cartago, Costa Rica. Cross-Cultural Solutions
is an organization that offers volunteer and
internship experiences all over the world. The
organization has a home base in each locale where the volunteers stay and assigns them
to volunteer placements within the community. Ellen’s placements in Cartago were in a
nursing home and a home for people with HIV/AIDS. She also helped to organize and
lead a camp at an orphanage for a week. At the nursing home her activities included
helping with the laundry, cleaning the dining room, occasionally assisting with physical
therapy, helping feed some of the residents, and doing arts and crafts and socializing
with the residents. Some of the social activities included painting nails, making
bracelets, and making yarn dolls. At the HIV home Ellen helped with chores around the
building, meal preparation, English lessons, and creating activities for the
residents. Some of these activities included coloring, origami, and bracelet making. The
most fun project was making a volcano and erupting it.
Samantha Wronski, Dominican Republic, Summer 2010
This photo was taken after Creole church
on Sunday morning in the Haitian refugee
and poor Dominican community of Villa
Ascension, Dominican Republic, where
Samantha stayed with two other Cornell
global health students and a Fordham
University student for the duration of her
eight-week field experience. She worked
with an organization called Crossroads to
lead her team in carrying out meaningful
health projects for the people of Villa
Ascension. Projects included a free twiceweekly abstinence education class for boys and girls and door-to-door nutrition and
health education. Samantha’s team worked closely with members of the community to
train and encourage them to continue these types of education after her aid departed
the DR in August.
In addition to these projects, Samantha’s group participated weekly in two village health
clinics by shadowing a Haitian doctor, managing incoming patients, and organizing the
mission house pharmacy. Samantha also traveled with her team once per week to a
“Mustard Seed” Community, where she played with and fed orphaned children with
developmental disabilities. Another weekly activity that Samantha and the other global
health students engaged in was the village Food Program. Still another weekly activity
was visiting the public hospital in Puerto Plata on Saturdays with the Crossroads
president and head of medical ministry, Dr. Bob Amelingmeier. There, Samantha learned
about various health problems and distributed health items and medications for the
neediest of patients.
Samantha had the opportunity to engage in a few special projects, as well. These
included distributing food to trash collectors at a nearby dump and assisting SUNY
Downstate Medical School students in a research study on hypertension and diabetes in
the villages surrounding Villa Ascension. At the beginning of her trip, Samantha and her
team were also able to help Crossroads provide dignity to a man at the end of his life by
feeding and checking in on him every day. As part of living among the people of Villa
Ascension, Samantha enjoyed sharing in the day-to-day activities of the community,
such as attending a traditional Haitian wedding and watching a boxing match.
Naomi Adjei, Dominican Republic, Summer 2009
This picture was taken after one of Naomi’s field visits to an
ecological reserve close to Bavaro, Dominican Republic, when she
was invited to have lunch with a family that is well-known for
their knowledge in medicinal plants.
During the summer of 2009, Naomi performed biomedical
research on infectious diseases and their vectors as part of the
Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Program in Punta
Cana, Dominican Republic. During the first two weeks of her stay, Naomi visited
different ecological reserves to learn about plants used for medicinal purposes in the D.
R. After those two weeks, she picked six plants to study in depth and presented her
research findings at a symposium at the end of the program.
While in D.R., Naomi
also shadowed Dr. Alberto at the Veron Outpatient Clinic, which is managed through a
joint collaboration between Edward Via Virginia Osteopathic School of Medicine, the D.R.
Government and the Veron community. About 90% of the patients treated at the clinic
are Haitians. The clinic has an HIV testing center and an infant immunization center,
both of which are very well-organized.
Joan Tymon, Dominican Republic, Summer 2009
This is one of Joan’s favorite
pictures because it shows her in
action with her gear and notes in
the rainforest. In the picture,
Joan is on one of the daily field
trips during which she learned
about the various plant species
and their indigenous
ethnobotanical usages in the
Dominican Republic.
The
objective of the fieldwork Joan
performed was to collect various
Caribbean plants based upon their
traditional ethnobotanical usage
and bring them to the lab where
Joan performed several initial
biological assays. These biological assays were done to assess the efficacy of each plant
species in acting as an allelochemical agent, an antibacterial agent, an antifungal agent,
an inhibitor of cell division, and a cytotoxic agent for potential usage against neoplastic
cells. From her studies, Joan learned that there is validity to some ethnobotanical
practices. For instance, one of the plants Joan chose to study was Guaiacum officinale,
which is traditionally used to fight cancer. When she tested this plant in the laboratory,
Joan found that it did possess cytotoxic abilities. With additional research, it may prove
marketable as a potential drug to combat cancer.
Lauren Tanz, Ghana, Summer 2010
Lauren spent eight weeks in Ghana, volunteering for
an NGO called Projects Abroad. She lived with a
local family and worked at Kasoa Health Centre
three days per week, rotating between the
maternity ward and the outpatient department. In
maternity, Lauren assisted the midwives by
checking contractions and helping with vaginal births
(of which the hospital saw over 350 per month). In
outpatient, she checked the temperatures and
weight of children, most of who were suffering from
malaria, before they saw the doctor. Wednesdays and Fridays were spent traveling to
orphanages in Accra, the capital city, as well as Kasoa with a small group of volunteers
participating in a medical outreach program. At these orphanages, Lauren cleaned and
dressed cuts on the orphans and treated fungal infections, such as the very common
and contagious ringworm. Afternoons were spent at an orphanage near her homestay,
playing with the children and taking them to a local clinic to get tested for HIV and
Sickle Cell Disease.
Erica Billig, Ghana, Summer 2008
Erica is visiting schools with some nurses from the
hospital. She taught classes on typhoid, malaria, and
HIV.
Erica spent eight weeks over the summer
interning in Hohoe, Ghana. She spent the first six
weeks working at a local hospital and the last two
weeks working for a non-governmental organization
called Pro-Link. At the hospital, she rotated wards to
learn how the hospital was run, and then chose which
units she enjoyed the most. She decided to focus her
time on the family planning and pre-natal units. She
worked with patients finding healthy birth control methods and observed meetings with
pregnant women. She also traveled with the hospital to schools to teach health
classes. She was able to observe everything from lab work, to births and surgeries. At
Pro-Link, she taught HIV education classes at schools around the town and did some HIV
testing as well. She traveled through Cross-Cultural Solutions, an organization that
provided her placement as well as living conditions. The program began with two days
of orientation. They provided housing with about twenty other volunteers, all food, and
security. On the weekends, volunteers traveled all over Ghana. She was able to spend
time in many areas of the country, learning many cultural aspects the daily life there.
Ann Yang, Guatemala, Summer 2009
This picture shows primary school
children in the village of Estrella
Polar receiving de-licing
treatments. Ann worked in rural
villages in Guatemala this past
summer and took part in several
health projects with a local
medical team.
Ann Yang spent
eight weeks in Guatemala,
working in multiple towns and
villages including Mixco, Palin and
the indigenous Ixil Region. She
spent the majority of her time
with members of a Guatemalan
medical team that consisted of three nurses and one doctor. At the Mixco office, she
helped translate health information from Spanish to English, and organized an inventory
of donated medications and supplies. Her fieldwork in Palin and the Ixil Region involved
visiting several primary schools as part of an anti-lice project. As Ann’s team traveled
between the different villages, they also made house visits to check-up on ill patients
who suffered from conditions ranging from diabetes to skin infections. In several towns,
Ann also helped lead a training class aimed at teaching local village leaders and students
the basics of anatomical science.
Marione Robine, Honduras, Summer 2010
This is a picture of Marion and the other Cornell students in one
of the classrooms during the dental program. The kids were
asked to repeat the steps to brush their teeth “like experts”
that Marion and the other students had showed them. In the
summer of 2009 and 2010, Marion went to Honduras for four
weeks with other Cornell students. In Honduras, Marion was
mostly working in a rural village, Punta Ocote. Marion and the
other students had prepared programs requested by the community that they
implemented during their trip; there was a dental program in the schools, a muscular
skeletal program for women, and walking group. Marion was mostly responsible for the
dental program. The first year, she had brought toothbrushes and the NGO she worked
with bought toothpaste in the cities that they distributed to every student who attended
the dental program. With a song and different interactive activities, they taught the
children how to brush their teeth, what to do if they did not have a toothbrush or
toothpaste, how to floss and the importance of flossing, what foods to avoid etc. The
students and she worked with the promotoras (community health workers) on that
project to make sure that they could repeat the program throughout the year to make it
more sustainable. The second summer, Marion and the other students added a fluoride
treatment to the program. The second project, a muscular skeletal program, was aimed
at the women of the community. The students showed the women easy stretches to do
everyday, how to use ice or hot/warm towels to alleviate pain. The goals were to reduce
the amount of pills they use. Another student also put in place a walking group (and
went running with the women every morning at 5am!) Lastly, a medical brigade from
University of Arizona came the last week of her trip in 2009. The other students and she
shadowed them and translated for them the entire week and saw hundreds of patients.
One week during her second trip, Marion also assisted an optometrist and
ophthalmology resident from UoA.
Sarah Mann, Honduras, Summer 2009
Sarah Mann and Julie Heier give a
presentation about pregnancy and
breast-feeding with two other women
from the community in La
Guacamaya, Honduras.
Through
the Cornell club Partnership for
Honduran Health, 7 students traveled
to La Guacamaya, Honduras for 8
weeks. During the two months, the
Cornell students surveyed 300
households, worked in a clinic, and
presented educational programs
about infant maternal health and
dental health. Sarah Mann and Julie
Heier gave about 10 different
educational presentations about topics like nutrition and vitamins during pregnancy, the
importance of breast-feeding, how to treat sore nipples and other problems while
breastfeeding, how to prepare to give birth, and information about family planning. Two
other Cornell students, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Wagner, focused on dental health
education. They went to two elementary schools and taught every student how to brush
their teeth.
Sheridan Reiger, Honduras, Summer 2008
In this picture Sheridan Reiger is handing out antiparasite medications to families in the neighboring
community of La Victoria. This community was
connected to La Guacamaya until Hurricane Mitch
washed the road out. Now it takes a three hour
horseback ride or hike to get healthcare to families
there.
Sheridan Reiger went to La Guacamaya,
Honduras during the summer of 2008. During his
eight weeks there he worked in clinical settings,
community development projects and helped
advocate for the health of the community. The community of La Guacamaya was heavily
impacted by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and like much of the rest of Honduras has yet to
recover. The clinic in La Guacamaya was built in response to this catastrophe but
remained closed for much of the year until this past summer. Members of the summer
brigade, including students from the Cornell student group Partnership for Honduran
Health (P4HH) and representatives of the NGO Salud Juntos, helped to broker meetings
for the local health committee with NGOs and the Ministry of Health in Honduras. What
resulted was a contract between La Guacamaya and the Ministry of Health which
provides year round healthcare in the clinic. In addition, Sheridan also worked on
community health projects with other P4HH members, including maternal health
education, dental/oral health and a comprehensive health survey of over 300 households
which is in the process of being written up and published.
Hardeep Singh and Preeti Panda, India, Summer 2010
In the summer of 2010, Hardeep Singh and Preeti Panda
traveled to Mumbai, India to intern at a non-government
organization called NASEOH (National Association for Equal
Opportunity for Handicapped India). NASEOH’s mission is
to empower disabled individuals of low socioeconomic
status. The NGO provides vocational training in various
fields. Afterward, NASEOH provides job placement for
students who have gained mastery in a variety of fields such
as embroidery, welding, database entry, pottery, and
ceramics. Additionally, NASEOH provides basic free health
care to the neighboring slum population through the clinic in
the Prevention Department. Hardeep and Preeti spent
most of their time working with patients in the clinic. They
interviewed patients about their diets and nutritional needs
and provided crucial nutritional counseling. The findings from the interviews were used
to make key recommendations to the director of the NGO in order to increase the
effectiveness of their Health and Prevention department. Hardeep and Preeti also had
the opportunity to shadow volunteer physicians that provided various services to the
nearby slum communities, such as vaccines for young children and surgery for rickets
patients. The close interaction with these physicians enabled Hardeep and Preeti to gain
a great understanding of how the medical system functions in urban India. Additionally,
Hardeep and Preeti participated in an outreach program educating local elementary
teachers about the importance of macronutrients in foods. Ultimately, Hardeep and
Preeti acknowledged the difficulty and intricacies of operating a not-for-profit
organization in a third world country, where funds for humanitarian causes are very low.
Amid the constant struggle of funding, NASEOH undeniably makes meaningful positive
impact on the people living with disabilities.
Nick DeVito, India, Summer 2009
This picture was taken in a village outside of Thanjavar
in India's state of Tamil Nadu. In a visit to the field,
Nicholas DeVito, John Lee and another intern play with
a group of school children. On this field visit, Nick also
visited several local health facilities and observed the
early stages of an oral health study designed by
ICTPH.
In the summer of 2009, Nick spent nine
weeks based out of Chennai, India working for the IKP
Center For Technologies in Public Health (ICTPH). He
worked in "Human Capacity," which focused on identifying gaps in the health system
and mobilizing health workers to fill those gaps. His primary responsibilities included
researching and writing a literature review on the topic of mental health in developing
countries, educating others in the organization on this topic, and conducting outreach
programs targeting others working in this field. Throughout his time in India, Nick was
able to experience firsthand many facets of the Indian health system and had the
opportunity to speak to doctors, nurses, government personnel, non-profit workers and
local people in order to better understand the health care system in India and mental
health's place within this system. Additionally, Nick played a key role in the day-to-day
operations of ICTPH and had the pleasure of working with other foreign student interns
and the motivated employees of ICTPH.
Sanchit Gupta, India, Summer 2009
During the summer of 2009, Sanchit worked with the
Impact India Foundation's Community Health
Initiative in the Thane District, a rural area a few
hours from Mumbai, helping establish a simple IT
infrastructure with laptops and Internet connections in
various regional offices. He taught health workers how
to use computers and software for safe Internet
activities, tracking patients, giving presentations, and
analyzing survey data. He also helped design a
patient management system and studied the
collaboration between the NGO and government within India's National Rural Health
Mission. Sanchit then shadowed surgeons in Vidisha on the Lifeline Express, a mobile
hospital on a train that stops at station platforms for a month at a time and provides
free surgical care for the poor. He observed cleft lip operations, surgeries repairing
perforated eardrums, orthopedic corrections to regain movement after polio infection,
and dental extractions and visited post-operative patients in the local hospital ward.
Priya Patel, India, Summer 2009
These are just a few of the first
graders that Priya taught. They
are playing with the one jump
rope that they were provided on
their barren "playground" during
P.E. Although these children have
dealt with many hardships and
unfortunate circumstances in their
lives, they always seem to have
smiles on their faces.
During
the summer of 2009, Priya spent
eight weeks teaching at a
boarding school for Sri Lankan
refugee children in Bangalore,
India. Many of the students at the
school have been separated from
their parents and some are orphans due to the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Priya taught a
variety of classes, including English, math, reading, art, health, and P.E., for grades 1-8.
As a teacher, Priya helped develop the curriculum and introduced new teaching methods
that can be used by teachers in the future.
When she wasn’t in the classroom, Priya worked to improve the school in other
capacities. With money she raised before her trip, Priya built a health center at the
school with basic medical and hygienic supplies, provided proper bedding for each
student, created a library, and purchased various educational and health resources.
During this experience, Priya not only learned about various types of global health
issues, but she also enjoyed spending time with the kids and immersing herself in their
culture and lives.
Melanie Tam, India, Summer 2009
NGOs in India utilize a variety to methods when teaching
different audiences about HIV/AIDS. Here, the Melanie and
her fellow interns are looking through a picture book used for
educating children about HIV transmission.
During the summer of 2009, Melanie traveled to Hyderabad,
India through AIESEC, a student-run organization that
facilitates international exchanges. She lived and worked with
four other interns from China and Mauritius on the Genesis HIV/AIDS project. They
learned about work currently being done at Divya Disha and the Dare Foundation, NGOs
that educate people in the slums about HIV/AIDS prevention so that they can, in turn,
become peer educators responsible for spreading the message to others. Melanie and
her fellow interns also had a chance to visit the clinics run by the NGOs to learn about
the medical services being provided to infected people in nearby areas.
Melanie’s
main project was conducting HIV/AIDS workshops at various schools and
universities. She and the other interns prepared presentations explaining the status of
HIV/AIDS in India, modes of HIV transmission, stages of the disease, prevention
methods, and treatment through interactive activities, quizzes, and demonstrations.
They also conducted surveys to better understand the stigma that exists towards people
living with HIV/AIDS and to learn why students feel the problem is so widespread in
their country and what role the government should play in addressing the high HIV
prevalence rates.
Seth Ari Hoffman, Indonesia, Summer 2010
In Summer 2010, Seth spent 2
months on a small island in
Indonesia called Flores working
on a malaria-helminth project
with Leiden University Medical
College and the University of
Indonesia. There is very little
access to electricity or running
water there, and many of the
people go through their whole
lives never having possessed a
shoe. It is a simple, but beautiful
place that will stay with him
forever. He was pre-med before
going, but now Seth HAS to be a
doctor. To give you an idea of what he was doing on most weekdays he woke at 4:00
AM to travel to local residences to take blood and stool samples, measure height and
weight, blood pressure, and skin fold. The physical exam also included a questionnaire
to determine general health, and whether or not the patient had any indications of
malaria and/or helminth infection. In order to garner the correct information from his
patients, he had to be attentive, aware, awake (hard to do when it’s still dark out), and
present a positive attitude…oh and did he mention you have to know how to speak
Indonesian? The population studies have allowed me to develop a relatively quick grasp
of the Indonesian language and he now has the great ability of being able to haggle with
ojek (hitchhiking with motorcycles for a small fee) and bemo (local bus service) drivers.
And let me tell you, a bemo ride is quite the exploit. For the equivalent of $0.50 USD
you can squeeze into a car made for max 9 people, but experience reveals it can easily
carry 18 people.
Katie Hancock, Jamaica, Fall 2009
In the Fall of 2009, Katie spent 3 and a half months living in Kingston, Jamaica through
the International Partnership for Service Learning (IPSL). Taking classes twice a week at
the University of Technology and volunteering 3
days a week at a multidisciplinary clinic called
FISH (the Foundation for International Self-Help),
she was able to gain a deep understanding of the
community, local health issues, and struggles of
people living in Jamaica and the Caribbean at
large. In the clinic, Katie rotated between all the
different stations: registration/records, medical
lab, nurse's station, dental clinic, optometry, and
opthamology, and even on smoe select Fridays,
the baby clinic. Toward the end of my stay,
she organized a toy drive to help collect and
provide toys for children in the baby clinic waiting room. Each of my rotations kept
things exciting, gave me a new view of the struggles faced by patients, and expanded
my views and assumptions about Jamaican life. Jamaica is not all reggae, ganja, and
Bob Marley - it's wondering what disease you have because your husband is unfaithful in
this commonly adulturous society, it's having 4 rotting teeth extracted at once because
you had no money for preventative care, and it's not seeing your Mom for weeks on end
because she's in the U.S. trying to make money to send back to you and your family.
Katie learned things and made connections with these people that are long lasting; it
was an irreplaceable experience.
Carrie Howard, Kenya, Summer 2009
This picture was taken in a cassava field in
northwestern Tanzania with a farmer field
group during a training session on cassava
diseases. The man in the yellow shirt holding
up the cassava plant is the field agent
conducting the training.
After developing computer-based training
modules with a class at Cornell, Carrie spent
ten weeks traveling in Kenya, Tanzania, and
Uganda with a team of Cornell and Kenyan
graduate students. The team conducted a
series of conferences in collaboration with
Catholic Relief Services to train field agents from local non-government organizations in
each country. As part of the pilot phase of a large project involving six countries in East
Africa, the team helped distribute laptops with training materials to field agents, who
then trained local farmers in their districts. The workshops focused on computer and
facilitation skills, as well use of the computer-based training modules that covered a
broad range of topics from group management to family nutrition. After each country
conference, the team broke up into groups of three and each spent a week with one of
the participating local aid organizations observing field agents train farmer groups and
offering feedback.
Yuliya Tipograf, Kenya, Spring 2009
A Somali woman feeds a child Plumpy Nut, a ready-to-use
therapeutic food, at an outpatient therapeutic clinic in Kakuma
Refugee Camp, Kenya.
During the summer of 2009, Yuliya spent
six months in a Development, Health and Society program in Kenya.
Yuliya spent the first portion of the program at a homestay in Kibera,
one of the world’s largest slums, taking Swahili classes and attending
seminars and field trips focusing on health and development. The
program also organized a rural village homestay on the Kenyan coast
for a complete immersion into Swahili language.
For the second half of the program, Yuliya conducted research while
traveling in East Africa. During an educational tour of Uganda, Yuliya and a group of
students traversed all of Uganda, including the various IDP settlements in the north,
which have been suffering from instability since the 1980s.
During her field
experience, Yuliya chose to conduct research on the impact of ready-to-use therapeutic
foods on severe acute malnutrition in Kakuma Refugee Camp with the support of the
International Rescue Committee. In her free time, Yuliya volunteered at the main
hospital and satellite clinics helping the staff see patients and working in the lab and
dispensary. She also aided in a polio vaccination campaign in Kenya’s Turkana District
where she experienced firsthand the various obstacles that hinder large-scale
vaccination campaigns in remote areas. Working in Kakuma allowed Yuliya to
comprehend the difficulties of providing medical aid in emergency situations where
financial and human resources are limited and where innovative solutions are necessary.
Sarah Zelek, Kenya, Summer 2008
Primary school children at Camp David Centre waiting
in line for lunch. Camp David Centre sponsors almost
500 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)
throughout Mombasa, including 190 at its
school.
Sarah worked in Mombasa, Kenya as an
intern through the Foundation for Sustainable
Development (FSD). After a week of orientation, she
moved in with her host family and began to work for
Camp David Centre, an NGO where FSD placed her.
She conducted a needs assessment and streamlined
the NGO’s work by assisting the director and his staff, revising their program information
and designing brochures, newsletters and pamphlets. With this new information she also
rewrote their website content. In addition, Sarah observed the workings of the school
clinic, assisted with the social work of the centre, conducted surveys of the living
conditions of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the slums and compiled all of
the obtained data. For one week with assistance from FSD, she wrote a grant proposal.
For the last three weeks in addition to continuing work at Camp David Centre, she
worked at Bomu Medical Centre where she observed the OVC department, played with
children living with HIV/AIDS, assisted with work in the maternal and child health unit
and conducted community outreach with the youth group.
Vanessa Coleman, Liberia, Summer 2008
Vanessa Coleman spent eight weeks in the West
African Nation of Liberia working at John F. Kennedy
Memorial Hospital. Vanessa worked as a clinical
assistant to a obstetric and gynecology specialist in
the Japanese Friendship Maternity Center and
particularly working at the new Gynecological Cancer
program that was started at the hospital earlier that
year with physicians from Mount Sinai Hospital. This
opportunity to work so closely with a practicing global
health provider helped Vanessa gain opportunities in
observing surgical procedures including fistula repair and hysterectomy, prenatal care,
fistula ward, laboratory testing for HIV/malaria/other diseases, research, emergency
room, labor and delivery and routine care exams. Vanessa also was able to work on
some individual programs at the hospital such as grant writing for a youth reproductive
health education program and implementing a youth and patient education program
within the hosptial. Another highlight of the summer was that Vanessa had the chance to
participate in a fistula repair and awareness campaign in Liberia which had a march and
speaker series.
Lauren Wetterhahn, Mexico, Summer 2009
In this picture, Lauren is standing in front of a Chagas project
poster on the door of the schoolhouse in the town Nuevo
Montecristo, Chiapas.
For the summer before her junior year,
Lauren Wetterhahn spent eight weeks in rural Chiapas, Mexico.
Chiapas is the southern-most of Mexico’s 31 states, and also the
most remote. In Chiapas, Lauren assisted a team of Mexican
research scientists from the INSP working on a 3-year, statesponsored comprehensive Chagas disease project. The project entailed three parts:
amassing demographic and epidemiological data through surveys and blood tests,
collecting the triatomine insect vector of Chagas disease in the field and in private
homes, and trapping rodents and bats, the wild mammalian reservoirs for Chagas
disease, which were then dissected and sent for testing to determine the baseline rate of
infection in the forest surrounding rural villages.
During her time in Chiapas, Lauren
administered surveys in the twenty or so small villages surrounding the town where she
lived and helped a coworker run a school-based program that educated students on the
risks of the disease and encouraged them to bring in dead insects from their
homes. Lauren and her coworker then identified and labeled the insect samples, which
were later to be tested for the presence of the Chagas parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi.
Sarah Shearer, Nepal, Spring 2010
During my study abroad in Nepal, I spend a month in the rural district of Pyuthan to
study maternal health in the area. Considering Nepal's recent progress toward reaching
the Millennium Development Goal of improving maternal health, my goals were to
understand the maternal health trends in Pyuthan and see how these trends relate to
the national trends. I also wanted to develop some lessons that
policy-makers could take away from the situation in Pyuthan. My
translator and I stayed with a host family and traveled to the few
health posts and one district hospital in Pyuthan to conduct
interviews. We also interviewed people in the village we lived
in. By the end of our stay, we had interviewed 26 women, 7
husbands or in-laws, 9 health staff or volunteers, and 1
midwife. I heard many stories from incredibly strong women and
learned so much about the issues involved with improving
maternal health. My whole study abroad experience was amazing,
but the research part definitely taught me invaluable lessons.
Ravdeep Jaidka, Nicaragua, Summer 2009
During the summer of 2009, Ravdeep traveled to a rural town in
northern Nicaragua with a program run through Cornell University
United States Latin American Relations (CULSAR) called “Centro
de Idiomas”. For her internship, Ravdeep rotated between three
different locations: a hospital, a health clinic and an NGO. At the
hospital and the health clinic, Ravdeep shadowed doctors and
helped with tasks such as patient registration. The NGO was called “La Casa Materna”
and worked at reducing maternal and infant mortality by providing pre-natal and postnatal care and education to mothers. At the NGO, Ravdeep’s responsibilities included
providing general education on topics such as nutrition during pregnancy, teaching
relaxation yoga classes and spending time with women.
Miriam Marshall, Panama, Summer 2010
This picture was taken during the emergency Csection of a 19-year old first time mother at 29 weeks
of gestation. A baby boy was delivered weighing in at
just 2 lbs and 6oz. While waiting for the transport
ambulance Miriam was keeping him stable with an
infant resuscitator monitoring his heart rate and
oxygen saturation levels.This picture just happens to
capture one of the amazing moments experienced by
Miriam suring her 2010 summer field experience in La
Chorrera, Panama. For 8 weeks, Miriam volunteered
in the pediatric and neonatal units of La Chorrera’s
regional hospital Nicolas A. Solano. She was able to
shadow two amazing doctors Dr. Roberto Mendieta and Dr. Carlos Castillo, who walked
her through the several stages of pregnancy, birth, and child development. With their
help, she witnessed several births, many neonates suffering complications after birth,
snake bites in older children, pneumonia and diarrhea, and everything in
between. During the 8 weeks there, Miriam was able to directly observe topics of
diarrhea and maternal health learned in NS 2600 applied to in a different context, her
home country.
Ifechukwude Ikem, Peru, Summer 2010
This picture was taken in the emergency ward at
Central de Salud Santa Rosa. In this picture, Iffie is
bandaging up a man’s finger that she just helped to
clean and stitch back up. During the summer of
2010, Iffie spent ten weeks volunteering in Cusco,
Peru through the organizations IVHQ and Maximo
Nivel. She worked in Central de Salud Santa Rosa
during her stay, which is one of the many clinics
found around Cusco. At Santa Rosa, Iffie was able to
rotate between various wards of the clinic. She was
able to gain a lot of medical experience working with a gynecologist during one rotation
to administer ultrasounds to women. Other rotations were spent in the pharmacy filling
prescriptions and in the emergency room, where Iffie got to clean wounds and give
vaccinations. When not working directly with the doctors, Iffie was able to help in the
admission office registering patients into the clinic. She also worked in triage to help
take weights, heights and blood pressures of patients who had just been admitted. On
her breaks, she was able to play with the children and the clinic dog. During her time in
Peru, Iffie was not only able to gain valuable medical experience in the clinic; she was
able to greatly improve in her Spanish speaking skills. Since everyone who worked in
the clinic only spoke Spanish, Iffie was able to learn Spanish from the doctors and in
turn taught them some English. She was able to meet lots of great doctors who shared
their knowledge of medicine with her and also allowed her to gain a lot of hands on
experience.
Seydey Guzman, Peru, Summer 2010
Seydy spent 8 weeks in Cusco, Peru
volunteering at two different clinics during the
summer. In the mornings she shadowed
doctors, reviewed patient charts, attended to
patients along with the nurses and scrubbed in
for surgeries. In the afternoon she would
volunteer at Class Ttio, a government
sponsored community clinic. There, she worked
in their improvised emergency room. She
cleaned up and stitched up wounds caused by
robberies, construction accidents and dog bites.
She also applied intravenous injections,
explained medicine regiments and tested for penicillin allergy in patients. Seydy also
participated in home visits for children who missed their vaccination appointment. Both
volunteering locations were arranged by Maximo Nivel, a not for profit volunteering
service. This picture was taken after a parade around the main city plaza for all the
government workers in Cusco and surrounding areas. Here Seydy is photographed with
the senior nurse at the Ttio public health clinic emergency room.
Marie Fleury, Peru, Summer 2010
During the summer of 2010, Marie volunteered at
the Centro de Salud Santa Rosa clinic in Cusco,
Peru. She worked directly with patients; taking
blood pressures, weights and heights in the Triaje
department and administering medications,
applying bandages, cleaning wounds, and aiding
the physicians with stitches and shots in the
Topico department. Santa Rosa was located in a
relatively underdeveloped area in Cusco and most
of its patients were poor locals. Though it took in a
range of patients, the clinic focused primarily on
administering care to pregnant women and following them throughout the postnatal
period. Santa Rosa relied heavily on the supplies provided by the volunteer
organizations it partnered with as well as help from volunteers. During quite a few days,
physicians would have to double up tasks in order to cover everything that needed to be
done in the clinic due to an insufficient number of staff. During those days especially,
the aid of volunteers was essential to keep the clinic running smoothly and care for the
many patients that came in. Working at the clinic allowed Marie to gain invaluable
experience interacting with numerous local patients as well as with the physicians, local
volunteers, and other international volunteers like her. It also gave her some insight into
the ways economic factors can affect clinics and patients. Due to economic constraints,
Santa Rosa required almost all patients to bring supplies they would need for procedures
and examinations; patients would often bring in their own gloves and bandages for the
doctor to use. When doctors did have gloves, they would restrict themselves to one or
two gloves per day; washing gloves with soap after each patient. Aside from her work at
the clinic, Marie took time to appreciate the vast array of culture in Cusco. Many of the
locals dressed in the traditional Cuscanian attire, carrying everything from children to
groceries in K’eperinas or large carrying cloths fastened on their backs. She was also
lucky enough to be present during the Festival of the Sun or Inti Raymi where thousands
of people marched in the streets, wearing colorful clothing and everyone walked in large
groups to the ancient ruins of Sacsayhuaman to watch theatrical dances.
Lauren Braun, Peru,
Summer 2009
This photo was taken at a July
health campaign in a remote, rural
village. In this makeshift
pharmacy, Lauren is filling a
prescription. Lauren Braun spent eight weeks
volunteering in Cusco, Peru
through ProWorld. ProWorld is a
nonprofit that aims to make impactful, sustainable changes at the societal level by
immersing volunteers in work at the grassroots level. Projects are created based on
needs articulated by the participating communities. Lauren interned at two different
health clinics. The first was San Juan de Dios, a private facility that serves as both an
outpatient rehabilitative center and a home for children with mental and/or physical
disabilities. At this facility, Lauren assisted in the pharmacy and the psychology
department and also cared for the children. Most of the children at San Juan de Dios
have cerebral palsy and were abandoned by their agrarian parents who are not able to
take care of them. Lauren’s second internship was at Santa Rosa, Centro de Salud,
a government-funded clinic for the poor. At Santa Rosa Lauren administered food and
formula rations to pregnant and lactating women, as well as to mothers with young
children. She interned in the Health Promotion department, where she helped
administer surveys, attended community relations meetings, and accompanied nurses
on their search for patients in the mountain neighborhoods above Cusco. Lauren’s last
few weeks were spent shadowing in the Adolescent Health Department. On
Saturdays, Lauren participated in rural health campaigns in which ProPeru volunteers
and doctors run one-day clinics in villages that otherwise would have no medical
services. Lauren and the other volunteers conducted a weekly health education seminar
at Salome Ferro, a home for male orphans and children displaced by the recent
terrorism of El Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path).
Kelsey Egan, Peru, Summer 2009
Kelsey spent ten weeks during the summer of 2009 in
Huancayo, Peru as an intern for an organization called
Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children
(FIMRC). In the mornings she went to the
government-run hospital for patients without
insurance. There she would shadow doctors in
different wards and watch births, surgeries, or
procedures. After the patient rounds concluded, she
played with kids in the pediatrics ward and brought
them coloring books, crayons, puzzles, and
books. Part of Kelsey’s job as an intern was to coordinate a group of interns and
prepare health education lessons. After working at the hospital each morning, Kelsey
and the other interns traveled to a small town near Huancayo and presented the health
education lessons to classrooms of children. In the afternoons, they went to orphanages
and presented more health education lessons and visited a house for teenage mothers
and presented lessons to them on childcare.
Jessica Haswell, Peru, Summer 2009
Jess spent eight weeks volunteering in the Andes
of Peru. The first month Jess spent in Huancayo,
Peru through the International Volunteer HQ.
When in Huancayo, Jess volunteered at local
schools in the morning and an orphanage in the
afternoon. Working within the local school system
helped Jess explore the nutritional, infrastructural and sanitation needs of the
area.
Jess spent the second month in Huaraz, Peru working for a local non-profit
called Seeds of Hope. This organization ran a before and after-school program aimed at
keeping the underprivileged children of Huaraz off the streets and providing various
forms of assistance to their families. When Jess was at Seeds of Hope she served as a
tutor for kids ages seven to nineteen and helped with various other tasks: home visits,
school feeding, sexual education classes, and mentoring.
During her time in Peru,
Jess not only gained insight into a new culture and discovered her passion for working
with underprivileged children, but she also learned an incredible amount about various
types of humanitarian organizations and how she could get involved, and be effective, in
future international humanitarian projects.
Yorika Nakarmura, Peru, Summer 2009
During the summer of 2009,
Yoriko spent eight weeks in Cusco,
Perú through ProWorld Service
Corps. For the majority of her
stay, Yoriko worked at Clínica
Belempampa, a Ministry of Health
clinic that served some of the
poorest people in Cusco. At
Belempampa, Yoriko worked in
the TB ward, where she
administered medication, gave
charlas (discussions) about TB,
and also went out into the
outskirts of town to collect sputum
samples from patients. Once a
week, Yoriko and the other ProPerú health volunteers gave a health education class at
an orphanage for boys, and on weekends, they participated in health campaigns,
traveled with mobile clinics to rural Andean communities, and aided doctors as they
provided free check-ups to the residents. Finally, Yoriko and the other volunteers had
one-on-one Spanish classes every afternoon, where they learned about current issues
and events affecting Perú while practicing their conversational skills.
Liana Chin, Philippines, Summer 2010
From June to August 2010, Liana spent 8 weeks in various parts of the Philippines
working with midwives, obstetricians/gynecologists, and international organizations
involved with maternal and child health and community development. For three weeks,
she lived and worked with midwives in a local birthing clinic in Taytay, Rizal performing
daily prenatal checkups and assisting in live vaginal births. The small birthing clinic saw
over 150 patients each week and offered weekly seminars on topics including
contraceptives and family planning. She also worked alongside the SPECS Foundation;
an organization focused on community development and child health and education. She
observed the poverty of life in the slums and interviewed individuals about their health
priorities for themselves and for their children. She
then worked at a government hospital located in
Quezon City, Manila, where she observed and assisted
alongside OB/GYN residents on various surgeries
including Cesarean sections, hysterectomies, and other
procedures. While shadowing the residents, she
learned more about the healthcare system of the
Philippines as well as gained hands-on experience in a
resource poor and understaffed government hospital.
In Mandaue City, Cebu at Eversley Childs Sanitarium, a
small government hospital, she spent time in the
OB/GYN ward where she worked alongside an
interesting mix of midwives, nurses, and OB/GYNs.
She helped attend vaginal births with nurses and
midwives, and observed the repair of vaginal/anal
fissures by the OB/GYNs. She also observed in the
pediatrics ward and learned how to respond to cases of
dengue fever, pneumonia, and gastrointestinal
problems.
Melissa Ortexa, Philippines, Summer 2008
The only materials needed for cervical cancer screening
using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) are
speculums, cotton swabs, and household vinegar. Not just
any brand of household vinegar can be used in performing
VIA as Del Monte Vinegar has been the only one approved
due to its clarity and acetic acid
concentration.
Muntinlupa City, Philippines was recently
chosen as one of three pilot areas in the country to
conduct a cervical cancer screening project in all of its
municipalities using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid
(VIA). VIA is a new economical alternative for PAP smear,
the conventional cervical cancer screening procedure. It is
done by looking at the cervix to detect abnormalities after
applying a dilute solution of acetic acid, which is the most common ingredient in
household vinegar. VIA is a very practical method of screening as it could detect cervical
cancer using household vinegar under a minute and can be easily performed by
midwives. The Reproductive Health Unit of Muntinlupa conducts cervical cancer
screening in 2 of its municipalities every week, attending to about 30 women per
visit.
Since cervical cancer is the second most common female cancer after breast
cancer worldwide, there is a need to replicate this set-up in the majority of cities in the
country and other developing nations so as to reach more women. This on-going project
aims to decrease the mortality rate of cervical cancer in the Philippines as it promotes
women empowerment through building awareness and conducting free screening for
cervical cancer.
Mary (Molly) Warren, Rwanda, Summer 2008
Fourth year Kagugu Primary School students are
observing and participating in a lesson Molly
presented for one of the teachers during a teachertraining session.
Molly lived in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, for two
months in the summer of 2008. She traveled with a
newly developed NGO, The International Education
Exchange, and spent her weekdays as a teacher
trainer. She worked at Kagugu Primary School, the
third largest primary school in Rwanda with over
3,500 students. Wednesday’s were spent teaching various health topics to the students
ranging from basic everyday sanitation, to healthy food choices, and to post-traumatic
stress disorder with question and discussion time after the presentation. She also spent
afternoons once a week shadowing a physician and volunteering at an HIV clinic for
HIV/AIDS rape victims and children of rape victims from the 1994 genocide.
Nicolette Strauss, Senegal, Summer 2009
During the summer of 2009,
Nicolette spent two months in
Senegal working on various health
projects related to HIV/AIDS
through two organizations,
AIESEC and African Consultants
International. Nicolette spent most
of her time with AIESEC working
on a project called Answers,
Solutions, and Knowledge around
HIV/AIDS (ASK). Her job with ASK
was to help lead programs that
trained high school students to
become peer-educators. Nicolette
worked closely with over fifty students and discussed various subjects with them relating
to sexuality, interpersonal relationships, love, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Nicolette faced numerous challenges as she navigated cultural differences in her work
environment. However, she is happy to have had the experience because she grew a
great deal as a person and has a better understanding of the complexity of international
development and global health issues.
Melissa Quick, South Africa, Summer 2009
In this picture, Melissa is playing with children while on a
homestay in Langa Township, South Africa.
During the
spring of 2009, Melissa Quick spent five months in Cape
Town, South Africa as part of a service-learning program
developed by CIEE: Council on International Educational
Exchange. While in South Africa, Melissa took courses at
the University of Cape Town and spent the remainder of
her time at two different service sites. At the first, she
taught health classes and volunteered at an elementary
school that did not have the funding for a qualified nurse.
She and a fellow student developed and taught
interactive lessons for 4th through 7th graders and
helped to reassess the state of the school's first aid
capabilities. The majority of Melissa’s time, however, was
spent at St. Michael's Home for Children, a home for
teenage girls who have been removed from their homes
due to physical or sexual abuse or parental neglect. While
there, Melissa worked with child-care workers and other volunteers to provide a
supportive and trusting environment for the girls. At St. Michael’s, Melissa conducted a
study on the girls' perceptions of the future and their opinions on drug use and
prostitution, two important issues affecting this age and gender group.
Eric Woods, Tanzania, Summer 2010
Eric Woods spent eight weeks in
Mwikantsi, a small agrarian village in
northern Tanzania. He taught sexual
health and HIV education to students
in primary school through an
internship with the non-profit Support
for International Change (SIC). The
organization paired him with a
Tanzanian university student to help
overcome language and cultural
barriers. The two of them lived
together in a homestay and immersed
themselves in the community life.
When not teaching at the school, Eric
spent time leading teaching sessions
for the village’s adults and holding HIV testing clinics.
The opportunity afforded him a first hand look at the many challenges associated with
changing ingrained behaviors, fighting stigma, and working in a resource-poor setting.
Meghan Corcoran, Tanzania, Summer 2010
Meghan spent her summer living in a
rural village outside of Babti town in
Tanzania, a 3 and a half hour bus trip
from the bustling town of Arusha.
Meghan worked with Support for
International Change (SIC), an NGO
focused on addressing the HIV/AIDS
problem in Tanzania through
education, testing, and efforts to
support HIV positive people. Twentyeight American university students,
and 14 Tanzania university students
held an HIV/AIDS awareness
campaign in nine neighboring
villages. Meghan and her peers
taught HIV/AIDS education in primary and secondary schools and in the community at
large. During her stay in the village, Meghan and her three group members taught over
1,000 people. One of her favorite teachings was at a Mama’s group, where 60 women
came out to learn how to prevent the transmission of HIV. She also hosted a HIV Testing
Day in her village where 101 people were tested. In addition, they trained a small group
of secondary school students to teach the SIC curriculum after they left, ensuring that
the work they began will be sustainable in the future and creating the Peer Health
Education Program at their secondary school. The group was also able to visit HIV
positive patients in the village working with SIC to receive treatment and counseling.
This experience gave the group a much better understanding of how HIV/AIDS was truly
affecting the daily lives of community members. Meghan loved living with a Tanzanian
family and working with Tanzanian University students and other SIC staff! It allowed
her to fully immerse herself in Tanzanian culture during her trip and work others who
were extremely dedicated and passionate about SIC’s mission. To read more about what
Meghan, read her group’s blog post on SIC’s website:
http://sichange.org/2010/08/singe-more-blog-posts-from-vp2-in-the-field/
Erin Byrt, Tanzania, Summer 2008
Erin getting some hands on experience checking heart
rate, weighing, and wrapping up the healthy baby boy
she helped deliver before introducing him to his
mother.
Erin spent her summer in Mwanza, the
second largest city in Tanzania, at the Weill-Bugando
Hospital and College of Health Sciences where she
lived in the student dorms with Tanzanian medical
students. Bugando is one of five regional hospitals
providing care for all of Tanzania. Over the course of
8 weeks mornings were spent participating in rounds
with Bugando and Weill Cornell doctors and medical students who were performing basic
physical exams, patient reviews, and outlining treatment plans. Time was divided
between patients in internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology and
sometimes the ICU/NICU. Afternoons were spent in the histopathology lab and medical
records room researching the incidence of bladder cancer associated with
schistosomiasis infection at Bugando for the past 3-4 years, a project led by a first year
medical student from Weill-Cornell in New York City. When she wasn’t doing either of
these things Erin took the opportunity to attend medical lectures and classes with the
Tanzanian med students, observe surgeries, help in the labor and delivery ward, and
explore Mwanza.
Christina Munk, Tanzania, Summer 2008
These women are from a village where the
entomology lab conducted field work. They make
mkeka’s, or straw mats, which can be found in many
Tanzanians’ homes.
Cristina Munk is a senior
entomology major who spent 9 weeks in Tanzania this
summer. She worked at a malaria research institution
assisting professors with projects on Anopheles
gambiae, one of the mosquito species which transmits
malaria. She conducted one study whose goal was to
determine how far away mosquitoes can sense human
odors from. She also assisted with a project on using artificial chemical blends to attract
wild mosquitoes to traps. She is grateful to have lived with a local family because it
allowed her a glimpse into the lifestyle and culture of Tanzanians.
Yuna Ha, Uganda, Summer 2009
This picture was taken during one of Yuna’s community
meetings in an Internally Displaced Persons camp (IDPs) in
Uganda, a highly congested residential area where people who
have lost their homes due to civil war live.
During the
summer of 2009, Yuna spent eight weeks in Gulu, Northern
Uganda where she visited twelve different villages to do
educational presentations about malaria, HIV/AIDS, family
health, and community health. Each meeting had about 100-250
village members in attendance. During these meetings, Yuna
met with community members to engage in dialogue and
conduct assessments about the community’s health concerns,
which included HIV/AIDS and malaria. When she wasn’t putting
on these presentations, Yuna conducted assessments of some local income-generating
projects, which included communal farming, piggery, an HIV/AIDS sensitization
program, an adult literacy program and a widows’ nursery school.
Yuna spent the
eighth week of her field experience compiling the data from her community assessments
and writing up a report about the challenges and possible methods to alleviate the
poverty and famine in the community. A part of this report was used by a non-profit
organization that distributes free mosquito nets in under-resourced countries. This
organization came to Gulu during Yuna’s last week and distributed free nets to the
people who attended her community assessment meetings.
Yuna also volunteered at
a local health clinic that offers holistic health services, which include health care, conflict
resolution, empowerment for young leaders, and economic development programs in
Gulu, an area that is still suffering from the aftermath of Uganda's 20-year-long civil
war.
Sara Heins, Vietnam, Fall 2009
During the fall semester of her junior year, Sara did a 15
week long study abroad program in Ho Chi Minh City through
CET Academic Programs. Although she had a variety of global
health related experiences during this time, her primary work
was an internship at the Little Rose Shelter in Ho Chi Minh
City. Sara worked at the shelter two hours a day, three days
a week. The shelter looks after around 25 girls between the
ages of 12 and 18 who have been taken from the sex trade or
abusive family situations. They learn life skills such as
cooking, cleaning, hygiene, sexual health, and socializing with
girls their own age. The girls go to school and the older ones
also learn a trade and the shelter helps them with job
placement once they leave the shelter. The shelter also has
at least two social workers on hand at all times and talk with
the girls when they first come to the shelter and whenever else they need
guidance. They also keep in contact with the girls after they leave the shelter and
provide assistance if needed. Her primary duty at the shelter was teaching the staff
English, in particular vocabulary that would be helpful in communicating with foreign
NGOs. She spent a lot of time talking to the girls, organizing activities for them, and
sitting in on staff meetings and meetings with NGOs. She also helped the staff translate
educational videos about sexual abuse from English into Vietnamese. The staff was
working with another company to develop videos for Vietnamese educators about how to
recognize signs of sexual abuse in children and what they should do if sexual abuse is
taking place.
Throughout the semester, she had opportunities to see other facets of
healthcare in Vietnam. Her study abroad program visited a private HIV clinic, a
government-run cancer hospital, and an orphanage for children with disabilities. On her
own, she visited the Hanoi School of Public Health where she spoke with professors
working on an anti-tobacco campaign and toured the school. She did an independent
research project on AIDS public health advertisements in Ho Chi Minh City. Sara
gathered background information on the epidemic in Vietnam, visited HIV clinics, and
interviewed Vietnamese doctors and public health workers. After that, she collected
data about the advertisements in Ho Chi Minh City. Sara photographed and translated
59 advertisements in two districts of Ho Chi Minh City and analyzed the advertisements’
distribution, placement, funding organizations, target audience, and advertising
methods. Sara wrote a report which she is currently expanding into an honors thesis for
the biology and society major.
Rebecca Dittrich, Zambia, Summer 2010
Rebecca traveled to Kitwe, Zambia for two months in the
summer of 2010 with three other Cornell Global Health
minors. She lived on the compound of Professor Felix
Ntengwe, their supervisor and a professor at the nearby
Copperbelt University. She worked in the community schools
of Musonda, a highly impoverished village located on the
outskirts of the peri-urban Kitwe. Unlike public schools,
community schools receive no government funding and are
run solely by the support of non-profit organizations and local
community members. Rebecca taught interactive health
education lessons to the students of the Natasha community
school on subjects such as malaria, nutrition, and dental
hygiene. She also helped the teachers of the Ubumi
community school by teaching English, Mathematics, Integrated Sciences, and other
subjects to grade seven students. In their spare time, she and her colleagues took the
opportunity to explore the health services available in Kitwe. They got involved with the
Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ) and spent each Saturday with PPAZ’s
Youth Action Movement, when high school and college age members gathered to discuss
sexual and reproductive health issues. She became deeply connected to the young
adults that she worked with and to these sessions, as she felt that they were the only
opportunity these young people had to openly discuss instrumental matters such as
STIs, gender equality, and contraception. To this day, Rebecca can still hear the buzz of
the open markets and misses the warmth and affection provided to her by the Musonda
community.
Sean Donegan, Zambia, Summer 2009
One day by coincidence four boys that Sean became extremely
attached to were all dressed in pink donated outfits and placed in
the same crib. These boys and one other that was away that
night made up the five oldest boys at House of Moses in Zambia,
Africa; they were Sean’s Big Five.
During the summer of 2009, Sean worked at The House of Moses,
a Health Care Center that specializes in the care of over forty at-risk orphaned Zambian
infants and toddlers, many of whom may be infected with HIV and a variety of other
ailments. The House of Moses works as an integral part of Alliance for Children
Everywhere, a thirty-eight year old Christian Ministry that cares for any and all children
it meets that are in crisis or have been abandoned. Their main focus is infant and child
survival, family preservation, adoption, and education for their children.
Sean and
other visiting student, educators, health care workers, and volunteers spent the summer
helping Alliance for Children Everywhere in its mission to complement indigenous
churches, social service networks, heath care centers, and ministries in creating
effective community support models. Successful examples of these models include
several transition homes for orphans from infancy to early adulthood, a program that
donates necessary food to the region’s poorest inhabitants, and a distribution program
that handles donations from the West.