Summers 2009-2010 - Cornell University

Bangladesh
Michele Daukas, Bangladesh, Summer 2010
In this photo, Misha is posing with two of
her coworkers. They went outside the office
during the lunch break and an impromptu
photo shoot was held. Working in a creative
advertising environment was filled with daily
spontaneity.
Misha spent eight weeks of summer 2010 in
Dhaka, Bangladesh. She worked as an intern
at Dhansiri Communications Ltd. designing
national mass media health communication
campaigns. During the course of the
internship she worked on the World Food
Program’s “Walk the World” Dhaka event,
Alive and Thrive’s National Breast Feeding
Campaign, and the Baby Zinc Campaign. Her capstone project was to lead a team in the development of a
proposal for UNICEF’s national safe water, sanitation, and hygiene campaign. Misha lived with ICDDR,B
interns and Fulbright students in Dhaka. When not on bedrest from Dengue fever, she spent her free time
consuming vast quantities of mangos, zipping around in rickshaws, haggling in the markets, practicing
Bengali, and enjoying the world cup fever that had settled upon Dhaka.
Stephanie Leonard, Bangladesh, Summer 2008
Stephanie is riding in a small fishing boat on the
Buriganga River in Old Dhaka. This was taken during
monsoon season and she had just gotten soaked by a
burst of rain. She is wearing a shalwar kameez—a
typical dress of women living in Bangladesh.
Stephanie spent eight weeks of her summer in
Bangladesh. She worked on a research project at the
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research,
Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) under the supervision of Dr.
Kuntal Saha. She used data from a large cohort study of
pregnant Bangladeshi women to develop an index of
maternal enabling factors that could potentially be used
as a method to measure care and predict child health and
development. She lived in an apartment in Dhaka, the
capital city. She enjoyed spending her free time eating
lots of mangoes, perusing markets, traveling to different
parts of Dhaka and Bangladesh, practicing her Bengali with rickshaw drivers, and meeting many wonderful
people and lifelong friends.
Brazil
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.
Cameroon
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.
China
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.
Costa Rica
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.
Dominican Republic
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.
Ghana
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 nongovernmental organization called ProLink. 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.
Guatemala
Ann Yang, Guatemala, Summer 2009
This picture shows primary school children
in the village of Estrella Polar receiving delicing 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.
Honduras
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 breastfeeding 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
anti-parasite 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.
India
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.
Indonesia
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.
Jamaica
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.
Kenya
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-touse 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.
Liberia
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.
Mexico
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 3year, state-sponsored 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.
Nepal
Vaidehi Pidaparti, Nepal, Summer 2008
Often traveling from distant farming villages
to seek treatment, these children and their
mothers are allowed to stay for up to six
months. Though the majority look as though
they are not even remotely sick, their CD4
cell counts tell a different story.
Vaidehi Pidaparti went to Nepal this past
summer and volunteered at Manisha Singh
Punarjeevan Niwas (MSPN), an HIV/AIDS
rehabilitation clinic for HIV-positive
children in the Kathmandu Valley area. She
taught, played with, took care of the
children, and helped out with chores. She
also wrote grants to raise money for further development of the center. Vaidehi found out about MSPN
through an international organization called Projects Abroad. This group offers volunteering opportunities
around the world, and has a special subcategory for projects related to HIV/AIDS care.
Nicaragua
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 post-natal 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.
Panama
Miriam Marshall, Panama, Summer 2010
This picture was taken during the emergency C-section 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.
Peru
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 checkups 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.
Philippines
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.
Rwanda
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 teacher-training 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.
Senegal
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 peereducators. 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.
South Africa
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.
Tanzania
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.
Twenty-eight 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-thefield/
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 WeillBugando 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.
Uganda
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 incomegenerating 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 underresourced 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.
Vietnam
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.
Zambia
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 atrisk 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.
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