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Noah Baker Merrill
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Michelle in Belen, Chile with Aymara physician Don Basilio and Señora Benita
Michelle Eilers is a senior at Tufts University, where she studies Anthropology and Community Health. In the spring of 2009, Michelle participated on the SIT Study Abroad Chile: Culture, Development, and Social Justice program in Valparaiso. Originally from central Texas, Michelle has worked with Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants. She became interested in minority-related health disparities when she had an internship and later worked at a small, family-practice clinic in rural central Texas. Michelle was recently awarded the first Alice Rowan Swanson fellowship, which provides grant money for SIT Study Abroad alums to pursue projects relating to human rights. To read more about Alice Rowan Swanson, click here. To learn more about the fellowship guidelines and to download an application, click here.
Why did you decide to do SIT Study Abroad in Chile?
When looking at study abroad programs, I knew that I wanted to study in Chile, and I was attracted to the possibility of working with a community and conducting independent research while abroad, rather than simply taking university classes. I was attracted to the program theme in Valparaíso and I knew that I did not want to live in a city as large as Santiago, so I chose the program on Culture, Development, and Social Justice.
What was your independent study project (ISP) in Chile, and how is that connected to the work you will be doing in Chile this coming January?
A new Aymara birthing room at a hospital in Arica, Chile
My independent study project focused on the pregnancy and birthing practices of indigenous Aymara women, who live in northern Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. I looked at how the traditional practices have shifted due to Chilean Ministry of Health norms and trends towards increased modernity, as well as the current processes in place to maintain these traditions. The work I will do in January focuses on a particular program called Utasanjam usuña (which means “to give birth as in our house,”) which was implemented in the northern city of Arica to provide Aymara women with a traditional birthing room that provided the appropriate herbs and treatment from an Aymara doctor within the local hospital, to ensure safe deliveries. I will work with the organization that implemented the program, PESPI (Special Program for Health and Indigenous Communities) to assess the awareness of the program for the Aymara population, and how it is being received by Western medical professionals and the Aymara community.
Why did you decide to apply for this fellowship, and what do you hope to get out of it?
Upon return to school this summer, I felt that I was unable to fully assess the situation I had investigated during the ISP period, and I wanted to provide the community with a tangible and useful resource that would facilitate the process of retaining cultural birthing practices. I was unsure of how to find enough funding to be able to return to Chile, until I read about the Alice Rowan Swanson fellowship, which is an amazing opportunity for an SIT alum to give back to the community where they studied.
Michelle with two Aymara physicians
How will this fellowship influence your next steps, and what do you plan to do after you graduate from Tufts?
The fellowship allows me to understand the process of independent research and facilitate my career plans to work with similar communities. Through my coursework at Tufts and my experience in Chile, I have learned and witnessed firsthand the discrimination that impoverished communities suffer from, and my goal is to make meaningful contributions to such groups to help improve their health status. I plan to apply for a Fulbright or Rotary Scholarship to work with a maternal health program in South America, and I aspire to attend medical school and complete an MD/MPH, with a focus on international medicine. Following this, I plan to continue working in international health development in Latin America.
How has SIT Study Abroad shaped the way you look at the world?
SIT Study Abroad provided me with eye-opening experiences that I would likely have never experienced otherwise; I was able to live with families of different social strata and experience life in both a rural and urban setting. Apart from greater language comprehension, I am now more aware of distinct cultural notions and how to navigate differences in cultures. Additionally, the program introduced me to the field of international development, through the lens of human rights and social justice, and allowed me to more fully understand global issues and how to think about international concerns of which I was previously unaware.
Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede
In late 2007 Jessica Posner, a student on the SIT Study Abroad Kenya: Health and Community Development program, found herself in the Kenyan National Theatre with a small group of young actors from Shining Hope for Community (SHOFCO), a grassroots community development organization from Nairobi’s Kibera slum. Though her passion had always been for theater, the focus of her work in Kenya was already evolving into something far more complex. The group was there to perform an original piece entitled The Face Behind the Mask: A Play About Poverty, directed by Jessica and SHOFCO founder Kennedy Odede. It was the first time any member of the group had ever been inside the Kenyan National Theatre. To visit the theater for the first time as performers was a shock and an honor to all, but it would not be the last time Jessica and Kennedy would collaborate on something so meaningful.
New student Prudence Achieng
Jessica, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan University, initially traveled to Kenya to follow her interest in “theatre as a tool for social change and empowerment.” Through friends, Jessica was able to contact Kennedy Odede before she even arrived in Kenya, and she subsequently spent the entire semester working with him and his organization to facilitate and direct the original theatre piece. However, her experiences living in the Kibera slum and working with Kennedy inspired her to take a different route after the semester had ended.
“I still remember once stopping a five-year-old girl running through a pile of trash and human waste and asking her why she wasn’t in school,” Jessica recalls. “The child responded: ‘school is only a dream and dreams don’t come true.’ Kennedy also had this mentality about his own life. He had gone to high school and college was a vague dream. Upon returning to the US, I encouraged him to apply to Wesleyan, and he was accepted. We never stopped talking about the need for a free school, as there are no other free schools in Kibera, specifically targeting girls who have no other way to go to school and are at risk of becoming another statistic.”
The first incoming class at the Kibera School for Girls
When Kennedy arrived in Connecticut, they successfully applied for a 100 Projects for Peace grant offered by the Kathryn Davis Wasserman Foundation, and the project was off and running. Jessica notes, “Kennedy and I work as a team. We bring different things to the table, including our very different upbringings. We believe that our differences are the strength of our organization. We love working together to effect change surrounding a need that is very great, and in a community very dear to both of us.” In addition to the 100 Projects for Peace grant, the two raised additional funds, and from there they engaged an alternative-curriculum specialist to create a special program for the school, based on play and experiential learning.
After several years of fundraising and planning, Kennedy and Jessica returned to Kenya this past summer to build The Kibera School for Girls. They received 500 initial applications, and selected 45 girls for the entering 2009 class. The tuition free school is run entirely by local Kenyans and includes a community center, a health center, a library and a garden. Jessica writes “It is my hope that the school and compound become a model of how to use existing social networks to engage a community on many levels, addressing issues such as education, gender violence, and health simultaneously.”
To learn more about SHOFCO and The Kibera School for Girls, visit http://www.hopetoshine.org/, or read articles about Kennedy and Jessica in the Wesleyan Connection, and Hartford Courant.
Michael Roberts, an Experiment in International Living group leader to Mongolia in 2008 and 2009, recently created a digital story about his experiences in Mongolia. This video is part of the Experiment in International Living digital storytelling project, a project where Experiment alumni are invited to create and share stories about their experiences. Email alumni@worldlearning.org to learn more.
Jenna Spencer in Morocco
This past summer Jenna Spencer traveled to Morocco with the Experiment in International Living. Though Jenna has always enjoyed traveling, this was her first adventure outside of North America. Jenna wishes to thank the many generous donors who make the Experiment possible for students like her, who would not otherwise be able to afford the experience.
Experimenters gaze into the Sahara
My mind wandered back to my homestay in a small, rural village called Aberdi. During my two week stay there was no electricity or running water. I went to the bathroom outside and lived amongst the family’s animals. I slept on the ground with my whole family in just one room. It was a simpler, more relaxed way of living which I grew to love. I would wake up to the sound of roosters without the worry of showers or what to wear. Instead, this time would be spent sipping tea and laughing with my host mother, or picking pears with my host brother. I learned to wander the long dirt roads that spanned across my village, feeling utterly safe and confident. Whether it was weaving with the local mothers, teaching English to the village children, or dancing Ahidous with the village fathers, I was constantly absorbing and learning.
Jenna and her Experiment group with Moroccan friends
As I left my homestay, after the two most rewarding weeks of my life, I sobbed. I could not imagine leaving the people I had grown to love but I was so grateful for the invaluable chance to meet and learn from them in the first place. And of course the learning did not stop there. Whether it was riding camels in the Sahara desert, exploring ancient Mosques, or learning to bargain, everyday my mind seemed to open and grow in a way I had never known before. Needless to say, on that last day navigating my way through the vibrant Rabat streets with all my senses being engaged, I was not the same person who had entered Morocco nearly four weeks previously; I had grown into so much more. I am so grateful to The Experiment [EIL] for giving me this opportunity that will forever be imprinted in my mind.
Jenna lives with her family in Cambridge, MA. She is currently a student at Concord Academy, where she is an A Better Chance student.
Damiana de Miranda and fellow recipients
Damiana de Miranda, academic director of the SIT Study Abroad Brazil: Public Health, Race, and Human Rights program, recently received the Prêmio Mulher Guerreira Maria Felipa. The award, created in 2008 as part of the International Black Women’s Day celebration, is given annually by the city council of the city of Salvador, in Bahia, Brazil. This year, 45 political activists, researchers, scholars, and community leaders received the award in recognition of their work with Afro-Brazilian communities.
Dr. de Miranda has served as a member of national, state, and municipal Afro-Brazilian health committees. She received the award for her research on public health and her work to provide all Brazilians with equal access to health care. “As a melting pot society, Brazil has failed to implement public policies to include all citizens,” she says. “As a result, Afro-Brazilians and Native Brazilians have limited participation in mainstream society.” Dr. de Miranda asserts that her background in public health, as well as her political work, serves as a backdrop for the work she does at SIT.
Students on Dr. de Miranda’s public health program have the opportunity to observe issues of social justice and health disparity firsthand in Brazil. Dr. de Miranda conducts lectures on public health and human rights and also provides students with a chance to meet with local herbalists, doctors, and political activists. Through observations of Brazil’s public health system, she says that students gain the knowledge and skills to recognize inequality and fight for social justice and a more peaceful world. Dr. de Miranda notes that equal access to public health care has improved in the last few decades, but that institutional racism still causes the social exclusion of the majority of Brazilians. She adds, “The exposure to this experience provides SIT students with a unique understanding, which can be used, academically and personally, in their future endeavors.”
Last week 172 graduate students from 33 different countries arrived at the World Learning campus in Brattleboro, Vermont. Students in the SIT Graduate Institute’s incoming class traveled from as far away as Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe, with 26% of all students coming from outside the United States. Twenty seven of the students will enter the MAT program (Master of Arts in Teaching) while the remaining 145 will enter the PIM program (Program in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management). This year’s incoming class brings with it a wealth of national and international experience, including 26 US students who have participated in the Peace Corps or Americorps-VISTA programs.
On Tuesday, the incoming class attended an opening ceremony with Marge Bruchac, an Abenaki storyteller and anthropologist. Bruchac invited the students to be thoughtfully aware of their place in history, urging them to “be careful about what it is we are taking from the past, and what it is we are passing on to the future.” After her introductory remarks, students and faculty joined hands and danced to Abenaki songs, before breaking into small discussion groups.
To see more photos of the incoming class, click here.
Ann and her Italian host sisters in 2009
Ann Friedman, World Learning former Trustee, recently traveled to the shores of the Adriatic Sea for a family reunion, an Experiment host family reunion. When Ann was just a teenager, she participated on an Experiment in International Living trip to Italy where she took intensive Italian language courses and lived with an Italian host family on a small farm. “As an Experimenter I was emboldened to live far from home and learn to live in a very different culture and community,” says Ann. “I had to learn how to be flexible and adjust – important attributes for anyone to carry throughout life.”
Ann's Italian host sisters during her Experiment days
The recent reunion with her Italian host sisters was just another small way in which Ann has helped to spread the spirit and values of the Experiment and World Learning. After college, Ann was inspired to be an Experiment group leader to France, which eventually led her into the fields of education and international relations. “I wanted to make sure that the kids in my group learned about their host country and appreciated its history and beauty as much as I did,” she says. “I would say that the experience ultimately led to my developing a world cultures extracurricular program and then eventually becoming a classroom teacher.”
Ann’s passion for travel and experiential education has certainly rubbed off – not only on her students, but on her daughter Natalie as well. Natalie participated on the SIT Study Abroad Senegal: Lens on West Africa program in the summer of 2007. Though Ann has always believed in the importance of global citizenship and cross-cultural understanding, her daughter’s experiences have highlighted the growing need for young students to have authentic intercultural interactions.
Ann and her Experiment host family in Italy
“I think that because we’re all connected now to whomever we want to be connected, we face the very real danger of believing that those somewhat superficial connections are the equivalent of real connections – connections which you forge in homestays and by living or studying abroad,” says Ann. As a trustee Ann has donated substantially to the World Learning capital campaign, and has even started an Experiment scholarship program at the Iowa high school where she was a student. “It’s important to support World Learning.” She adds, “Only through the hands-on, lived programs provided by World Learning do young people gain intimate knowledge of other cultures and their own capabilities, interests and strengths.”
This belief, in the importance of real-world intercultural experiences, motivates Ann to continue to support World Learning. She has not only made the World Learning experience a reality for her own daughter, but has also provided many high school students with an opportunity they would otherwise not have.
In the fall of 2008, Tim Soo traveled to Panama on the SIT Study Abroad Panama: Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation program. Soo, a student at Emory University who plans to become a doctor, spent the summer of 2008 working in a medical lab in Japan before heading directly to Panama. Once in Panama, the stark contrast between his homeland and the research lab in Japan struck him immediately, but the turning point occurred a few months later when his group visited the Comarca Ngobe, a reservation for the Ngobe indigenous group.
Though Soo and his fellow group members spent only one night in the Comarca, the experience was transformative for many of them. The Comarca Ngobe have traditionally been a nomadic people, but recent population growth in Panama has severely limited their movement. As a result, the Ngobe of the Comarca have become isolated in a small reservation in the mountains, virtually unable to produce enough food for survival. Language and cultural barriers only make the situation more severe, and the group receives very little help from the national government.
Soo originally planned to conduct research on medicine, but found the conversations always drifting back towards more basic needs for food and shelter. It was the first time he and the other group members had truly observed extreme poverty, and they decided that they needed to do something about it. “Through various discussions afterwards, we attempted to come up with a solution to escaping this endless cycle of poverty, to escaping these difficulties; we decided the best way was through education,” he says. The group then started “Few for Change,” an organization devoted to raising tuition money for students of the Comarca Ngobe. To date, the group has raised enough money for two scholarships, and has begun working with ASMUNG and Padres Familiares, two local organizations in Panama, who will help to identify scholarship recipients.
The organization is now up and running, and a prime example of the impact that field research can have on SIT Study Abroad students. To learn more about “Few for Change,” visit the organization’s website at: http://www.fewforchange.com/
World Learning/SIT is pleased to announce the creation of the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship Fund. This $100,000 fellowship fund established by the family of SIT Study Abroad Nicaragua ’06 alumna Alice Rowan Swanson, is a living tribute to Alice’s life, her passion for bridging cultures and helping others and the role that SIT Study Abroad played in her life. An Amherst ‘07 graduate, Alice was killed while riding her bike to work in 2008.
Alice’s family believes that Alice would have spent her life working for human rights abroad, particularly in developing countries. This fund will annually award fellowships to SIT program alumni who would like to return to the country of their program to pursue further development projects that benefit human rights in that region.
Alice Rowan Swanson always wanted to live abroad and experience cultures different from her own. She began traveling with her family at the age of 10 and continued to follow her passion for international learning at Amherst College. Alice spent the first semester of her junior year in Cairo. Although abroad, she lived in a traditional dormitory, spoke English in class and never felt immersed in the local culture.
Alice spent her second semester in Nicaragua as a student with SIT Study Abroad’s Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation, and Civil Society. Through this program, she felt connected and engaged with the local community and fully immersed in Nicaraguan culture. She discussed with local community members the need for clean drinking water and improved medical help. Alice realized that she wanted to engage in development work with local partners to improve social conditions and human rights. Upon returning to the US, she applied for and received a grant to continue her work with local communities in Nicaragua following her senior year of college.
When Alice returned from her second stay in Nicaragua, she served a four-month internship at the Middle East Institute, and obtained a job at IREX, an international nonprofit organization. Her co-workers observed that Alice “helped to build bridges of understanding between often disparate cultures, a task for which her welcoming personality and sharp intellect made her uniquely and excellently equipped.”
To continue Alice’s legacy, her family has established the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship to support SIT alumni who seek to devote some months of their life pursuing a project that supports human rights: education, nutrition, medical care and freedom from tyranny. In so doing, each fellowship awardee will honor and pay tribute to the work that Alice had undertaken to make the world a better place and her desire to make a difference in the world for those less fortunate whom she viewed as part of her global family.
Ideal candidates for this fellowship will possess qualities resembling those of Alice Rowan Swanson, in the words of her family, friends and co-workers: “…intelligence and passion for learning; great warmth and friendliness; a smiling, welcoming personality, sharp intellectual rigor and fine writing, and an adventurous desire to experience untraditional locations, and through her personal initiative, to make the world a better place.”
Click here for more information or to download The Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship application. For more information, please email alumni@worldlearning.org.
World Learning is a 75-year-old global non-profit organization operating international education and development programs in more than 70 countries worldwide.
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