An Interview with Michelle Eilers, Alice Rowan Swanson Fellow

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.

A Digital Story from the Experiment in Mongolia

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.

Reflections from the Experiment in Morocco

 

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.

On my last day as an Experimenter in Morocco I made sure to take in everything.  The heavy smells of spices and oranges hung over the crowded streets of Rabat. The booming voices of vendors swarmed in my ears as I navigated the Medina. The sweet taste of mint tea still sat on my lips from breakfast. One last time, dissecting an unfamiliar language and weaving my way through identical winding streets. What once felt like a hectic routine, easy to get lost, now felt comfortable and safe. After four weeks of travel and immersion into many different aspects of Moroccan society, I had gained a newfound sense of independence and confidence that seemed to lead the way.

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.

A language gap that once seemed huge slowly closed between my host family and me.  Through survival language lessons and miming, we shared many stories and laughs ranging from light topics, such as family and friends, to heavier ones comparing Moroccan and American clothing, religion, and marriage traditions. My host family opened my eyes to a different, yet valuable, way of living. They taught me acceptance, compassion, and empathy. The homestay reminded me never to judge the unfamiliar, and taught me to embrace those who are different, for they also have the most to teach.

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.

World Learning Commemorates World Day Against Child Labor 2009

Photo by Azra Kacapor

This year’s theme, “Give Girls a Chance: End Child Labor”

Today World Learning issued the following statement in commemoration of World Day Against Child Labor and the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Labour Organization Convention No. 182, which addresses the urgent need to work toward the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor:

By commemorating the tenth anniversary of this historic international agreement in defense of children’s rights, World Learning celebrates the substantial progress made toward the convention’s critical goals while recognizing the tremendous challenges that remain. This year’s theme, “Give Girls a Chance: End Child Labor,” resonates deeply with our development priorities and approach. World Learning is committed to the removal of all children from hazardous work environments and recognizes the unique systemic threats that exist for girls who are exploited for their labor.

Photo by Azra Kacapor

Across the world, an estimated 62 million girls are out of school and 100 million girls are involved in child labor. Poverty and lack of education too often force girls into some of the worst forms of child labor, often in hidden, unhealthy, and dangerous work situations. In many countries, girls’ labor is deeply entrenched in cultural practices and gender norms and takes place behind closed doors, removed from public scrutiny and concern.

World Learning’s approach to the elimination of child labor focuses on increasing access to quality and equitable education. Our work is broadly designed to address the worst forms of child labor, with a key focus on reaching those children involved in invisible forms of labor and ensuring they have access to quality schools. Through projects in Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Peru and Guatemala, World Learning works with parent-teacher associations, Ministries of Education, and Girls’ Education Advisory Committees (GEACs) to ensure girls’ access, retention, and performance in schools. To address social barriers to girls’ education, World Learning’s programs help establish the school as the locus of community resources and influence. Through schools, community partners can unite and mobilize to tackle gender bias and protect girls from exploitation within their communities.
For examples of World Learning’s work combating child labor through education, see a video from our Wiñari project in Ecuador, entitled “Erika’s Story.” Also see a video from our USAID-funded CASCAID project in Ethiopia about a girl orphaned by HIV/AIDS who’s been given a chance to stay in school.

World Learning believes that educating girls is the single best investment that can be made to combat child labor and tackle the root causes of poverty. Our community partners daily witness the transformative power of girls’ education on the wellbeing of their communities when young women who have received education go on to reinvest in their children and their communities. More resources need to be mobilized to improve the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. This investment will pay global dividends for generations to come.

Read more about World Learning International Development Projects.

SIT Study Abroad Academic Director Heidi Baer-Postigo Contributes through the “Bilingual Children’s Literature Reciprocity Project”

Visit the children’s section of a bookstore and you might run into Heidi Baer-Postigo, co-Academic Director of SIT Study Abroad’s Bolivia: Culture and Development program. She admits to a love of children’s literature and is continually searching for Bolivian culture books for her own bilingual children, a task which she notes is not easy. This lack of relevant children’s books along with her desire to give back to Bolivian society led her to create the Bilingual Children’s Literature Reciprocity Project.

The roots of the project date back to the spring of 2008 when two students on SIT’s Bolivia: Culture and Development program decided to create a bilingual children’s book based on the life of their host mother as their Independent Study Project (ISP). Heidi viewed the book, Esperanza, as a meaningful method of reciprocity and it inspired her to launch the bilingual book project utilizing the talent and inspiration of other SIT Study Abroad students.

Today, the Bilingual Children’s Literature Reciprocity Project consists of books generated by SIT Study Abroad students who seek to provide Bolivian children with affordable literature and to raise awareness about Bolivian culture. These books focus on Bolivian reality and fulfill a need in “a country where most children’s books are imported, expensive, and culturally irrelevant.” This past fall, Heidi worked with five students to produce books “celebrating the country which has hosted them with open arms.”

 Heidi expects that this is just the beginning of a much larger series of bilingual books which “celebrate Bolivian life and culture for Bolivian children.” She plans to sell the books in the US and to fund donations of low-cost books to libraries and schools in Bolivia “so that Bolivian children have access to books which validate their own reality and culture.”

Heidi notes that the project continues to impact SIT students after their return to the US. Students who worked on the Bilingual Children’s Literature Reciprocity Project have applied for funding from their university to publish their book, received approval to produce other children’s books for academic credit at their home campus and given presentations at children’s libraries and churches in their home communities on the bilingual books. Heidi wants to see students of SIT Study Abroad’s Bolivia: Culture and Development program “feel empowered by their own academic production and to continue finding ways to build upon this once they have returned to the US.”

Reciprocity, or ayni in Quechua, has been an important part of cultures of the Andes for centuries and is a central focus of SIT’s Bolivia: Culture and Development program. Heidi anticipates “that students will take from this experience the idea that academic production can be something that benefits society at many different levels, not just university assignments for a grade.”

Heidi Baer-Postigo serves as the co-Academic Director for SIT Study Abroad’s Bolivia: Culture and Development semester program with Ismael Saavedra. Students on this program also have the opportunity to produce an ethno-graphic video documentary for their Independent Study Project.

For more information about the Bolivia: Culture and Development program, please visit the SIT Study Abroad Find a Program webpage.

Watch the YouTube videos  of SIT Study Abroad Bolivia students.

View photos on World Learning’s Flickr site.

SIT Study Abroad Students Participate as Election Observers in El Salvador

Three SIT students share with us their involvement in this historic experience. 

By Jessica Bashford, Writer/Editor, SIT Study Abroad
 

After twenty years of National Republican Alliance (ARENA) leadership, on March 15, 2009 El Salvador elected Mauricio Funes, lead candidate with the opposing political party, the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), to be the country’s next president. Students from the SIT Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation, and Civil Society program arrived in El Salvador five days prior to the election to be trained as international election observers. 

“Through the Social Initiative for Democracy (ISD), we received our credentials and left for Cabañas, a department to the north of San Salvador on the Honduran border,” reported SIT students Courtney Turner, Emily Grady, and Katie LaRoque.  “As observers, we were instructed to pay close attention to the opening and closing of voting sites along with any suspicious activity throughout the day.”

In San Isidro, SIT students witnessed a dispute between Salvadoran election officials over fraudulent identification cards.  According to Turner, Grady, and LaRoque, “the FMLN representatives accused nearly ten people of posing as deceased members of their community in order to vote.” The students also observed an ARENA official tearing FMLN ballots during the counting process, which according to Salvadoran electoral law, would nullify the ballots; speculation ensued on whether the incident was intentional or accidental. 

Overall, however, SIT students felt such incidents were “isolated anomalies”, and “did not prevent the nation from successfully holding a democratic election.”

The day ended with SIT participants joining student reporters from Radio Victoria to celebrate, as they described, “the success of the civic process with our Salvadoran counterparts.”

View photos on World Learning’s Flickr site.

Theory to Practice: Two SIT Graduate Institute Students Put Their Education to Work with World Learning’s Development Program in Northern Uganda

by Megan McBride, SIT Graduate Student/World Learning Americorps VISTA

Those who attend SIT Graduate Institute attest to its strength in field-based learning.  Current graduate students Demba Diallo and Rachel Unkovic had the opportunity to apply this learning when they completed their practicum in Northern Uganda with the International Development section of World Learning.

Rachel and Diallo spent three month working in the Kitgum district of northern Uganda on the Kacel Watwero project, which seeks to assist vulnerable children through youth leadership training.  In December, the members of the Kacel Watwero project produced a needs assessment, entitled “Speaking for Ourselves: An Assessment of the Needs, Resources, and Gaps in Services Available to Children and Youth in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda.”  
   
The strength of the Kacel Watwero project lies in the community-focused approached, called participatory project design, which World Learning and its partners utilized.  Diallo comments, “I have seen projects that failed in northern Uganda because the design was parachuted in from other parts of the world.” Rachel agrees; “The World Learning project focused on asking youths their opinions on the dangers facing the children in their own communities, and how to protect these children.  There is no one in the world better situated to answer these questions.”

Part of SIT Graduate Institute’s requirements include a six-month field practicum following the nine months on-campus phase.  Diallo observes that his course-work and training in the concentration of Sustainable Development in the Program of Intercultural Service, Leadership, & Management (PIM) prepared him for his work in Kitgum.  He remarks that, at SIT, they “teach you to be open-minded and respectful when learning about other cultures, things that are very important in development work.”  Rachel, who is also an alumna of the SIT Graduate Institute’s TESOL program, adds that “without having had the opportunity to study other conflicts, areas where conflict and identity interchange, and, most importantly, post-war development scenarios, I would not have had the capacity to comprehend much of what I heard.”  Rachel’s concentration is in Conflict Transformation in the PIM program at SIT Graduate Institute.

Work on this project has left a deep impression on both Diallo and Rachel.  “I learned so much about the resilience and strength of people, and their ability to work and hope and love, despite having lived through war and lost loved-ones.”  Rachel continues, noting she learned that “civilians, rather than governments and NGOs, are the true experts on reconstruction and post-war development.”   Diallo concurs with this lesson, citing that he learned to “always value the people you are trying to help by being as inclusive as possible, and that, “investing in youth is one of the best ways to do development work.” Their experience in Kitgum will guide their capstone thesis and presentation that marks the completion of the PIM degree at SIT Graduate Institute.

Upon completion of the PIM degree, both plan to continue working with vulnerable populations.  Rachel hopes to continue in the area of humanitarian aid and post-war development.  “I want to work to help policy-makers and larger governments remember the importance of listen to local peace-workers in individual communities.”  Diallo expressed a desire to return to Kitgum to continue to connect with the youth, stating, “they are part of my life.”  He comments that the youth of northern Uganda had begun to lose hope, but with the help of the youth leadership training of Kacel Watwero, “they are actually engaged and dreaming of being successful.”

SIT in NYC

by Susal Stebbins, SIT Graduate student

In these first few weeks of 2009, SIT grad students can be found trekking merrily through the streets of Manhattan, chatting about micro-enterprise in Haiti, fresh water wells in Liberia, the desirability of a United Nations decade for interfaith dialogue, a possible internship with the International Girl Scouts… not to mention our friend playing Mongolian music in a bar in Brooklyn Tuesday night and what’s showing on Broadway this week.

We are here for our Organizational Behavior II class, examining recipes for effective organizations from perspectives of systems thinking, organizational structures, human resources, politics, and culture. We gather direct experience (and networking opportunities) by visiting the physical spaces and leaders of a myriad of United Nations institutions and International NGOs. The class is a partnership between SIT and the Levin Instititute for International Relations and Commerce, based in the heart of Manhattan (and founded in honor of Neil D. Levin, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who perished in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001).

SIT Professor Ken Williams supplies seemingly endless theories and inspiring and instructive stories – for example about the organic formation of a children’s rights hotline which connects street children in more than 20 cities in India with all the services they need, empowers young people to serve each other, and trains police and health care workers to understand and address children’s needs. He checks in with the class every day – what are we learning, what do we need, who will we meet with, how will we get there?

Levin Institute Provost Lynne Rosansky contributes lectures and conducts a simulation of  management structure functions, assigning students to roles as international president; heads of European, North American, and Asian operations; design and production managers and workers, with real life scenarios that get us thinking about strategies for communication, motivation, division of labor, etc. The European division cheerfully and obliviously churns out a bumper crop of faulty products, suddenly our red ink is declared toxic, and we nearly have a company meltdown, but quick consultation on new quality guidelines and flexible production staff save the day. 

Mary Alice Mazzara, Levin Institute’s Dean of Students, has combed through her vast network of contacts to arrange our visits with various international institutions. With each interchange – two to five per day – an SIT student serves as host and time is allowed for thought-provoking questions and lively dialogue.  I am delighted to meet SIT alumna Venkatesh (Venky) Raghavendra, now Senior Philanthropic Director of American India Foundation, hear so many insights from him, and then discover that he has not only worked with my dear former colleague Anil Chitrakar from Nepal, but they are close friends. Similar old and new connections are being uncovered and forged every day by my classmates.

I am building my own collection of memories of New York – stumbling across Carnegie Hall and the lions of the New York Public Library, finding new Tibetan friends at Columbus Circle, losing myself in the colors of Monet and Rodin’s luminous bodies emerging from white marble at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and standing shoulder to shoulder with my classmates in the sculpture garden of the United Nations.

Susal Stebbins is a PIM student (Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management degree). She calls Minneapolis, Minnesota and Kathmandu, Nepal home and has had a rich life experience with many strands of writing, photography, social activism, music, and teaching.

Theater, photography and more: Experiment France 2008

 

During my visit to our program sites this summer, I was lucky enough to visit our Experiment France programs during the final days of their programs. The day before most of the France Experimenters left, culminated in a grand reception with photo exhibits from several of the photography groups and an enactment of Don Juan from the theater group. Needless to say, the caliber of the exhibit and of the presentation was outstanding. The theater group was tasked with playing Don Juan, in its original French. This is equivalent to having non-English speakers play Shakespeare in old English. The group practiced and practiced. With direction from their group leader, Carol Ann, and from the drama instructor, Jean Claude, they put on a marvelous show.

The photography groups were to explore how Asian culture had penetrated into French culture. Their task was to capture this multi-culturalism on film. They explored immigration issues in French culture and captured what they felt were images expressing this multi-cultural setting. Many of the students explained their photos in French the night of the exhibit.

One thing was evident from all the groups, the themes helped them explore French culture in a way they would not have been able to in a regular tour group. Their leaders and local counterparts pushed them to find the best within themselves. And, their fellow group members supported them through the language and cultural struggles.

Join me in celebrating the successes of our Experimenters in France 2008. View the YouTube videos of their exhibits.

Jordan homestay: Why we host students

While Alejandra was visiting SIT Study Abroad in Jordan last month, she spent time visiting and chatting with homestay families about their involvement in our programs.  In this video, a Jordan homestay family explains why they enjoy hosting students as part of a homestay.