While studying political science abroad at the University of Ghana, Lego, Mount Holyoke student Julie Ghostlaw ’11 and UC Irvine student Brendan Rosen have decided to extend their stays though the summer to embark on a public health and education initiative in response to needs of the community. Their newly formed organization Butre Education and Health Cooperative (BEHC) aims to address malaria prevention, the spread of AIDS and other health concerns.
The two identified Butre, a rural coastal village in the western region of Ghana, as distinctly in need of aid. “Its abject poverty was demonstrated by its unsanitary drinking water, high mortality rate due to malaria, the significant presence of orphans, and lack of toilet facilities,” Ghostlaw wrote in an e-mail.
Their summer project will focus on malaria, sanitation and reproductive rights. BHEC has designed a “three pronged initiative to help: a) promote malaria prevention and education, b) advocate for more boreholes, pit latrines, and other sanitary fixtures in the society, and c) we will also be running a peer education program on reproductive health focusing on teenage pregnancy and AIDS,” Ghostlaw wrote.
To assess the needs of the residents of Butre, Ghostlaw and Rosen are speaking with individuals in the community and conducting surveys to understand the issues that the community faces. “Our objective for the weekend was to refine our workshop plans, have a more crystallized idea of what provisions to bring to the community, and the budget that will be required to bring these materials,” Ghostlaw wrote in the blog that the two are keeping of their experience.
A major obstacle the two are working to overcome is funding. They have set a goal of $5,500, and they are currently at $4,700. This has been possible through their fundraising initiatives, which include the Global Studies Summer Fellowship from Mount Holyoke. They have also applied for funding from the Clinton Global Initiative, but the outcome has yet to be determined. Ghostlaw and Rosen have also looked towards their own communities for funding. “We launched an interstate fundraising campaign in the Greater L.A. and Greater Rochester Areas,” Ghostlaw said.
Ghostlaw wrote to media outlets in hopes of spreading the word about her project.
“These villages are still suffering and do not have “the luxury” of mass media coverage; however, they have been suffering from infrastructure and development problems in general since colonialism,” she said. She wrote in reference to events such as the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, expressing that despite no recent disaster, villages such as Butre are in dire need of assistance, which Ghostlaw, along with Rosen, are confident they can initiate with BEHC.
Related posts:
- Advances in Vaccination
- Malaria Facts
- Student Global AIDS Campaign challenges stigmatization
- World AIDS Week
- Western Sahara Project builds future for refugees:
