From Crystal Jones, One World Cambodia Young Leader 2007

I treasure my experience with One World 2007 in Cambodia.  It forever shaped by budding perceptions of the world that I never knew existed.

From Marissa A. Gutierrez-Vicario, One World Cambodia Young Leader 2008/ Senegal Group Leader 2009

Admittedly, I was most concerned about fundraising for this trip. Here are a few approaches I took:

-First I worked with my school, New York University and went through the necessary procedures in order to apply for an International Summer Travel Grant, through the NYU Wagner Office of International Programs, who offer financial support to “current Wagner students who plan to pursue an overseas internship or applied research project during the summer.”

-Second, I pursued grants outside of the university, which include the J.W. Saxe Memorial Prize for Public Service. This prize is given to students with a history of public service, who are enrolled in a graduate school program and who are interested in volunteering or interning for little or no pay.

-Third, I contacted friends and family, by setting up a website that would allow people to donate as much or as little as they are able to.

Through these fundraising efforts I was able to raise the total cost of participation with money left over for incidentals.  I feel very grateful to the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and other individual donors for the opportunity to have worked in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

From Phoebe Sebhatu, One World India Young Leader 2009  

Click to download Phoebe’s report on how Manual Scavenging Continues in India.

Video by Amir Rodney Smith, One World Mali Young Leader 2007

From Evelyn Kamgang, One World Senegal Young Leader 2009

In the summer of 2009, I got the opportunity to work at the Shifa-al-Asqam Socio-Medical Center, a primary health care center founded by the late Cheikh Hassan Cisse for the residents of Kaolack, Sengeal. I worked there with two other Young Leaders, a primary care physician, a dentist, a midwife, nurses, nurse assistants, pharmacy assistants, and community health workers.  The work I did varied on a daily basis. I collaborated with staff members in vaccine/malaria-prevention programs to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets and inoculate infants. Every Wednesday was vaccination day. Mothers from surrounding neighborhoods would bring their children to be vaccinated against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, haemophilus influenza, tetanus, hepatitis, measles, and yellow fever. We weighed and recorded the children’s weights and prepared the vaccines for the nurses to inoculate them. We also distributed mosquito nets, mosquito repellants, and toothbrushes to encourage good oral hygiene.

We performed community outreach activities to educate residents about benefits of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and deworming medications such as mebendazole for children. Along with nurses and community health workers, we accomplished this by walking from house to house and speaking with the adults there. (I also got to see and learn more about my new Kaolack community through such activities).

On other days, we assisted the primary care physician and nurses during patient examinations. We collected vital signs, retrieved medications from the on-site pharmacy, and often prepared them for IV placements (there was an overwhelming number of malaria patients that needed to be stabilized via IV anti-malarial medications).

One of the things we planned to accomplish before leaving was designing and implementing an electronic documentation system to assist the clinic in tracking its patients. We took copies of patients’ medical records (which comprised of a “ticket” containing the name, age, village, chief complaint, vital signs, diagnosis, and medications prescribed/tests ordered) and transcribed it to a spreadsheet system using Excel. From this, we collected relevant information (such as percentage of specific illnesses per month and frequency of specific patient visits) to be included in future applications for grants.

On days when there were not many patients, we sat down and had very engaging conversations with the nurses, physicians, and community health workers. Through them we became culturally sensitive. We got to learn about the community, the Cheikh (religious leaders) who founded the clinic, the difference between their clinic and other private clinic and state-owned hospitals, the public health issues that deeply affect their communities, the health care system, current events, just to name a few. Other times, we held informal language lesson sessions where we exchanged English words and phrases for French and Wolof words and phrases. (I am still holding on to my Wolof and I hope to get the chance to practice it here in the U.S. However, no such luck yet). On a personal note, despite differences in culture, I was struck by how similar our concerns and aspirations for the future were to those of the community health workers and nurses (most of whom were in my age range). When I think about it now, it gives me hope that despite the brain drain taking place in Senegal (and in other developing nations), there still are professionals (both young and not-so-young) who are resilient and determined to work in and improve their communities.

From Olave Sebastien, One World Senegal Young Leader 2009

My best advice in fundraising is while your application is being processed, as you are typing it, you have to develop some fundraising ideas and I think that was the one thing we could have done a better job with (and is also a question on the applicaton). The fundraising process is not easy but one thing I continued to tell myself and peers daily when doubt decided to poke its head was, “We are going to Senegal, India and Cambodia”.  One of the first things I did to raise money was asking family and friends.  We sent out letters via mail, email, and facebook notifications.  It was definitely one of those situations where I had to humble myself and “rebuild burned bridges” for help. 

We also had a performance weekend in which my friends and myself put together a weekend of Open Mic performances inside the Brotherhood/ Sister Sol and another venue in Brooklyn.  Although we anticipated a great crowd for the entire weekend, we overlooked the fact that the majority of the audience would be at Slam of the Ages, which was a huge poetry slam in NYC.  Though it was upsetting and discouraging to perform in front of only 2-5 people for the first two performances and then 20+ for the final performance we had a lot of hope and were successful. 

If you can envision yourself going, you will get there.

From Nadia Dale, One World Uganda Young Leader 2010

     Being apart of the One World 2009 Uganda Delegation was truly one of the most worthwhile experience of  my life. I honestly did not know what to expect when I arrived in D.C. for our training. It was truly a beautiful surprise to connect with so many young and passionate people, eager to share their experiences.  After sharing only a day with the other delegates, I remember wishing we could all travel together. The other delegates were just so colorful in their experiences and all so knowledgeable.      

     Prior to this experience, I had always been one to fight for “the cause” in any community that I was serving. It was not until traveling to Uganda that I learned that people all over this world were experiencing similar struggles and that they were beginning to unite around these causes and to support each other. One of the things I appreciated the most from this journey was that it forced us to think very critically about how we are the same and how we are different in our experiences. In the beginning, I struggled with the far-reaching term “person of color.”  I felt that this term somehow challenged my ability to preserve my Black identity and to have my individuality in that respect. However, in sharing my experience with my fellow group members who came from their own disadvantaged communities, learning about their struggles and empathizing with their experiences, we were able to build a sense of camaraderie. For example, through nights of shared journaling, I was fortunate to connect with my South Korean roommate on a level that fear might have kept me from opening up to before.  Although I do still believe that it is important to have a strong sense of self (in terms of your own ethnic group), I see now that it is equally important to create alliances with others who may be suffering because we are all one people, one world.