GlobeMed at UCLA

2011-2012

Each of our 46 Chapters (soon to be 50!) at universities across the United States has a Partner in a grassroots health organization in the developing world. Together, the chapter and partner organization work to collaborate on specific projects, organize a global health curriculum on campus, and lead trips to work with partners in communities abroad.

Who We Are

GlobeMed is a network of university students that partner with grassroots organizations around the world to improve the health of people living in poverty. Through their involvement today, students commit to a life of leadership in global health and social justice. Relationships are the heart of GlobeMed's model of engaging students to make an impact in the health of communities around the world.

Our Mission GlobeMed aims to strengthen the

movement for global health equity by empowering students and

communities to work together to improve the health of the

impoverished around the world.

GLOBEMED

Who We Are – GlobeMed at UCLA // Los Angeles, California

Founded in 2008, GlobeMed at UCLA is one of 46 GlobeMed chapters working to improve the health of people living in poverty around the world. In 2009, GlobeMed at UCLA partnered with the Nwoya Youth Center in Anaka, Uganda. Together, we work to fight inequities in sexual health among the adolescents of the Nwoya District.

Since this partnership began, GlobeMed at UCLA has raised over $5000 to fund projects at the Nwoya Center, gone on 2 GROW trips to visit our partner, and grown from 3 members to 37.

From anthropology majors to neuroscience majors, from journalists to gymnasts, from future doctors to future politicians, our members represent the diverse backgrounds and interests of students at UCLA. While we may have differing academic and career interests, we are unified in our interest in promoting global health through partnership and solidarity.

GlobeMed at UCLA in partnership with the Nwoya Youth Center

GLOBEMED AT UCLA

Our Partner – Nwoya Youth Center // ANAKA, NWOYA District, Uganda

The Nwoya Youth Center (NYC) was established in 2009 as part of the Straight Talk Foundation (STF), a communications NGO in Uganda that provides youth with accurate sexual health information and resources. NYC is one of 5 youth centers created as part of STF’s Face-to-Face program to reach youth affected by war in Northern Uganda.

The Nwoya Youth Center offers free reproductive health services for young people aged 10-24 yrs in Anaka, Uganda. Founded in a former refugee camp in 2009, the project goal is to reduce new HIV infections among young people by 20% in the Nwoya district. The centerʼs objectives are to increase knowledge of STI/HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies and to increase adoption of safer sex practices in adolescents. NYC’s work involves the entire community and includes weekly dialogues with young men, young women, teachers, parents, young mothers, and young positives.

This summer, the Nwoya Youth Center aims to affect the lives of over 1000 youth in the Nwoya District through its sexual health education, outreach, and intervention programs.

GlobeMed at UCLA in partnership with the Nwoya Youth Center

NWOYA YOUTH CENTER

Okello Stephen, Director of the Nwoya Youth Center and our

contact in Anaka.

Anaka is located in northern Uganda in the Acholi region. Anaka is a very small village on the on the main highway between Gulu and Pakwach, in one of Uganda’s newest districts, Nwoya District, which was previously part of the Amuru District.

The head of the medicine and health service delivery monitoring unit at State House, Diana Atwine, has described Nwoya district as a museum of corruption. The Anaka hospital is no exception to this unfortunate reality. Built in the 1950s by the British, it was soon abandoned and left for ruins. It is currently in shambles and extremely understaffed, offering very limited and poor quality health care to local people, who have no other options. In the midst of corruption, the strength of the people is inspiring.

As part of northern Uganda, the Nwoya district has suffered from the tragic effects of war. The war in northern Uganda has been called “the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today”. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) have been waging a war that has affected nearly two million innocent civilians. After an immeasurable amount of human rights violations and thousands of children abducted and forced to serve in the LRA army, the region is struggling to recover with very little help from the Ugandan government, but many people are making great strives to do so.

ANAKA, UGANDA

The Goat Project

Last year, GlobeMed at UCLA worked to create a sustainable, income-making project for young mothers in the Nwoya District. Through campaigns on campus, we fundraised to buy goats for these young mothers to give them a resource to create their own income. The project raised almost $4000, bought 20 male and 20 female goats, and gave 20 mothers a pair of goats.

The mothers will give the baby goats to the next group of randomly selected mothers and the original group of mothers pays back the price of the vaccinations for the baby goats. This project allows mothers to support their families, bolster the local economy, increase health through nutritious goat milk, and allows for sustainability through breeding.

We are currently in the process of evaluating the health statuses of the goats and the impact that they have had on these mothersʼ lives.

2010-2011

PARTNER PROJECTS

For 2011-2012, GlobeMed at UCLA and the Nwoya Youth Center are working on sexual health education, outreach, and intervention programs. The subprograms are as follows:

1) Boy/Girl Talk Outreach: Trained health workers counsel boys and girls ages 10-24 in separate groups. 2) Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Outreaches to Schools: SRH counselors travel directly to schools and teach kids about HIV prevention, growth & development, sexual health counseling, and give career guidance. 3) Sports & Games for SRH Programs: Organized sports activities with health themes (family planning, condom awareness) targeted at youth who are out of school 4) Condom Awareness Sessions: Targets out-of-school youth using an ABC approach to educate them about responsible sexual health practices 5) Outreach to Persons With Disabilities (PWD) and Young Positives: Targets vulnerable, stigmatized youth who are victims of the war-torn climate of Northern Uganda6) Sanitary Pad Distribution: Pads are a rare commodity in Uganda. Girls without pads are known to face discrimination in school, and will often miss one week to school a month to avoid embarrassment. This creates an education gap as girls fall more and more behind.

These programs will provide the youth with information and resources about sexual health that they would not otherwise receive. The project aims to affect over 1000 youth in the Nwoya District.

2011-2012

PARTNER PROJECTS

CAMPAIGNS ON CAMPUS Global Health U

November 22, 2011

In order to inform the student body about GlobeMed and this yearʼs projects, the ghU team put on an event in which people reflected on what they were thankful for. The event had over 60 participants and elicited

some great responses on what students at UCLA are thankful for.

Achy Breaky Heart February 12, 2012

GlobeMed at UCLA partnered with Bruins for Israel to put on a Valentineʼs Day event. Students could play

carnival games, enter raffles for local prizes, or bid on a date in the date auction. The event raised $2000 and

promoted NYC and Save a Childʼs Heart.

Global Get Down February 22, 2012

GlobeMed at UCLAʼs 3rd annual Global Get Down featured performances from student a cappella groups, dance teams, and bands. The event raised over $200 and included an informational appearance by Invisible

Children.

With our campaigns on campus, we hope to spread the word on contemporary issues in the Nwoya

community, fundraise for the Nwoya Youth Center, and to engage the student body in our efforts.

GlobeMedʼs First Ever GROW Training (Pictured right)

In preparation for this yearʼs GROW trips, GROW interns from UCLA, USC, and UT Austin came to discuss their theories on partnership, their motivations for working on the ground with the partners, and their brilliant ideas for how to utilize GROW as a catalyst for positive change in their chapters over a weekend filled with inspiration, excitement, and fun.

IN THE COMMUNITY

GlobeMed in the Community (Pictured left)

This year, GlobeMed at UCLA volunteered at Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles. On several separate occasions, members participated in preparing and serving meals throughout the day. By having one community service partner throughout the year, GlobeMed at UCLA hopes to create a lasting partnership with the center and its community.

GROW

What is GROW?

GlobeMed's GROW program (GrassRoots On-site Work) is a unique and powerful opportunity for GlobeMed students to directly connect with the organization they have been closely working with throughout the school year. Students return to campus as better ambassadors for their partner and, most importantly, form and strengthen relationships with community members from their project site.

Purpose of GROW Internship

To strengthen, add to, and expand programs, resources, and knowledge of the partner organization for the purpose of having a positive impact on their community.

To engage in mutual learning in order to strengthen all aspects of the partnership.

To ensure long-term stability through evaluation and strategic planning.

To Whom It May Concern: I am writing on behalf of Straight Talk Foundation (STF) with regards to our partnership with GlobeMed at UCLA. Although our organizations have only been partners for two years, the amount of growth that has resulted from strengthening this relationship has been truly impressive.

STF is an indigenous not for profit organization registered in 1997 and it focuses on behaviour change communication work with teachers, parents and young people. STF’s mission is to improve the lives of adolescents through the provision of quality social and behavior change communication programs and services for young people in Uganda.

STF works through print, radio and face to face communication media. In the northern districts of Uganda,STF operates four youth centers providing sexual and reproductive health information and services in post conflict northern Uganda . These exist in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Amuru and Adjumani. STF youth centers provide counseling services, educational tools, contraceptives, and safe spaces for engaging in collective dialogue and peer Interaction,.

In August of 2010, five members of GlobeMed came to visit the Amuru Youth Center and the STF headquarters in Kampala. Their presence in Uganda was greatly appreciated; it allowed our organizations to unite our visions and continue to set goals that we would like to see materialize within our communities. The work of Amuru Youth Center has been made possible with the help of partners such as GlobeMed at UCLA.

While on this trip, GlobeMed established contacts with the Young Mothers Forum, supported by the Amuru Youth Center. After hearing these women’s stories, GlobeMed began forging a plan to help meet the economic needs of these young women, demonstrating this young mother’s club’s heart for the Ugandan people and will to institute positive change in the lives of those in need. Our current collaborative project is simply called “The Goat Project”. This project aims to buy goats to give these mothers a steady income. The mothers will profit by selling the goat milk and cheese, and once the goats are bred, they will pass the kids to another mother in need. This project embodies the sustainable and long term change GlobeMed at UCLA wishes to institute.

STF is delighted to collaborate with GlobeMed in improving the health and wellbeing of young people in Uganda, especially those living in poverty and post conflict through empowering young people to lead productive lives.

Sincerely Susan Ajok, Straight Talk Foundation Executive Director

SUSAN AJOK, STF A letter from Susan Ajok, Executive Director of Straight Talk Foundation, after GlobeMed at UCLAʼs first GROW trip in August 2010. Note: The Amuru Youth Center has

since been renamed the Nwoya Youth Center.

GROW TEAM 2012 GROW Coordinator Name: Caroline Nguyen Year in School: 3rd Major: Anthropology, Minor: Public Health “We have to make aid into a grassroots movement. How do we reach out to voiceless people? We need to create bonds of solidarity with our partners, not just out of charity, but out of joint work.” – Joia Mukherjee

Name: Jennifer Cruz Year in School: 3rd Major: Physiological Sciences “Spend all you have for loveliness, buy it and never count the cost; for one white singing hour of peace count many a year of strife well lost, and for a breath of ecstasy give all you have been, or could be.” – Sara Teasdale

Name: Mizuki Sato Year in School: 5th Major: Physiological Sciences “The right to development is the measure of respect of all other human rights that should be our aim: a situation in which all individuals are enabled to maximize their potential, and to contribute to the evolution of society as a whole.” – Kofi Annan

Name: Brittney Sutton Year in School: 2nd Major: Undeclared "Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman

A MESSAGE FROM GROW

To family and friends:

It is hard to express how much GlobeMed has changed our perspectives on life. Combining social justice and collaboration, GlobeMed has taught us how to engage and channel our humility, compassion, and enthusiasm into meaningful action. Through the principles of solidarity and sustainability, we have learned how to create and foster partnership. We have learned how to define and act on our morals and passions.

With the opportunity to go on GROW, we have been given an outlet to channel this passion and to practically apply all of what GlobeMed has taught us. Every week, we spend hours discussing our goals, outlooks, and plans for GROW and with every meeting and every coming day, we have become more and more eager and energized for the journey. And as we continue to prepare, we look forward to the day when we can meet our Stephen and Susan and begin our work on the six sexual education, outreach, and intervention programs. In partnering with the Nwoya Youth Center, we know that we can affect the lives of Anaka youth in helping them gain knowledge and resources that they would not receive otherwise.

We cannot even begin to describe the excitement and enthusiasm we have for the work to come in the upcoming months. We have spent the last seven Mondays (and will continue to spend every Monday until the end of the year) getting to know each other: talking, reflecting, eating, taking pictures. It has already been such a blast and we havenʼt even started our onsite work.

We expect it to be a transformative, informative, productive, and rewarding experience, both for ourselves and for the GlobeMed at UCLA-Nwoya Youth Center partnership. We are so excited to share in this journey with you. Your support and care means the world to us and we could not do any of this without you.

Lots of love, Caroline, Jenny, Mizuki & Brittney GlobeMed at UCLA GROW ʻ12