Global Health is Everyone's Responsibility

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Friday September 11, 2009 · 8:11 AM PDT

2009/09/11 · 08:11

People young and old across the US have connected with seven different communities across the African continent to support locally initiated health projects. Using the vibrant color of bananas and the enthusiasm of youth, a new nonprofit has grown to support the coming revolution in African health care.

It all began with one individual, Fr. Joseph Birungi, who had the dream of providing access to basic health care in a remote area where he worked. His dream was transferred on to me through his stories of those who died because they did not have access to basic health care. At the time I was a 14 year-old who knew little of the world beyond Michigan's borders, but I was inspired to do something. Just entering high school, I was full of naive optimism with a goal to figure out how I could make an impact in the world. Although I was youthful, naive, and optimistic I had an incredible mentor, my mother. She helped me form basic assumptions that laid the foundation for my understanding of "global health as everyone's responsibility.

scoutbanana

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Tuesday June 09, 2009 · 4:04 PM PDT

2009/06/09 · 16:04

Over the past 8 years Africa, international development, and health care have been the focus of my work and studies. Just last year (it's been a year already?) I completed an internship in South Africa at a center for children and youth affected by HIV/AIDS called VVOCF (Vumundzuku-bya Vana 'Our Children's Future'). The internship was a completion of my 'field experience' requirement for my International Relations major at James Madison College and was supported by the Young People For internship program. The paper that I wrote as an investigation, analysis, and report has been by far my most rewarding piece of academic work, but also my most depressing.

scoutbanana

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Tuesday February 10, 2009 · 3:46 PM PST

2009/02/10 · 15:46

SCOUT BANANA, in conjunction with Michigan State University's African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites you to submit a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Research Applied to International Development.

scoutbanana

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Wednesday January 21, 2009 · 12:34 PM PST

2009/01/21 · 12:34

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 January 2009

STUDENT ORGANIZATION GOES NONPROFIT TO BENEFIT HEALTH IN AFRICA

East Lansing - To suggest that college students armed with bananas could create anything wholesome and family-friendly may raise a few eyebrows.

But to suggest that college students and bananas are the backbone of a dynamic, progressive organization that has raised more than $150,000 to date and inspired countless people to improve basic health care in Africa? That may raise more eyebrows.

scoutbanana

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Tuesday October 07, 2008 · 5:33 AM PDT

2008/10/07 · 05:33

Last summer I wrote about the definition of development after having a conversation with an incredible Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana who was really making the most of his time and abilities. The conversation that we had really made me think about the term 'development' and what it really means. Before that conversation and since I have been working to create my own definition, or rather I have been working to make the term stand for what I believe development should be all about.

scoutbanana

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Saturday August 30, 2008 · 11:44 AM PDT

2008/08/30 · 11:44

Previous entry: a first glimpse: zonke

13 May 2008

South Africa is much the same and different as many African countries that I have visited. Same in the sense of the smell of burning oil and gasoline, shipping containers as buildings, the red dirt, the friendly people, passenger vans as taxis, crazy driving, dogs for security, chickens and goats roaming everywhere, and the seemingly common practice of taking things as they come. The differences and nuances come in the country's history - white minority oppressive rule. White people are not unheard of in this area of Africa and South Africa specifically - uncommon, but not unseen. You get a sense that you are always being watched, but in a different way than what may be experienced in other African countries without such a history. It is more of a, "why are you here" look instead of the, "oh! You are white." The history of white oppression and the current issue of white organizations taking away from the communities makes the dynamic similar in skepticism, but different in why.

From the When not in Africa. . . blog.

scoutbanana

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Friday August 29, 2008 · 5:10 PM PDT

2008/08/29 · 17:10

I will now begin filling in the gaps from my summer travels. I was only able to post four times during my three months in southern Africa.

My travels began in the South African capital city of Johannesburg and took me to a community development project (which became an official non-profit organization (NPO) this summer) in an informal settlement known as Zonkizizwe. Shortened to Zonke, the settlement was started during the apartheid years as a place for people commuting to live closer to their mostly inadequate jobs as farm hands, domestic workers, miners, and other menial jobs. The settlement is surrounded by farmland from which it owes its birth. The former Afrikaner farmland now houses close between 150,000 - 200,000 people (estimates are not clear). There are now other Zonkizizwe areas known as extensions. Where I was is called Zonkizizwe Proper as opposed to the five other extensions just nearby.

scoutbanana

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Thursday August 21, 2008 · 8:05 PM PDT

2008/08/21 · 20:05

Call for Papers:

Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international development, focusing primarily on African studies and healthcare issues. Articulate seeks to educate, motivate, and activate the public about its mission and vision working towards solutions for Africa's healthcare crisis.

scoutbanana

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Friday May 09, 2008 · 10:39 AM PDT

2008/05/09 · 10:39

Abstract

Conflict over the oil resource in Nigeria is not an issue that can be simplified into a single driving cause. The issue is complex and cuts across the topics of violence, environmental degradation, and democratic representation in the Niger Delta. These topics within the issue of conflict over oil encompass political, economic, and social histories where effects can be seen at the local, state national, and international levels. The conflict over oil is largely fueled by the financial interest of western Multinational Oil Corporations. With over 80% of the Nigerian federal revenue being supplied by oil exports to foreign countries, the US in the lead, it is not difficult to identify one of the driving factors of Nigeria's oil conflict. The Chevron Oil Company has established itself as a formidable force within Nigeria's oil fields, particularly in the Bayelsa State. Chevron and its partners have held a presence in Nigerian oil discovery and production since the Gulf Oil Company's first off-shore mining in Okan conducted in 1963.

(disclaimer: abstract continued below followed by lengthy research paper)

scoutbanana

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Wednesday May 07, 2008 · 10:15 AM PDT

2008/05/07 · 10:15

Topping out at an HDI value of 169, the country of Burundi is far from attaining the coveted term of "developed." Life expectancy sits at a young 44 years, adult literacy is about 60% of the country with school enrollment at just 36% of the population in either primary, secondary, or tertiary education, and Burundi’s GDP per capita wallows at $677. Burundi’s GDP is roughly $39,000 less that that of the US. ‘Why?’ you ask. Burundi has a history of ethnic conflict much like is neighbor Rwanda, it has faced overpopulation problems, and large numbers of Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Germany gained the Burundi region in the partitioning of Africa, however after the First World War the region was given to Belgium. As part of the Belgian Colonial Empire, Burundi remained apart from the clutches of colonialism.

scoutbanana

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Tuesday March 25, 2008 · 4:44 PM PDT

2008/03/25 · 16:44

Earlier this month I wroteabout how South Africa's war into Mozambique has contributed to Mozambique checking in at one of the poorest countries in the world. It seems that the apartheid past is still too close at hand to allow Mozambique ample space to regain its footing.

scoutbanana

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Sunday March 23, 2008 · 10:00 PM PDT

2008/03/23 · 22:00

What do you know about Liberia? Or do you even care?

Americans pay little attention to Liberia, and most Europeans think of the country as a joke. [...] In case of apparently friendly relations between that country and European powers there has usually come to the surface some design to deprive Liberia of its territory or to secure some economic advantage. The American’s endorsement of the Firestone invasion of that African area shows that on this side of the Atlantic the same attitude has developed.

(Azikiwe 352)

The above quote best exemplifies what happened in Liberia in the 1920s in regards to the selling out of elite Liberians to US capitalist interests. Exploring the past is key to understanding how and why the exploitation of Liberians continues to happen today.

Note: Written in 2006 for a 2nd semester college writing course.

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Global Health is Everyone's Responsibility

why are there no doctors?

Call for Papers - Undergraduate Journal on International Development

Student Organization Goes Nonprofit to Benefit Health in Africa

definition of development (revisited): beauty in the palm of your hand

agency in community development

when not in southern africa. . .

Articulate Call for Papers (Fall 2008)

from oppression to development: chevron's policy rethink in nigeria's bayelsa state

burundi: the agricultural dilemma

your power is not your own

when the rubber hits the road: rolling on the misfortunes of marcu garvey