2008 Awards
CIEE Student Recognition Award
Kirsten “Kiki” Austad, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Service-Learning Program, Spring 2008 CIEE Study Center in Santiago, Dominican Republic
During her time on the CIEE Santiago Service-Learning program, Kirsten Austad worked with Hospital Juan XXIII, a public hospital that serves the marginalized communities of La Zona Sur. Kirsten worked closely with six women promotoras de salud (health promoters), who volunteer their time to do health education and screening activities in the community. The overwhelming message was that they wanted to learn more about chronic diseases that plague the community and provide a more concrete service to community members. The consensus was to investigate hypertension in the community, including prevalence, risk factors, and community knowledge and attitude toward this disease. Over the course of one month, Kirsten and her health promoters conducted over 150 interviews with both hypertensives and non-hypertensives. Based on their findings, Kirsten and
her colleagues jointly designed an education program to address the problem of hypertension in the community.
According to Resident Director Elaine Acacio, “what stands out about Kirsten’s work was that she took time to collaborate deeply with the local health promoters as opposed to creating a stand-alone project that is logistically easier for the student, but not necessarily sustainable after the student has left the country nor empowering to the community. I recently visited the community and they are reporting an astounding drop in hypertensives and are continuing to engage the community vis-á-vis activities—organized caminatas (walking marathons) and a club for hypertensives—to promote healthy living.”
CIEE Program Recognition Award
CIEE Study Center in Shanghai, China, Ping Matching Grant: Shem Women’s Group
The Ping Matching Grants, funded through a small endowment, are named after Dr. Charles Ping, a former Chairman of the CIEE Board of Directors. The grants are designed to allow local companies or organizations to carry out new activities which will benefit their local communities and to allow CIEE students to give something back to the communities in which they study.
One of the 2008 grants was awarded to Shem Women’s Group, an NGO serving the needs of villages on the Tibetan plateau, that has a history of working with international donors to fund small scale development projects with a particular focus on the improvement of women’s lives. Many impoverished communities have benefited from the solar cookers, electricity, potable water, education, and basic survival equipment provided by Shem Women’s Group. The organization advances their work through training locals on the creation of sustainable projects; the locals then return to their home villages to implement the projects.
The Group sought a Ping Matching Grant for a running water project in the village of Daiqian, in Zhaxixiulong Township, Tibetan Autonomous County. Currently, the women in this village need to travel great distances, once or twice a day, to get potable water. By providing a ready source of running water, the village’s young women will have more time to attend school and acquire the skills needed to get good jobs. CIEE students initially participated by working alongside the villagers in installing the new water system; next they will help the project manager evaluate the success of the project. The Ping Matching Grant has established a working relationship with the NGO, allowing future CIEE students to participate in projects based in other Tibetan villages.
Presented at the Academic Consortium Breakfast Plenary on Saturday, November 15.