GROW 2021 Blogs
GROW 2021 Blog 4 -- GROW at Duke
Today’s blog post centers around GROW’s role and impact within GlobeMed and how we anticipate bringing lessons learned under GROW back to our Duke chapter.
What tangible global health work are we doing:
Cindy: For the GROW team at Duke, our most important and tangible global health work remains in fostering a relationship with Global Health Network (Uganda) and the Oyam community through communication. Each day, I see the web of interconnected relationships form a new connection as we meet with the wonderful members of GHNU over Zoom and exchange texts over WhatsApp. Though our interactions lack the spark of face-to-face reactions, we are exploring ways to convey each other’s thoughts and feelings simply through conversation. Possibly the most exciting feature the GROW team of 2021 is looking to incorporate is a new digital pen pal system that will allow a direct (and more heartfelt) expression of interests to be traded between cultures. The only thing left to worry about is the language barrier!
Sophie F: As mentioned by Cindy, our bidirectional partnership is crucial to the work we are doing. In addition, one example of the tangible global health work we are doing comes in the form of a grant proposal. A limiting factor of many global health projects is funding. Therefore, we are working on a grant proposal to hopefully support the amazing things that GHNU is doing in the Oyam district.
What role do we hope to serve within GlobeMed and what impact do we want our work to have:
Sophie F: We hope that the actions we will take this summer will help to foster a long-term, sustainable partnership with GHNU that will continue after our GROW internship has ended. As a generic GlobeMed chapter member, our partnership with GHNU can feel very far away. However, we will serve as an example of the partnership in action and a resource for understanding more about GHNU. Ultimately, we will share back our enjoyable and enriching experience to our chapter to motivate GlobeMed chapter members to engage in the experience.
Sophie S: As a member of GlobeMed, and more specifically the GROW team, I hope to educate myself about disparities related to medical information and resources. We are fortunate enough to have access to a great deal of information going to Duke, and it is my goal to apply my knowledge in a way that may hopefully benefit other less fortunate communities. However, I believe it is also important to acknowledge that as a GROW member, it is our duty to work with our partners in Uganda to help them with whatever they need; and not necessarily what we think would be best.
How do we want to bring our GROW work back to GlobeMed? To Duke?
Ella: The work we are doing right now as a GROW team is focused towards meeting grant application deadlines and requirements for Global Health Network (Uganda). However, through this process we are not only learning more about the technical side of the grant process, but we are also simultaneously building practical skills that have helped us strengthen relationships and communication with our international partners, GHNU. Both of these technical and practical skills are ones that we hope to sustain and share with both GlobeMed and the Duke GlobeMed chapter specifically. For example, the penpal system we have started can be shared with GlobeMed as an idea for other chapters to use and can also be continued and expanded throughout the year within our Duke chapter.
Reah: Much of GROW so far has consisted of working with our partners, GHNU, to complete a grant proposal and organize activities for the upcoming school year. I think it would be beneficial to talk about this process with the GlobeMed chapter at Duke when we reconvene in the fall semester to showcase the work being done this summer and to share the side projects we have pushed into development, such as the vlogs, this blog, and the penpal system, all of which can be contributed to by Duke GlobeMed members. I also believe that it would be effective to have members of GHNU such as Winnie or Ahmed speak at future GBMs to share GHNU’s vision and the type of projects they are involved in to introduce their organization to Duke students.
In conclusion, each of us has our thoughts and perspectives on forming a tangible bridge between GHNU and GlobeMed. We are fortunate in the regard that we have an entire summer to ourselves to plan courses of action and try different communication strategies. However, even the summer doesn’t feel like enough! The past GROW teams have likely experienced much the same despite being able to visit in person. So, it is our greatest wish that future GROW teams and GlobeMed members can at least access this blog and follow us along our journey step-by-step.
The following blog will discuss some of our key methods in writing a grant!
-- Cindy, Ella, Madi, Sophie F, Sophie S, & Reah
-- 6/07/2021
GROW 2021 Blog 3 -- Expanding to GlobeMed
With the conclusion of our finals and a bright start to our summer, we return to this blog to discuss some of our experiences, especially pertaining to GlobeMed. GlobeMed, the overarching organization behind the initial connection with our partners, has been influential in teaching us valuable lessons as we navigate the development of our relationships to GHNU and Oyam. From GBM meetings every Wednesday to coaching calls with our chapter coach Najma Mohamed to GROW programs every two weeks, we have already advanced far beyond our initial selves.
How has GlobeMed impacted different aspects of your life?
GlobeMed provides each of its GROW teams resources to study our partners. In particular for Uganda, we studied the recent elections and Museveni’s control over the ballot, the founding and purpose of GHNU, as well our past relationship with the people of Oyam. It was certainly eye-opening as the things that were suggested to us were things that we hadn’t originally considered applicable. What did Museveni’s tight control of the government funding have to do with the gig workers of Oyam? How did Uganda’s public health policy both benefit and harm the people during the pandemic? What did past GROW teams do with GHNU and could we possibly replicate their involvement virtually?
The questions that GlobeMed ignited travelled even further. Members of the GROW team found ourselves questioning the American health system and the discrepancies in healthcare for lower income classes. During discussions amongst ourselves and with other GROW members at UCLA, WashU, and Columbia, we found ourselves sharing ideas on how to overcome language barriers and search for resources. At every occasion, there was a new suggestion or comment that changed the way we practiced ethical conversation. Perhaps the most important policy GlobeMed enforced was the Safe Space Agreement. As we each hesitantly turned on our cameras, threw comments and questions in the chat, and spoke in halting sentences that grew stronger with each second, we began to understand our own impact. We are question-makers. We are change-makers.
How does GlobeMed influenced your academic path at Duke?
Sophie F: I first joined GlobeMed because I was interested in pursuing a double major in Biology and Global Health in the fall of my freshman year. Since joining GlobeMed, I have gained a strong interest in learning about how many health issues are tied to social factors, such as how one’s socioeconomic status can influence their susceptibility to obesity, and I hope to continue to learn about these topics in future global health classes. Participating on the GROW team has also taught me the importance of grassroots work and international collaboration, consequently allowing me to make the decision to hopefully study abroad during my junior year. Overall, GlobeMed has reinforced my decision to study pre-med, fueled a new interest in studying abroad and taking global health courses, and also led me to making some pretty cool friends on the GROW team! :)
One of the new ideas cropped up among us GROW members was this: How can we engage members of our GlobeMed chapter to GHNU in a deeper sense? Almost immediately, everyone in the group suggested using voices and words rather than material objects. Then, our next question was how could we move those words from Uganda to America, from Lugandan to English, from primary student to college student, from mother to teacher, and so on. Our final answer was the pen pal system.
What is your hope for the Pen Pal system?
Ella: With the Pen Pal system I hope to foster international communication between the students in the Oyam district of Uganda and Duke. With this, I hope that mutual learning about different cultural elements will occur, as through our letters we will share and teach them about American culture, and through their responses our Global Health Duke students will also gain a better understanding of the reality that these children face that can be used to fuel their academic interest and intent. I hope that through these letters and more personal interaction we impact the Oyam community in Uganda in a positive manner. Overall, I think this pen pal system is a great opportunity for everyone to learn through others experiences and to form international friendships and increase GlobeMeds impact on the community.
What began as the idea of sending packages and letters written by hand to Uganda quickly fluctuated and changed. After all, with all the advantages of the virtual world, we wanted to try new things and leave behind tradition for a bit. The plan was quite simple: high school and college students recruited by the GROW team would participate in handwriting letters (including pictures, stickers, doodles, etc). Then, these letters would be scanned and sent as PDFs to Ella. Once the letters were collected, Ella would direct them to GHNU where members like Ahmed, Gerald, and Winnie would translate and distribute towards the primary and secondary schools of Oyam, alongside video clips and songs also sent by the GROW team. Finally, Ugandan students return with their own digital materials to be distributed back to America.
Of course, there are some difficulties like how many letters could the GHNU team feasibly translate in a day and how Internet access and electric bills might affect how they are distribute and potential live communication between Ugandan and American students might look like. However, where would be the fun without the challenge?
-- Cindy, Ella, Madi, Sophie F, Sophie S, & Reah
-- 5/22/2021
GROW 2021 Blog 2 -- Start of the Experience
“As part of the GROW team and GROW experience….”
Our GlobeMed chapter has been partnered with GHNU for a few years now. GHNU is a nonprofit organization that serves the Oyam district of Uganda. The highlight of our partnership is the grassroot onsite-work (GROW) internship which is intended to give students an opportunity for experiential learning as they complete projects designed in collaboration with community partners. In the past, we have sent teams of GlobeMed members to Uganda to do on-site work for 8 weeks during the summer. All past GROW interns have had positive experiences abroad and felt like they learned a lot during their time there. Previous projects consisted of creating lessons about sanitation practices to children at soccer camps. Also, the interns taught girls about how to construct and clean reusable pads. With the pandemic, the internship was quickly adapted to be virtual last year with some projects working on COVID-19.
What We’ve Learned so Far:
● Giving our Partners Context
● Practicing Anti-Oppressive Partnership
Reah: One aspect of teamwork that we have discussed and learned of has been practicing anti-oppressive partnership, specifically ensuring that there is a balance of power and responsibility between us and our partners in Uganda. There is a global history of imperialism and colonization that has lasting ramifications, specifically seen in the social and political climates in countries of the Global South. Thus, it is important when participating in grassroots partnerships that there is no “savior complex” that is present from us in our work. We understand that the goals and outcomes desired from the work we do are all reliant on GHNU’s wishes, and we are meant to be as supportive and helpful in achieving these goals as possible. However, it is not appropriate for us to impose our personal aims into the collaborative effort.
● Social Positionality and GROW & GROW Team Dynamics
Sophie S: Although everything has been online this year and we haven’t met each other in person, we have taken several steps to get to know one another. I think that learning more about one another has led us to become a more efficient team, as we can quickly divide work based on our strengths and weaknesses. To further strengthen our team dynamics, we are thinking about starting a penpal system with our partners in Uganda so as to stay connected beyond the grasps of the internship.
● Ethical Storytelling
Madi: As we begin to launch our blog posts and begin documenting the work that we have done so far, it is important to acknowledge the critically important concept of Ethical Storytelling, which informs our understanding of how our presentation of this “story” can either contribute to or detract from the harmful power structures at play. While describing our work and our experience in this internship, we must be sure to tell it in an ethical manner that gives power to our GHNU partners in the Oyam district, instead of taking that power away. We want to share the stories of their culture in a respectful way that amplifies our partner’s voice. Our goal is to
help provide the tools for our partners to own their story and tell it in a way that they deem most suitable, and in the process, uplift both our community and theirs through mutual understanding and respect.
Methods We’ve Learned:
Through both the workshops and modules we have completed so far as a part of GROW we have learned about several methods that we could use going forward in order to work together more effectively as a team during the summer. One of the methods we have learned is using round-table conversations in which we all give each other space to speak our mind, while also being accountable for paying attention and responding. This allows everyone’s voice to be heard and increases participation. Being virtual has made communication and teamwork exceedingly difficult because we will all be in different physical locations with different schedules. Therefore, learning and making use of these methods we learnt about is very important for the success of our work. Another important method we learnt is the value of social media outlets and platforms to stay updated on Ugandan politics and to better understand the culture behind their healthcare. Staying informed and culturally aware is crucial for the success of our work this summer, so taking advantages of resources that would allow us to do so is very important. Additionally, dividing the work evenly between members so that everyone participantes and gets to see others ideas and work ethic is a great way to ensure effective collaboration within our team. Lastly, taking a step back each week to consider how we are approaching a topic from an ethical standpoint and having open and honest conversations about that is very important, especially when working with the GHNU team in Uganda.
Future Plan of Action:
Clearly, learning the history and context of our partners must be built upon layers and layers of trust. In exchange for GHNU’s (and the Oyam community’s) trust and confidence in us, we must also be vulnerable and open. Though we have learned the proper steps of this complicated dance, we have yet to try making those first moves. As communication platforms are established and we are reaching out to the first members of GHNU, we hope to make moves in the right direction.
-- Cindy, Ella, Madi, Sophie F, Sophie S, & Reah
-- 4/21/21
GROW 2021 Blog #1 -- Meet the Team!
Hello! This is 2021 GROW team here at Duke. We’re excited to introduce ourselves and take the reader along with us as we experience the lessons, challenges, and joys of a completely virtual partnership this year. We intend for this blog to be a step in forming strong connections between ourselves, our partners in Global Health Network (Uganda), our fellow peers in our GlobeMed chapter, and the strangers all across the world who are interested. Please enjoy!
First off, hear from each of our GROW members on why they joined GlobeMed and what pulled them towards applying for the GROW program:
Reah Syed: As an intended biology major on the pre-med track, much of my interest in healthcare stems from global health. Growing up, my family and I traveled to Hyderabad, India every summer to visit my grandparents and cousins. India is the country with the world’s largest poor population, and, as such, I was exposed to poverty on a first-hand basis from a young age. One aspect of poverty I took note of in India was the lack of access to affordable and quality healthcare options for poor individuals, along with sparse rural medical availability. Since then, I have been motivated to learn more about healthcare systems around the world and how medicine can be made a human right as opposed to a privilege granted to the wealthy. In Fall 2020, I took Global Health 101 and joined GlobeMed to further my education in this subject, and consequently, I applied to be a GROW member to gain a deeper, personal understanding of implementing international healthcare options. So far, the experience has been amazing, and I can’t wait to work more with our partners in Uganda!
Madi McMichael: Growing up, I had a limited view of what I thought my future could look like, and since I have always loved biology, I came to Duke wanting to be a biology major on the pre-health track and become a physician. However, since I have come to Duke, I have been exposed to a myriad of career paths and interests, and my academic pursuits have expanded to include a Medical Sociology and an Inequality Studies minor. I am fascinated in learning about the inequities in health care that I have seen in the United States, but through my Immigration and Citizenship FOCUS cluster, I began to notice how these issues present themselves globally. I want to learn more about healthcare throughout the world and contribute to dismantling harmful power structure and inequities that result in medical discrimination and disparities in care. I applied to GROW to be able to take tangible steps in this goal by supporting our GlobeMed partners in Uganda. My experience throughout the spring semester and in the GlobeMed HQ training has taught me more about global health and where we still need to go, and I am excited to immerse myself in this experience this summer!
Sophie Sepehri: Growing up in a city surrounded by immigrants and refugees, I saw first-hand the blatant inequities in the medical care available to certain populations. As a neuroscience major on the premed track, my goal is to do all I can to address this inequity - whether it be by providing information on available resources or the actual resources they need. As I’ve continued my academic career at Duke, I have become increasingly fascinated with how this inequality extends not only across our nation, but globally as well. Applying to GROW has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of global health issues and the role that I can play. I am looking forward to the projects we will be tackling this summer and further build the relationship with our GNHU partners.
Cindy Xu: Forming relationships is something that pushes me time and time again to challenge who I am, who I can become, and how I can share happiness with others. I have always known a privileged life full of comfortable spaces, food, entertainment, and friends. Over the years, I witnessed and experienced racism, observed the social class divide in industrial and developing countries alike, and began to push myself to make a change in my community. The realization came to me that above all else, the deep connection with another person, the vulnerability and delicacy of sharing our feelings across what might be considered barriers by some, is truly transforming. Most importantly, I learned that happiness for myself is knowing the people around me are happy. In turn, I wish to apply myself and my values towards improving health and truly understanding the challenges that others face and amplifying the reasons they still have to experience joy. Upon hearing of the GROW experience when I joined Duke, I knew immediately that this was something I had to try. Even though the program still feels new and intimidating, I’m looking forward to forming those impactful relationships.
Ella Zanatti-Trovarelli: Having grown up living in developing countries such as Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and the Philippines I have witnessed the devastating effects of resource and economic inequality first-hand. Being exposed to this harsh reality at an early age allowed me to better understand the impact that not having access to medical care has on individuals. This experience and understanding made me realize that access to proper medical care is not only a dire need in society, but it is a human right that everyone should be able to obtain. My desire to see change is what has motivated me to apply to become a GROW member, with the intention of helping GHNU meet their goals of promoting and improving the health of all Ugandans through the increase and development of primary health care resources available in Northern Uganda. I look forward to working and learning directly from grassroots community leaders, strengthening our relationship with GHNU and working on projects this summer.
Sophie Finkelstein: As a sophomore, I strongly considered doing GROW last year however I felt I was not ready. And, I am very glad that I chose to delay my GROW experience. In the past year, I have further developed a lot of my global health skills. Therefore, I am really looking forward to applying these skills to our work this summer with GHNU. Furthermore, in my studies, I’ve commonly crafted interventions to global health concerns in specific areas and partnerships with local community organizations has always been a cornerstone of these solutions. I decided to apply to GROW to bring this practice into the real world and cultivate our existing relationship with GHNU.
At this point in time, we can all honestly say that we have no idea what the following months will hold, nor do we know what we will find in each other and our partners. Given the ongoing pandemic and isolation, this will be a completely virtual experience. However, we are all looking forward to the future!
-- Cindy, Ella, Madi, Sophie F., Sophie S. & Reah
-- 4/14/21