In the News

Graduate students in WIU’s Health Sciences program have been working alongside a Honduran community as public health consultants. The program, known as Public Health Telebrigades, a part of Global Brigades, utilizes programs like Zoom to allow students at Western the ability to impact others internationally. Through an entirely virtual environment, students offer their expertise on a wide variety of subjects having to do with public

Graduate students in WIU’s Health Sciences program have been working alongside a Honduran community as public health consultants. The program, known as Public Health Telebrigades, a part of Global Brigades, utilizes programs like Zoom to allow students at Western the ability to impact others internationally. Through an entirely virtual environment, students offer their expertise on a wide variety of subjects having to do with public health and sanitation in the age of an international pandemic.

Members of the Public Health Telebrigade program, who worked alongside WIU’s students, had many positive things to say about those who participated.

“This particular brigade, and the final presentation that the group made, is helping me to visualize the solutions to the problems of the communities from a cognitive, formative, attitudinal point of view, and not from the structural point of view as usually seen by BSC volunteers (Basic Sanitation Committee) in the communities,” said Luis Bonilla, one of the team members working with the students at Western. “In other words, this telebrigade group broadened our perspective of how to face situations and difficulties in the communities. I hope that groups of students and professionals of this scope will continue to join our telebrigades … To continue expanding our knowledge and experiences.”

In summer 2020, before his senior year, Matthews finally landed his dream internship at Bank of America in the investment banking division. It was a perfect fit and ultimately led to a job offer awaiting him after graduation.

Matthews with a group of children he worked with during a UMBC Global Brigades medical and public health service trip to Panama. Photo courtesy of the UMBC Global Brigades, with participant permission.

To further sharpen his skills before graduating, Matthews took a final internship senior year at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore as a fixed income research intern. The position had him speaking directly with portfolio managers about how to allocate money for investment opportunities. The experience offered an opportunity to “become more persuasive and a better speaker, and really hone my rhetorical abilities,” Matthews says.

How are young people empowering communities to lead their own way to permanently rise out of poverty? Join us on this week’s show to learn how educators and students are taking action through Global Brigades – an international nonprofit that is working systematically in communities across the world to empower volunteers and under-resources communities to resolve global health and economic disparities and inspire all involved to work together towards an equal world.

Kristina Andrade, a graduate of the Biomedical Science and Enterprise bachelor’s degree program in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Honors College student and an aspiring doctor, pursued practical experience in the medical field in the United States and Honduras during her years at Georgia State, while leading several health and science student organizations.

In contrast to traditional service learning, the Global Brigades model systematically builds community ownership and collaboratively executes programs with the end goal of sustainably transitioning to a relationship of impact monitoring, according to CEO & Founder Shital Vora.

“We don’t help teach them to fish, we build the rods and the boats,” said Vora. “We leave every community with four key elements: a bank, health care, fresh running water and latrines.”

In its history, Vora said Global Brigades has recruited 83,000-plus students from over 400 universities, who helped fundraise more than $100 million in aid. These efforts provided 1.5 million patients with medical and dental treatment, as well as established 106 community banks that gave 12,000 loans and invested nearly $700,000 in local businesses and communities. Global Brigades has also installed 56 water systems – bringing clean, drinkable water to more than 32,000 people.

Each year, the Global Brigades at SEMO travels to underserved countries, creating makeshift clinics, eco-stoves and water systems to serve the community members. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Brigades have been unable to travel but continue their work through Telebrigades via Zoom.

Students in the Global Brigades have traveled to Honduras since 2004, according to globalbrigades.com and stay a few hours outside of Tegucigalpa, traveling back and forth to remote communities several hours away from where they stay.

The map has been an integral to their work, says Anibal Cardenas-Mosquera, manager of sustainable development at Global Brigades and head of solution mapping at the UNDP in Panama. “Through the map, I could see that some indigenous territories in Darién were already receiving support from other organizations, so we could relocate those resources to other communities that were in a much worse situation,” he says.

Cassie Laibly, a junior at Marquette University, is on a mission to make a difference in our world through connection, sustainability and empowerment. A leader with Global Brigades, the largest student-funded humanitarian organization in the world, Cassie has been one of the leaders for Marquette’s Medical Brigade chapter and was recently among the first students to participate in TeleBrigades, the nonprofit’s all-new, virtual-experiential-learning program.

For decades, Carnegie Mellon University has supported alternative spring break opportunities for servant leadership. Student Leadership, Involvement and Civic Engagement (SLICE) helps Tartans travel around the world to lend their skills to communities with limited resources.

Kaycee Palko, senior coordinator of student activities at SLICE, said students typically spend the entire academic year preparing for these service trips, starting with fundraising in the fall and working through a training curriculum that includes topics such as cultural competency, voluntourism and reflection in the lead up to their trip. This year, due to the pandemic, volunteering will look a little different.