Grassroots On Site Work Internship (GROW)
The Grassroots On Site Work internship is an integral part of GlobeMed's model of promoting global health equity and awareness. (Click here to visit GlobeMed's page in my portfolio to learn more about the organization)
GlobeMed at UC is partnered with a grassroots organization in Thailand, Social Action for Women (SAW). Over the past three years, the partnership has developed a Community Health Outreach Program (CHOP). In its first phase, this program identified target communities that exhibit high levels of various healthcare issues, including high rates of HIV transmission, unwanted pregnancies, and communicable diseases. The second phase involved the development of a health education program for ten target communities in Phop Phra and the training of 20 peer educators-- two from each community-- to lead workshops on basic personal hygiene, communicable diseases, and safe sexual behaviors. The third phase, which began while we were on site, was the actual implementation of the workshops planned in Phase II. The SAW staff led personal hygiene workshops for students in the SAW School and at the migrant learning centers in Phop Phra, while the peer educators began holding workshops in their communities on the material presented to them in Phase II.
GlobeMed at UC is partnered with a grassroots organization in Thailand, Social Action for Women (SAW). Over the past three years, the partnership has developed a Community Health Outreach Program (CHOP). In its first phase, this program identified target communities that exhibit high levels of various healthcare issues, including high rates of HIV transmission, unwanted pregnancies, and communicable diseases. The second phase involved the development of a health education program for ten target communities in Phop Phra and the training of 20 peer educators-- two from each community-- to lead workshops on basic personal hygiene, communicable diseases, and safe sexual behaviors. The third phase, which began while we were on site, was the actual implementation of the workshops planned in Phase II. The SAW staff led personal hygiene workshops for students in the SAW School and at the migrant learning centers in Phop Phra, while the peer educators began holding workshops in their communities on the material presented to them in Phase II.
Who is SAW?Social Action for Women (SAW) is a grassroots organization located in Mae Sot, Thailand, in Western Thailand near the country's border with Myanmar. Nearly 80% of the population in Mae Sot are Burmese; a significant amount of them are living in Thailand, undocumented, and working industrial or agricultural jobs that are often very dangerous. In the last 14 years, SAW has helped over 2000 Burmese migrants with vocational training, health education, and mental health counseling, and has provided shelter, healthcare, and education for abandoned children and women rescued from human trafficking. Currently, SAW has 19 programs for the acclimatization of Burmese migrants in Thailand. They are partnered with GlobeMed at UC specifically for the Community Health Outreach Program, which was developed when our partnership was first initiated around four years ago.
SAW's website: GROW 2014 In Fall 2013, I applied for the GROW internship, which would take place in the summer of 2014. This was my second time applying; I applied for this internship for the 2012-2013 year, for which I was denied. However, I felt much more prepared for the internship this year, having had two years of experience in GlobeMed and also having a much larger knowledge base on global health and about our partner. I had been engaging in the biweekly Skype calls that the partnerships committee held twice a month since early Winter 2013 and felt that I would be an asset to the team.
Our GROW coordinator, Dan Ruter, was the leader of our team, and I was so grateful that he chose me, along with three other chapter members for the 2014 internship. During the internship, we presented all of our work here at UC through GlobeMed to the SAW staff, witnessed SAW's many programs, led discussions on the improvement and implementation of CHOP III, and improved the monitoring and evaluation methods so that both SAW and our GlobeMed at UC chapter are up-to-date on the status of our work throughout the year. Furthermore, we strengthened our partnership by forming personal relationships with the SAW staff and really getting to know them on an individual basis. This experience was one I will never forget, and I'm so grateful to GlobeMed for presenting me with the amazing opportunity to be a part of UC's GROW 2014 team. |
What is GROW?GROW is a part of the GlobeMed model that is required by the National Office for an American university to join the network and for a grassroots organization to partner with a GlobeMed chapter. It is a yearly on site work internship that sends between five and ten representatives from the GlobeMed chapter to work with the partnering organization in order to obtain first-hand experience planning and implementing the project, develop the partnership, help improve the current project, and help facilitate the discussion of ideas for the following year's project. The GlobeMed model is different from so many other donor organizations in that it promotes the idea of service and sustainability. The GROW internship helps give the chapter a first-hand look into the lives of the people their partner helps. Because it is unfeasible for the entire chapter to travel to the partner, the GROW interns can bring back their experience to the chapter, so that the partnership can cater to the specific needs of its target communities.
What we DO NOT do... As part of GlobeMed, our ultimate goal is to promote global health equity and awareness. We do not promote the self-serving, self-laudatory mindset that so many other global health brigades end up promoting because any help given to a community with that mindset immediately negates itself with even more harm. The concept I am referring to is known in the public health arena as "dufflebag medicine". Everyone hears about those missions that travel to "Africa" (somehow ignoring the fact that Africa is a continent and not a country), hand out donated medicines to the "underprivileged" with no instructions on their proper use, and build a school building, after which they come home with many photographs of themselves with small children. Where was that photograph taken? What were the circumstances under which they met those children? No one knows. Two years later, if one were to go back to the community, all he would find is an abandoned school building.
GlobeMed is vastly different from these groups because we promote a sincere mindset of open-mindedness, a constant learning attitude, and a humble concern for the actual needs of the target communities we are trying to serve. This is why our partnership model is so valuable. The SAW staff, who are actually located in the region and part of the lifestyle and culture, know far better than we do, what their own people need. Therefore, our very first objective is to listen to SAW's opinions which they have formed from personal experience. The GROW internship is our opportunity to learn as much as we can from SAW. We send new interns on the internship every year so that we are as up-to-date as possible, while maintaining contact with SAW throughout the year with biweekly Skype calls. The following link is to a short, interesting editorial piece about "dufflebag medicine": |
Below is a slideshow of some images of us while on the internship. Enjoy!
Weekly Updates while on GROW
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