Joseph McKeen
Center for the Common Good

Julie Bender '13 will spend ten weeks of summer 2012 working with a medical clinic and orphanage at Asayo's Wish Foundation in Kaberamaido, Uganda. Asayo's Wish Foundation focuses on providing healthcare, education, and individualized attention to children who have been orphaned by war and HIV/AIDS. The organization also provides business and vocational training to women and families in hopes of enhancing economic opportunities for Ugandan families. Julie plans to divide her time between volunteering at the medical clinic, teaching English to children, and organizing the orphanage's animal husbandry and agriculture club.

Emma James '13 will be working in the surrounding regions of Sucre, Bolivia with BiblioWorks. This nonprofit organization builds and funds libraries to increase literacy in rural communities outside of Sucre. Emma will be working in two libraries teaching both adults and children to read as well as holding workshops and fun activities (e.g puppet shows or container gardening). She will also work in the main office helping write grants to further fund BiblioWorks. Emma plans to travel to Bolivia for the months of May and June. She is an Anthropology major and Education minor from Avon, Maine.

Tasha Sandoval '13 will spend the summer of 2012 as an educational intern at the District Six Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. The District Six Museum is a remembrance museum that seeks to commemorate the memory of a once vibrant community in Cape Town, District Six, which was destroyed by the 1970’s forced removals of apartheid. The Museum acts as a meeting place for victims of the forced removals and their families, who continue to live with the consequences of removals’ injustices. As an intern, Tasha will carry out curatorial and collections-related activities and spearhead educational and outreach programs. She plans on implementing a project with the District Six Youth Club that teaches children from the community about the importance of visual histories through art projects, lessons, and discussions.

Lucy Walker '14 will spend June and July of 2012 in Nakuru, Kenya, volunteering with the Bliss Women and Children Project, a small non-profit organization that services impoverished women and children. At the Bliss Center, located in the slum region of Nakuru, local women artisans gather to receive financial support and education in handicraft and business skills. A nursery school program also based at the center offers education and care to poor and abandoned children. As a volunteer for Bliss, Lucy plans to spend most of her time at the nursery school, assisting the teachers there and leading art classes. She also hopes to lend her writing skills to documenting the work of the women artisans—updating the Bliss website with their individual stories—and helping the organization reach out to potential financial supporters through the microfinance organization Kiva.