photo by Eric Van Danen
Anjali Vora and 11 other DukeEngage peers are continuing the work in Muhuru Bay, Kenya that began several years ago as part of DukeEngage's pilot program. Below she describes what interested her about sustaining this very important project benefiting, in particular, young girls in the community.
1. What drew you to this particular DukeEngage program?
After joining the WISER (Women's Institute for Secondary Education and Research) student group, I transcribed an interview with girls in Muhuru Bay for Dr. Eve Puffer. Hearing the girls speak so candidly about rape, HIV/AIDS, and transactional sex was unbelievable because it was so different than anything I would experience in New York or at Duke. I became more interested to see how these behaviors arose and persisted.
2. What excited you about working with your community partner?
I am excited that the Muhuru Bay community is so gracious and that the change of attitude is coming from them directly. The people are happy that a school is being built and are beginning to really encourage continuing education for girls and boys. Because of their deep involvement in the projects, I am glad that we will be working in partnership with the people rather than as outsiders providing momentary help.
3. What benefit do you hope your service will have for your community partner and your host community?
I want to come out of our eight weeks knowing that even a teeny, tiny fiber of someone's being was changed. That someone's English improved so that they scored a few points higher on the Kenyan national exam; that someone observed the male-female interactions of Duke students and realized that mutual respect can exist. I don't expect to be able to see the benefits of our service immediately or at a large scale, but would rather have small changes which add up over time.
4. How do you hope to put into action what you learned through your DukeEngage experience once back at Duke?
As a member of WISER, I think that my time in Muhuru Bay will deepen my passion, and further motivate me to actively educate and fundraise, especially during WISER week in the fall. I am interested to see how themes that I have learned about in Global Health classes apply to real situations, and to then use my experience as a comparison of theoretical and actuality.
Learn more about WISER.
DukeEngage is featuring 18 students over the course of the summer participating in both group programs and independent projects. Check back weekly to view the latest student profile.