DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

DukeEngage around the World

Working collaboratively with Duke faculty and community partners, DukeEngage has established myriad sites around the globe where students will pursue imersive civic engagement work in the summer of 2008.  

Detailed projects descriptions appear below.  Sites are sorted alphabetically by region, then country, including Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East:

 

DUKEENGAGE IN AFRICA

"DukeEngage in Cairo, Egypt"
Egypt – Cairo
Project Leaders: Bruce Lawrence, Kelly Jarrett, Mbaye Lo, Duke Islamic Studies Center
Prerequisites/Language: One year of Arabic language study prior to the experience
Group Size: 10-12
Dates: June 9 – August 7            
Housing: Apartments in the Garden City neighborhood of Cairo, near the Al Diwan language school

Program Description:   Students will work with NGOs focused on human rights and which work with refugees from Somalia, Sudan and Iraq. Students also will be in charge of developing and running a summer program teaching English to unaccompanied Somali children to prepare them for fall schooling.  Duke student will also receive Arabic instruction.

 

“Nitrate Concentration of Drinking Water by Farming Activities in Rural Ghana: Saving Lives Through Education and Awareness”
Ghana – Greater Accra Region (Farming villages in Nsawam District)
Program Leader: Fred Boadu, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Prerequisites/Language: None; some pre-program training in Kiswahili will be offered.
Group Size: 8
Dates: Late May – Mid-July
Housing: Host colleges/universities, hostels or host families

Program Description: Students will join in a massive educational and awareness campaign covering over 30 communities. Students will visit with chiefs and elders of each community to announce the Duke team’s intention to share their knowledge on the contamination of the groundwater resources due to fertilizer application. The team will also visit middle schools to engage students in classroom discussions to educate and draw awareness to conservation and protection of groundwater resources, groundwater contamination and health risks. In addition, DukeEngage students will visit selected farms to directly observe farming practices and provide further education, and they will visit district clinics to obtain information about the frequency of reported sicknesses for infants, children, pregnant women and adults and to document child mortality rates.

 

“Documenting & Engagement Movements of Social Change (DEMOSC)”
South Africa – Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town
Program Leaders Professors William Chafe and Robert Korstad
Duke University Program on History, Public Policy and
Social Change
Prerequisites/Language None
Group Size 8
Dates May 16 – July 12
Housing Aberfeldy Bed & Breakfast in Pietermaritzburg and B&B and Radium House in Cape Town

Program Description Students will interact with South Africans who were victims of, and activists against, the rigid system of racial apartheid that ruled South Africa for much of the 20th Century. Students will spend the first half of the project in Pietermaritzburg and the second half in Cape Town. In both cities, they will explore how the stories we carry forward about the past help shape policy decisions in the present and what we see as our goals for living together in the future. Collecting oral histories with activists, past and present, will provide a service both to South African participants in political change and the students who undertake this work. The memories they collect will become part of the public record on apartheid and its defeat and will help provide context for South Africans engaged in the ongoing struggle to undo its effects. 

 

“Literacy Through Photography - Arusha”
Tanzania – Arusha
Program Leaders:  Katie Hyde and Elena Rue, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
Prerequisites/Language: None, though students will study KiSwahili during their program
Group Size: 6 - 8
Dates: June 1 – July 26
Housing: Host families coupled with a five-week stay at Guta’s Guesthouse.

Program Description: Building on language and cultural training and immersion, DukeEngage students will help local teachers build a Literacy Through Photography (LTP) program within the Arusha school system. LTP challenges children to explore their world as they photograph scenes from their lives and use their images as catalysts for verbal and written expression. Students will be paired with elementary school teachers and will co-lead classroom-based photography and writing projects. This collaboration responds to the national call for enhanced active learning and participatory education. The program will culminate with a group exhibition and dialogue among DukeEngage students, teachers and community members.

 

“Duke – Engineering World Health in Northern Tanzania”                            Tanzania – Northern Tanzania (Moshi, Machame, Rombo and Usa River)
Program Leaders: Robert Malkin and Michelle Garst, Duke Department of Biomedical Engineering
Prerequisites/Language: None, though students will learn some Swahili during the early part of their experience
Group Size: 8
Dates: June 11 – August 16
Housing : Host families (who, in most cases, do not speak English)

Program Description: Students will learn about healthcare technology shortcomings in the developing world and spend time directly intervening to address these challenges. Students will begin by receiving four weeks of language training in Swahili, learning about Tanzanian culture, visiting local villages, receiving hands-on training repairing medical equipment, learning to deliver technical training across a linguistic and cultural barrier and taking classes in medical equipment repair and maintenance. During the second four-week period, students will work in one of three partner hospitals training the staff to use equipment that has been idled, repairing medical equipment, and conducting extensive interviews on healthcare technology needs. 

 

“Engineering Change in Uganda”
Uganda – Kampala and Nkokonjeru
Program Leaders: David Schaad, William Patrick, Lee Pearson, Tom Rose, Scott Steinberg, Duke Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Prerequisites/Language: None, though students will have receive some language training on site
Group Size: 12-14
Dates: June 23 – August 18
Housing: Host families

Program Description: DukeEngage students will work on community development projects aimed at engineers and other students interested in technology. There is also a strong business component that would be compelling to students interested in economics and entrepreneurship. Further, the distribution and dissemination of technology and its impact in sustainable development may interest students studying public policy or political science. Possible opportunities include working with RASD to develop and disseminate concrete coffee shellers, to implement a system to make charcoal out of corn cobs using a oil-drum kiln, and teaching computer skills and basics for an NGO resource center to enhance use of their functioning Linux based computers. Work through EAIST could include projects focused on displaced children and families, training schools, and trauma rehabilitation centers.

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DUKEENGAGE IN ASIA

“Microfinance/Development Story Gathering & Marketing Project with BRAC"                                                                                                                                          Bangladesh – Dhaka
Project Leaders: Lori Leachman, Martha Reeves, Shana Starobin Prerequisites/Language: None, some on-site language training in Bengali will be offered
Group Size: 10
Dates: June 1 – August 1               
Housing: BRAC-owned accommodations

Program Description: Working through Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)— an established leader in the fields of microfinance and sustainable development, this project will place students at the heart of BRAC’s diverse array of programs and in a safe, central location where students will remain for the entirety of the program. Through daily visits to BRAC branch offices in Dhaka’s urban and semi-urban areas, students will interview BRAC clients and gather first-person narratives about BRAC’s impact on client livelihood.  These narratives will form the foundations for a digital media portfolio, including written stories, photos, and videos. Given the diversity of BRAC’s programs, each student will be responsible for one thematic group of narratives related to a subset of BRAC’s programs (i.e. microfinance, health, education, environment, etc.).

“DukeEngage Beijing: The Dandelion Migrant School Education Project”    China - Beijing
Project Leaders: Ralph Litzinger, Department of Cultural Anthropology & Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
Prerequisites/Language: Due to the challenging nature of the research and limited English ability of the resident population, it is highly recommended that participants have at least a beginning knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.  Mandarin language tutoring will be provided for all participants
Group Size: 5
Dates: May 18 – July 27               
Housing: Hotel or guesthouse accommodations

Program Description: This project will establish a DukeEngage program for the children of migrant laborers—rural residents who have moved to China’s large cities in search of employment. As many migrant families lack the residential permit (hukou) that grants access to the public education system, and few have the financial resources necessary to pay the steep tuition of private schools, a large majority of migrant children are forced to attend “unofficial” schools,  which are often severely lacking in resources. Working with representatives of JP Morgan, students will intern at the Dandelion Migrant School (Pugongying Zhongxue) to further develop its English, health and life skills programs.  DukeEngage students will help design and implement culturally appropriate and sustainable projects that will address these needs by conducting baseline and post-project surveys as well as house visits to measure the impact of these projects on students’ skills, perceptions and knowledge related to these areas.  DukeEngage participants also will work with teachers at the school to encourage year-long implementation of the developed curricula and related activities.

“Sahara House – Health Inequalities – DukeEngage Sustainable Development Collaboration"                                                                                    India – Delhi, Bombay, Pune, Hyderabad, Manipur
Project Leaders:  Mike Belden, Dean Lewis, Neville Shelhore, Kathryn Whetten,
Duke Global Health Institute
Prerequisites/Language: None
Group Size: 16
Dates: May 28 – July 31               
Housing: Hotel or guesthouse accommodations
 
Program Description:  The Health Inequalities Program has a five-year history of collaborating with Sahara House on engaging undergraduate students in service-learning and community-based research projects. Sahara House is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower marginalized populations throughout India, including those who suffer from substance use, HIV/AIDS and poverty.  For the summer of 2008, student teams will be formed to develop and deliver programs in consultation with Sahara House staff based on experiences and data collected during the previous summer through the DukeEngage pilot program there. Students may work in program development, monitoring and evaluation, assist with electronic health record implementation, or a multimedia project with an organization with the mission of addressing clients suffering from substance abuse,  HIV/AIDS and poverty.

“The Loom and the Wheel: Literacy and Livelihood in Hyderabad, India”      India –Hyderabad
Project Leader:  Leela Prasad, Department of Religion
Prerequisites/Language: None; language training in Hindi and/or Telugu will be offered
Group Size: 8
Dates: June 12 – August 10               
Housing: Four furnished apartments (2 students per apartment)

Program Description:  Working in underprivileged communities in collaboration with the Safrani Memorial School & Association for India’s Development, DukeEngage students will help 5th-7th graders with communicative English and basic reading skills; demonstrate basic science experiments in schools; work with school children on “free content” learning by collaboratively writing and directing skits and short plays; develop illustrative materials for subjects like geography and history; and work with a local education-supportive media studio to produce simple educational DVDs.

 

"DukeEngage in Hanoi, Vietnam"  
Program Partner: CET Academic Programs
Prerequisites/Language:  None; an introductory Vietnamese language course will be offered
Group Size: 10
Dates: June 4 – August 3 / June 6 – August 10
Housing: Double rooms at the Nha Khach Viet Kieu guesthouse with Vietnamese roommates

Program Description:   DukeEngage students will serve as interns at organizations in Hanoi in areas such as journalism, the arts, business, and education. Students will be exposed to contemporary and historical issues in Vietnam through discussions, guest speakers, and educational excursion. At the middle point of the program, students would take a 5-day study tour through the Central Region. Student will live in guest cottages with Vietnamese roommates who will also participate in the DukeEngage program.
Primary Contact:   Sarah Trent, DukeEngage

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DUKEENGAGE IN EUROPE

“The Irish Experience of Globalization and Migration: Child Migrants/Refugees in Dublin”

Ireland - Dublin

Project Leaders: Suzanne Shanahan, Kenan Institute for Ethics Prerequisites/Language: None
Group Sizea: 8-10
Dates: June 20 – August 16               
Housing: University College Dublin student apartments

Program Description:  Students will spend two months in Dublin working with communities of refugees and migrants. DukeEngage students will be placed in pairs with one of three different NGOs.  Student work will be tailored to particular interests and skills but is apt to include the development of mentoring programs for minor migrants/refugees that would help them navigate the asylum and social services bureaucracies, summer school modules to help migrants/refugees hone their basic academic skills, or programs that would bring Irish and refugee youth together.


“Engaging Duke in Russia:  Between Europe and Asia”
(Joint Study Abroad / DukeEngage program)
Russia – St. Petersburg
Project Leaders: Edna Andrews, Michael Newcity (Duke) and Irinia Guliakova (St. Petersburg University), FOCUS Program
Prerequisites/Language: None; Russian language training will be part of the program
Group Size: 10-15
Dates: June 1 – July 31               
Housing: Furnished housing near the host sites

Program Description: Following their "Engaging Duke in Russia" study abroad program, DukeEngage students will rotate among three host organizations: the Russian Ministry of Health, Pokrovskaya Hospital where students will provide supervised support in different units; the Russian Society of the Blind, where students will help with groceries, read aloud, organize space, and provide other social service assistance; and Philological Department Tutorial Student Teacher Program, St. Petersburg State University, where students will serve as tutors to Russian students who need help with foreign languages. 

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DUKEENGAGE IN LATIN AMERICA

"DukeEngage in Belize"
Belize – Belize City/San Ignacio
Program Partner: Peacework Summer Enrichment Camps
Prerequisites/Language: None
Group Size:  12
Dates: June 16 – August 10               
Housing: Hostel

Program Description: Peacework Development Fund is dedicated to helping alleviate conditions of poverty and economic disparity in our world through economic development partnerships and service. Each project is organized on a case-by-case basis with community leaders according to locally determined development needs and objectives towards greater social change. Through the DukeEngage partnership, students will be afforded a unique opportunity to work closely with teachers, students, and community leaders—even Ministerial departments—over an 8-week period of summer enrichment camps within four Anglican schools, in Belize City and San Ignacio.                                         

Primary Contact :  Inga Peterson, DukeEngage


"DukeEngage in Santiago, Chile"
Project Leader:  Antonio Arce, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies
Prerequisites/Language:  Spanish
Group Size:  6-8
Dates:  June 1 – August 2               
Housing:  Host families will provide housing

Program Description:  Students will have the opportunity to work in one of two community building projects within the city:

1) AcciónEmprendedora--a micro-credit organization that offers free training and small loans for poor residents to be able to start their own businesses. Students will be involved in teaching, technology training, marketing, and community events to help these new entrepreneurs create sustainable projects.

2) Adopta un hermano/a--where volunteers will work as mentors with 8 to 12 year old kids in poor schools, helping them create group projects, improve social skills, and encourage their families to become integral participants in their education.

Program blog

 

“Parques Bibliotecas – Library Parks in Medellín, Colombia: Social Equality Through Education”                                                                                           Colombia – Medellín
Project Leader: Tamera Marko, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies
Prerequisites/Language:  Spanish
Group Size: 8-10
Dates:  June 10 – August 10               
Housing: Host families will provide housing

Program web site

Program Description:   This is not your average library. The 5 Parques Bibliotecas are state of the art spaces with internet rooms, reading lounges, theaters, and outdoor open plazas with 360° views of the Andes mountains encircling the city down below. The have been built in communities that had been isolated from educational resources. Now, they are where community learns, socializes and finds moments of quiet peace. They are a space open to everybody. Students will work on two projects:  Culture and Arts Project and an Historical Memory Project. Play the clarinet? Love poetry? Skateboard? Want to teach English? Whiz at computer programming, blogging, design? Love classical American literature? Love photography? Radio DJ?  Love math? Tell us your gift, your love, your dream and how you might collaborate with the Parques Bibliotecas to share your expertise and passion by giving community workshops teaching others how to do it. Historical Memory Project will help communities not traditionally represented in official histories record their own historical record in their own words.

"DukeEngage in Guatemala – Antigua"
Program Partner: Social Entrepreneur Corps
Prerequisites/Language    No prerequisite however, Spanish language training is part of the program.
Group Size: 15
Dates: May 26-July 18
Housing: Local home-stays and hostels

Program Description: Students will serve as social entrepreneurial consultants for businesses and non-profits in southern Guatemala, advising organizations on improving outcomes and processes within each organization. Students will spend the first ten days in an orientation program in Antigua and then travel in groups throughout southern Guatemala rotating locations every five days while consulting with local entrepreneurs.
Primary Contact: Sarah Trent, DukeEngage

"Engineering Change in Peru – Ciudad de Dios"
Project Leaders: David Schaad, Liliana Paredes, Margaret Hoff
Civil and Environmental Engineering and Spanish Language Program
Prerequisites/Language     Some Spanish language background; pre-trip technical training to equip students for the tasks they will be undertaking in Peru.
Group Size: 10-12
Dates: May 19 – July 14
Housing: Double or triple rooms with private baths
Program Description        DukeEngage students will travel to the Moche Valley in Peru—an arid region located just inland of the country’s northern coast.  Although several communities will be served, the primary focus will be Ciudad de Dios, an emerging squatter community located in the sub-Andean foothills. While there, students will engage the local community while performing social improvement projects in areas not limited to water and sanitation, adult literacy, public art, and establishing archaeological and natural reserves. (Last summer Duke University Engineers Without Borders traveled to Ciudad de Dios with the EWB chapter from UNC-Chapel Hill to perform a preliminary site assessment trip for improvement of the water system.

"DukeEngage in Peru"
Peru - Urubamba
Program Partner:  ProWorld Peru
Prerequisites/Language: At least one semester of college-level Spanish.
Group Size: 15
Dates: June 10-August 5
Housing: Home-stays

Program Description: Students will have the option of working on projects including: installing clean burning stoves, conservation and environmental education, providing health care and basic service assessments, and installing ceramic water filtration systems, and working in clinics and hospitals with health professionals.
Primary Contact: Sarah Trent, DukeEngage

“Encuentros de la Frontera: U.S.-Mexico Border Civic Engagement”
USA-Mexico
Project Leaders:    Charlie Thompson, Jennifer Snead Williams, Tennessee Watson, Center for Documentary Studies, Latino/a Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Prerequisites/Language: None
Group Size: 6-8
Dates: Begins in June (dates to be confirmed)
Housing: Housed at BorderLinks

Program Description:    Immigration is perhaps the single largest domestic challenge facing the both the U.S. and Mexico today. People die nearly every week on the border.  Hostilities against immigrants in the U.S. are mounting. International relations are strained.  This program, through which students will spend at least 10 days in Mexico, will provide DukeEngage students the opportunity to become informed about the issues related to the border and to understand what “comprehensive immigration reform” is as well as analysis of ideas of “amnesty.” The experience will be closely tied to the work of BorderLinks, a well-respected organization specifically designed to work with college students.  Volunteer opportunities will range from work with ESL students to emergency first aid.  Tangible outcomes of this project will likely consist of documentation projects and film footage that students will share through exhibits, forums, class presentations, independent studies and theses projects.

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DUKEENGAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

"Engaging Duke in Turkey:  “Ben Büyüyünce” (When I Grow Up)

(Joint Study Abroad/DukeEngage Program)

Turkey – Istanbul
Project Leaders: Güven Güzeldere, Sarah Carpenter, Department of Philosophy and Office of Study Abroad
Prerequisites/Language: None; Turkish language training will be provided
Group Size: 2-8
Dates: July 5 – August 17 (appended at the end of the Duke in Turkey Study Abroad Program)               
Housing: Bogazici University
Program Description: At the conclusion of their Duke in Turkey study abroad program, DukeEngage students will participate as volunteers in the “Ben Büyüyünce” (When I Grow Up) project at the Eyup Orphanage in Istanbul by serving as mentors, leading small-scale activities, outdoor exercise, etc. to children suffering from neglect and low self-esteem.  Of great importance is exposing children in the orphanage to a world outside of what they know in their everyday lives, helping them to focus on their studies while broadening their horizons.