I am a filmmaker and undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. Over the course of several months in the summer of 2008, I will be traveling throughout East Africa where I will work with FilmAid International, a non-profit organization dedicated to harnessing the power of film for education and social change in refugee populations…
Category: 2008
The Wallenberg International Summer Travel Award allows selected students to take part in a community service project or civic participation anywhere in the world.
Ivy Tran
The Temple Orphanage program through ELI in Vietnam is designed to help shelter children from the harsh realities of life, even though they have already experienced a little of it. As a volunteer, I will be staying in a dorm that is situated close to the orphanage in Vietnam. Travel may require bus, but the…
Ashlea Surles
I spent this summer in Bukhaweka, Uganda—I cannot begin to describe how much the experience has affected the life that I lead and the person I am. It was the most trying and stressful experience of my life, and it seemed to have no reward—the children were still hungry, wounds were still infected, the school…
Jessica Ott
I am a Master of Public Health student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, working with UNESCO for the summer in Nairobi, Kenya. Part of my work involves working with Jacaranda Designs, a local education-based enterprise closely connected with UNESCO, to write health-related articles for the Young African Express, an educational newspaper…
Grace Liu
In the summer of 2007, I had the fortunate opportunity of participating in a Project Suyana humanitarian/medical volunteer trip to Puno, Peru for five weeks. Project Suyana is a student organization at the University of Michigan dedicated to improving gynecological and obstetric healthcare conditions in Puno, where maternal and infant mortality rates are among the…
Matthew Leslie Santana
I am a third-year student from Miami, Florida pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. I am also active in sexual health-related activities on campus and have been a member of the World AIDS Week Planning Committee and the Sexual Health Peer Educators…
Stephanie Elise Curtis
During my time in Honduras, I was most struck by the resourcefulness of the people. The community hospital I volunteered in was short on the most basic supplies such as gloves, needles, hospital gowns and medicine cups. This hardly seemed to faze the nurses; perhaps because they had never witnessed the abundant supplies in U.S.…
Anna Cicone
I am a native of Ann Arbor entering my senior year at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. The beginning of my college career in Chicago at DePaul University sparked my interest in working with groups of people who have various economic, educational or social barriers to overcome. I am currently interning…
Aimee Bothwell
The Wallenberg Travel Award has provided me with funds to spend a month in Xian, China, this summer, volunteering to help educate and care for children with physical and mental disabilities. Disabilities are widely misunderstood and highly stigmatized in China, and children who are born disabled often face a bleak future. Resources for disabled children…
Kate Thirolf
I am currently a PhD student at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) at the University of Michigan School of Education. This summer, thanks to the Raoul Wallenberg International Travel Award and the Can Tho Youth Empowerment Project (CTYEP) in Vietnam, I am directing a youth leadership camp that I…