Meet the E-Board 2016!

(Treasurer)

My name is Rin Moriyasu, and I am the treasurer for GlobeMed for the 2016-2017 school year. I am a senior chemistry major from Tokyo, Japan. I hope to attend graduate school after I graduate from Whitman College. I am excited to hold the position of treasurer and hope to have an exciting senior year.

(Community Builder)

Hi, I’m Erina and I would like to be a professional body builder.

Obviously. But aside from this dream, I am a sophomore with a major yet to be declared; I am leaning towards Race and Ethnic Studies. I joined Globe Med because I am pre med and was interested in global health. I quickly learned how global health equity was an issue of social justice and not just limited to medicine. I have enjoyed learning about the variety of different ways people can contribute towards making a change for global equity outside of simply being a health practitioner.

Random things about me: Things I do for fun: crafting, piano playing, tennis, zumba, hair-braiding, climbing to high places. I really like heights. I’ve been really into jazz music and french pop songs recently. I really enjoy baking food for people, I spend too much time watching recipe videos on youtube.

(Co-President)

Hi I’m Jessie and I like cats, babies, baby cats and dancing. I am a Biology major and Spanish minor, with a pre-health focus. Some day I want to be a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and work in community healthcare with people who have a harder time receiving the care that they need. I am passionate about immigration justice and refugee rights and that is why I am so happy to be co-president of GlobeMed and be a part of the wonderful work of the Burma Humanitarian Mission!

(Co-Coordinator of GhU)

Hi I’m Katy. I’m a junior sociology major with a passion for kale, rivers, and social change. As well as being involved with GlobeMed, I’m an RA (resident assistant) in the Community Service House and a campus activist. I’m also interested in Buddhism, thrifting, and communal living. Some have described me as “outgoing,” “woke,” and “a blueberry.”

(Co-Coordinator of Campaigns)

Hi all, I’m Haley! I’m a senior anthropology major from Vancouver, Washington who likes to dabble in the sciences so much that I have also accrued minors in biology and chemistry. I’m excited to take on the challenge of supporting our partner as a co-coordinator of campaigns following a stint abroad in Chile during which I studied public health, traditional medicine, and the difference between Andean llamas and alpacas. When not raising money for GlobeMed, I can be found writing my thesis on childhood trauma, figuring out life after Whitman, playing soccer, or eating any chocolate dessert I can get my hands on.

(Co-Coordinator of Communications)

Hey ya’ll! I’m Taylor and I have the pleasure of being Co-Executive of Communications alongside Paal. I’m a senior politics major with interests in global crises, cultural promotion and policy issues. I spend a lot of my time burning food trying to recreate recipes I see online and resigning myself to eating waffles. I aspire to someday own lots of chickens, or operate a waffle stand in Hong Kong, hopefully both!

(Co-Coordinator of Campaigns)

Hey there! My name’s Emily, and I’m one of the Campaign coordinators at Whitman College from Saipan. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know where Saipan is. Although, you should look it up, because it’s too difficult to explain even verbally, and it’s not guaranteed you’ll know where it is from my description. Unless you’re also from Saipan, in which case you understand our situation. I’m in my fourth year at college majoring in (breath) Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology and minoring in Japanese. In my spare time, I like doing anything theatre (except costumes, eew), reading, writing, or binge watching Netflix. I look forward to earning lots of money for our partner this year!

(Co-President)

Hi there! My name is Kari, and I am one of the co-presidents along with Jessie. I am a sophomore Psychology major, with an intended Spanish minor. Last summer, I was one of the GROW interns working in Mae Sot, Thailand. In Walla Walla, you can often find me at the gym struggling in a squat rack, or answering emails at Patisserie while drinking an espresso. In addition to GlobeMed, I’m also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. One of my biggest goals in life is to become the kind of person my dog thinks I am.

(Co-Coordinator of Communications)

Hi, I’m Paal. I’m a senior Biology major with a Chemistry and Psychology minor. After Whitman, I plan to apply to medical school and conduct research in Seattle during my gap year. Outside of school, you can find me playing soccer, making music, skiing, or being an active twin. I’m passionate about social justice and healthcare, which is why I am so excited to participate on GlobeMed’s executive board.

(Co-Coordinator of GhU)

Hi! I’m Erin and I’m one of Whitman’s GhU Coordinators. I’m a sophomore pre-health student, and am interested in psychology and chemistry. I’m originally from California, but currently live in the Community Service House. I love the outdoors, hugs, food, and people.

World Day of Social Justice

This year, we recognized World Day of Social Justice on Monday, February 22. WDSJ is aimed to promote human dignity, and recognize the barriers people face due to gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, disability or other factors. These barriers can be manifested in poverty, exclusion, unemployment, micro aggressions and more. In order to raise awareness of these inequalities, GlobeMed at Whitman made signs with striking statistics concerning social justice and hung them around campus.

In order to promote discussion and awareness we also wrote the statement “I believe everyone is entitled to _____.” and asked the Whitman community to fill in the blank, here are some of their responses:

“I believe everyone is entitled to free will.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to healthcare.“

 

“I believe everyone is entitled to safe, healthy, and pleasurable sex!!!”

“I believe everyone is entitled to respect.“

“I believe everyone is entitled to practice their cultural belief and disagree with the American mindset.“

“I believe everyone is entitled to explore the world.“

“I believe everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to an education.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to equal pay.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to safety.”

 

 

Second Annual Burma Voices

Actors perform in a scene depicting Shar, a girl whose town was raided by the SPDC soldiers. 

This was the second year that we put on Burma Voices, a fundraising/awareness event featuring a performance with spoken and performed monologues written by people from Burma about their experiences with the violence and oppression of the Burmese government. After the show the audience could participate in a petition campaign to urge Obama to place political pressure on the Burmese government.

Students sign a petition campaign to place political pressure on the Burmese government. 

The event was held in Kimball Theatre, and over 50 Whitman students and staff came to listen to the monologues presented and acted out onstage, as well as enjoy a traditional Burmese meal. Various monologues performed depicted the lives of students, soldiers, refugees, political prisoners, and other individuals affected by the Burmese military government. One monologue from Ko Kyaw Zaw, a refugee stated about his arrest:

“This time, I was sentenced to three years in prison. During this third arrest, they tortured me a lot. But this was not different from anybody else. It’s normal to be tortured. I lost consciousness because of all the beatings, and they threw water at me to wake me up so that they could continue.”

The event was somber, and regard was given to the privileged lives we personally lead. Audience members were asked to reflect upon the day-to-day privileges that they have, and to become mindful of how these are not the same in other parts of the world. The actors exited without a final curtain call, in order to show respect for the monologues given by the Burmese people.

MEET THE E-BOARD!

Hi! I’m Brynn Walund a Senior BBMB major. Aside from Globe Med, I am heavily involved in All Students for Consent and ESL Fellows. I’ve always been interested in global health, but really got my roots in when I studied abroad in Austria as my first time outside of the US. As the GROW coordinator, it’s my job to plan and carry out the planning for next summer’s student-lead trip to Thailand. I’m excited for the year, and the opportunity to finish Whitman with a bang!

My name is Dylan Bratz and I’m a senior BBMB major with an Anthropology minor. I am from Brier, Washington, which is about 20 minutes north of Seattle. I will be the Finance Chair for GlobeMed this year. I enjoy playing or watching sports, reading fantasy novels, playing board games with my two brothers and going to the movies. My mom was born and raised in Hawaii, so we often visit family there. As part of our last visit during the 2013 holidays, we went parasailing, as depicted in the photo of my younger brother Conrad and I (left with fist raised).

My name is Jessie Friedman. I am one of the ghU coordinators on GlobeMed’s Executive Board, along with Emily. I am a sophomore pre-health student, with a [technically undeclared] major in biology and a minor in Spanish. I’m from Bellingham, Washington, but at Whitman I live in the Global Awareness Interest House. I go to Zumba at least once a week and you should, too.

Hi! My name is Paige Organick, and I’m a Junior Sociology major hailing from Spokane, WA. I’m currently the co-Director of Campaigns with Kerr. Essentially, we do the fundraising/organizing ways to help support our partner program, the Burma Humanitarian Mission in Thailand. Speaking of Thailand, I will only be the co-Director of Campaigns until December; in the Spring Semester of 2016, I will be studying abroad in Khon Kaen, which is in Northeast Thailand! Besides being super excited for this semester, I love to sail, swim, read and eat ice cream. When asked the question “what in the world will you do with a sociology major?” I can proudly say “I have no idea!”. I’m looking at either education (teaching history? english? science?) or public health.

Hey! I’m Kerr (pronounced care) a sophomore, and possibly, a religion and art double major. I’m one of the campaign coordinators, along with Paige, responsible for planning the fundraiser events and help globemed raise money for our partner organization in Thailand. In addition to globemed, I’m also a part of the Pioneer.

Hey I’m Paal Nilssen,  a junior biology major from Seattle, Washington. Last year I was co-director of communications at GlobeMed and am currently co-president for the 2015-2016 school year. Last summer I, along with 3 other GlobeMed interns, traveled to Thailand for 7 weeks to work with grassroots organizations along side the Burma Humanitarian Mission. Outside of GlobeMed, I’m a varsity soccer player, an active twin, and musician. After Whitman, I intend to take a couple years off to intern abroad before I apply to medical school for orthopedic surgery.

Hi! My name’s Haley, and I’m a junior anthropology major at Whitman from Vancouver, WA. I’m returning from this year’s GROW internship working with our partner in Mae Sot, Thailand this summer and am excited to lead GlobeMed as a co-president. I often thinks about all things related to public health, social justice, community development, and medicine and am still figuring out how my future will relate to these topics. When not thinking about GlobeMed, I can often be found playing soccer or consuming an inordinate amount of chocolate.

Hi everyone! My name’s Emily, and I’m one of the ghU coordinators for GlobeMed. I’m from Saipan – a tropical island near Guam – where it’s about 70℉ year round (even at night). Oh how I miss the heat. I’m a junior BBMB major with a Japanese minor and potential math minor. My hobbies include theater (mostly stage managing) as well as Netflix binge watching and reading. I’m excited to talk about global health with you all this year. I hope we have a great year!

Hey guys! I’m Rin, I originally hail from San Rafael, CA and I’ll be in charge of community building this year. This means I  plan events, games, icebreakers and more to make sure we all get to know each other throughout the year. Apart from my time spent in GlobeMed, I’m active in my fraternity and enjoy drawing benzene rings and chair structures.

Hey everyone! I’m Saba, a sophomore BBMB and hopefully spanish(?) major here at Whitman, and am hoping to continue on to veterinary school. This year I’ll be the director of communications for GlobeMed, which means I make sure everyone knows about all the events and work we do on campus. When I’m not at GlobeMed you can find me on the soccer field or eating ice-cream in bed while watching Netflix.

Finishing up

With our trip coming to an end, I think I can speak for everyone when saying that we are all truly thankful for the opportunity to travel to Mae Sot, Thailand, and give our time to work with a variety of NGO’s and migrant schools in the area. Big thanks to Burma Humanitarian Mission, Mae Toa Clinic, Backpack Health Worker Team, Burma Medical Association, CDC School, LMCT school in Mae La Refugee Camp, and finally Minmahaw School, for welcoming us into their organizations. While one of the main focuses of our internship was to create a health and educational film project, which you can read about below, we had the opportunity to teach at Minmahaw school.

Wai Phyo presenting his business idea to the class.
Photo by Paal Nilssen

We took up English, Debate, Music, and Health. We found ourselves teaching almost everyday at Minmahaw School. The privilege of education in Mae Sot appears to be different than that of the States. In the states, being a student myself, many students take education for granted. At Minmahaw School, CDC School, and LMTC School, we observed students who left their family behind to cross the border into Thailand with no money and no home, in order to receive a descent education. The experience of teaching these migrant students and their want for education was highly rewarding. These students wanted to learn. We would all highly recommend for anyone interested in education to travel to Mae Sot to donate their time to teach at these migrant schools. You won’t be disappointed. The migrant schools around in the Tak province are always looking for more volunteer teachers. Stay tuned for some of the videos that we will be completing in the next couple of weeks regarding education and health.

We are still waiting on our CDC school video to be approved by the Mae Toa Clinic fundraising office, since the school is supported by the clinic. The staff of the school has already approved it, and once that approval comes through we will share that video with you all. Many videos will be produced in the upcoming weeks. We have filmed almost 400 GB of footage, so get excited!

With all of the teaching and film work, we still managed to find time for our hobbies. For example, Rebecca has been jamming on her ukulele at a local music shop and with our neighbors who play their guitars on their front porch. Though these locals don’t speak English, she has found some common ground through the universal language of music. Haley and myself have been playing on a couple of soccer teams at night. We have been playing with Minmahaw School on Saturdays, and Haley found herself an expat team while I found a Thai team and a Burmese team. Lastly, Anu has made the courageous decision to stay in Mae Sot, Thailand, until next year, so she has been spending much of her time finding a place to stay and moving into it. On top of that, Anu has committed to teaching even more classes at Minmahaw, like Geography and English B, so that has kept her plenty busy.

A member of the Minmahaw management team: Kyaw Than.
Photo by Paal Nilssen

Lue May posing for a picture during photography class.
Photo by Paal Nilssen

These students have inspired myself, and I am sure the others too, to return to Mae Sot after we graduate and teach again, like Anu has found herself doing. This trip has been truly an amazing experience and we have all learned so much. We are all so excited to bring back what we have learned to campus in the upcoming fall.

– Paal

Mae La Camp

We had the opportunity to visit the Mae La refugee camp and tour LMTC, a technical college in the camp that Burma Humanitarian Mission helps provide scholarships for. Visiting the camp was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It gave us perspective on how massive the crisis in Burma is and how important it is to help empower young people who have spent their entire lives in its shadow.

Photo by Paal Nilssen

  

Photo by Paal Nilssen

Mae la is around an hour’s drive outside of Mae Sot city. We passed through military checkpoints on our way through windy jungle roads. The checkpoints had armed guards and “danger zone” signs with pictures of guns and skulls. Once inside the camp we passed schools, convenience stores, barber shops, and a number of other places you might see in any normal city. It gave the sense of how the camp is a self-contained society. Mae la has a population of between 40,000 and 50,000 people. The word “camp” has connotations of makeshift houses and temporary shelters, so I was surprised to see how permanent everything seemed. Though, with the heavy rains, it seemed as though everything would just slip and slide down into the mud. We also noticed that their building style was incredibly resourceful, it was very clear that they utilized any available materials. Waterproof leaves and pieces of cardboard were incorporated into some of the buildings.

  

Photo by Paal Nilssen

 

Photo by Paal Nilssen

The most striking thing about the camp was the stark contrast between the beautiful and the sad. The valley was absolutely beautiful, surrounded by karst mountains and lush greenery. However, it was hard to see the natural beauty when we could see the rows of rickety houses, and knew the situation that brought about the settlement. The administrator who was giving us a tour took us to a view point on the side of a mountain that overlooked the camp. I noticed someone had carved the words “I am so sad” into a bench that overlooked the valley.

Photo by Paal Nilssen

Photo by Paal Nilssen

LMTC, which stands for Leadership and Management Training College, is a school that provides university level English and physics to students who would not have otherwise gotten the opportunity to attend college. When I was in college I would sometimes get caught up in the difficulty of organic chemistry or the irritations of group projects, and forget the true value of education. Some of the students we talked to had never left the camp in their entire lives. I have nothing but respect and awe for students who have worked so hard and overcome so many odds to receive an education. Visiting an organization like LMTC reminded me that education is the best hope for creating a positive future.

    

Photo by Paal Nilssen

Photo by Paal Nilssen

Speaking of education and positive futures, we’ve taken up teaching several classes at the Minmahaw post-ten school. I’ve been getting really into making up fun activities and assignments to do in our intermediate English class. It’s amazing how even after only a couple weeks of teaching, I feel so comfortable and happy around these students. They’re beyond inspiring!

Summit 2015

At the end of March, four delegates from GlobeMed at Whitman were selected to attend the GlobeMed Summit, an annual conference for GlobeMed chapters held in Evanston, Illinois. I had been a delegate in 2013, and was really excited to spend another weekend learning about the right to health and what students like us can do for the cause. One thing that has always stood out to me from events that bring together members of different GlobeMed chapters is the connections and friendships instantly formed. GlobeMed members come from all sorts of backgrounds, but we share a dedication and passion for social change and health equity, and it’s so wonderful to get to know each other and catch up with people I’d met at past GlobeMed events.

Highlights from the conference include getting to know members from U-Tena, the partner organization of GlobeMed at Brown University, a really interesting panel on why race matters, and hearing Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health give her keynote address. As a soon-to-be-graduating senior, I also appreciated the wide variety of networking events where we had the opportunity to talk directly to activists and professionals who are in the field. The seniors and alumni reception made me realize how big of a role GlobeMed has played in my life, and the lives of so many others, over the past four years. It made me very hopeful to get a glimpse of GlobeMed as a movement because I know that every one of the 300 delegates will become positive agents of change someday, and it’s humbling to be part of that mobilization.

After such a great, high-energy weekend of thinking about social change I wrote an article for the Whitman Pioneer on the health equity activist culture (or lack thereof) on our campus. “On the Whitman campus we are stuck in our sterile community, detached from the world, forgetting how much suffering happens in the world due to inadequate health care access. We also forget that we can do anything to help alleviate that suffering.” Attending the Summit conference reminded me that there are things I can do to help people, even from Walla Walla, Washington.

Here are some pictures from the Summit:

Our wonderful delegates! Ali, Anu, Brenda, and Saba.

Getting to know Peter from U-Tena

Cheesy’s with delegates Notre Dame!

Getting to know delegates from CU Boulder!

Delegates from Rhodes and Wash U St. Louis at the senior+alumni reception!

Our wonderful chapter adviser Anupa!

Delegates from U Michigan and Wayne State in Detroit right before hearing Dr. Mukherjee!

Dr. Joia Mukherjee!!!

Representing Washington state with the coprez at University of Washington!

The closing dinner. We’re smiling but actually we’re really sad that it’s over.

World Day of Social Justice 2015

This year, Whitman college’s annual Power and Privilege Symposium (February 19th) fell on the day before World Day of Social Justice (WDSJ) (February 20th). Because of this consecutive accordance, we aimed to connect our theme of WDSJ with those of the Power and Privilege Symposium. The goal of the Power and Privilege Symposium was to engage the student body, staff, and community in discussions regarding systematic problems relating to race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and ability. Similar in a few characteristics, WDSJ is aimed to recognize the need to promote important issues of poverty, exclusion, and unemployment. By raising awareness, we’re hoping to further our effort to advance social justice when we remove barriers that individuals face because of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability. In order to connect the two, we posed a statement for the Whitman College community to complete: “I believe everyone is entitled to _____.” Around 50 individuals answered, and here are what a few had to say:

“I believe people are entitled to a free health system”

“I believe everyone is entitled to self expression.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to control confidence in their identity.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to the resources so they can dream big!”

“I believe everyone is entitles to clean water.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to affordable medications.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to happiness.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to their potential.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to opinion.”

“I believe everyone is entitled to education.”

 

What do you think everyone is entitled to?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

If you want to see more pictures, visit our Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/GlobeMedWhitman

#JoinTheMovement

– Paal

Blues, Books and Best Wishes

I hope everyone had a safe, happy and wonderful holiday season!

This winter break, I found myself experiencing some “winter blues”. Ordinarily, I love winter – the cold, the snow, and the holiday season makes me incredibly happy. Yet for some reason, I felt flat this winter break (I partly blame a late finals week). Partly to get a head start on applications and partly to satisfy my curiosity, I began searching for internships related to global and public health.

I quickly ran into a problem; I was passionate about almost every aspect of health; Environmental, mental, physical health, you name a category of health and I wanted to apply! Introspectively, I began questioning why this was so. True, I am a product of Whitman, a liberal arts college in which my three main disciplines are Sociology, Economics and Geology. But I think this is partly attributable to the vast amount of resources and influences; my mom is a doctor (a surgeon dealing largely with cancer), one of my favorite books is Paul Farmer’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains”, a book that opened my eyes to the importance of NGO work in rural Haiti and Russian prisons, and my chapter, GlobeMed at Whitman, aids Burmese refugees in Thailand. And as I continued my search for internships I was amazed with the opportunity and diversity, and also the sheer amount of resources at my fingertips, accessible through the internet.

This winter season, if you ever feel overcome with blues, I recommend thinking about what makes you passionate. I also recommend reading books about your passions. For most GlobeMedders, that includes books on global or public health. Beside’s Paul Farmer’s amazing book “Mountains Beyond Mountains”, we have more recommended books:

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures – a poignant account by Fadiman, editor of the American Scholar, of the clash between a Hmong family and the American medical community reveals that among the gaps yawns the attitude toward medicine and healing.

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus: An engrossing, lively history of a fearsome and misunderstood virus that binds man and dog – journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies.

And the Band Played On: The narrative of the emergence of HIV in the 1980’s. A longer read that offers the opportunity for a greater understanding of the social factors at play in the early HIV/AIDS epidemic. We watched an excerpt of the film based on this book during our blood session.

Thank you for reading this musing blog post and I look forward to continuing the journey with GlobeMed at Whitman this coming semester!

– Paige

Winter Sweater Sale!

Alternatively to the non-consumerist “giving Tuesday”, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week GlobeMed is hosting the annual Snuggly Ugly Sweater Sale! Since October, GlobeMed members have been collecting tacky winter-themed sweaters, and will be selling them at lunch in the Reid Campus Center, then Thursday from 4-7pm and Friday from 12-5pm. Prices range from $15 to $25, but there may be a special sale on Friday afternoon depending on supplies. All proceeds go to the Burma Humanitarian Mission, supporting education and health care in Burma. Below is a sneak preview on what to expect (but don’t worry, we have 50 more so the perfect sweater is there!)

   Stay warm and stop by! Paige and Paal