In the News

It happens every spring: Hundreds of U-M students trade the traditional spring break sun-fun experience for service or career-related activities organized by schools and units. Students learn more about their field and the working world outside the classroom.

Last fall, I made the decision to join Boston University’s chapter of Global Water Brigades and I can genuinely say it was one of the best decisions I made thus far in my life. Being a part of Global Brigades has opened my eyes to many problems throughout the world, as well as different perspectives. I have experienced this on community service trips in the past—but not in nearly the same way.

Stephanie Velasco (June 2016 Brigade Volunteer in Nicaragua) is the first recipient of the Silme Domingo Gene Viernes Scholarship. “Velasco wasted no time getting to work on her dreams of international social work after graduation. She flew to Nicaragua the night after donning her cap and gown, and helped build sanitation facilities for Global Brigades, an international nonprofit focused on health and economic inequality.”

During the summer, college students do a lot. From spending time with old friends to vacations with family, the three months that constitute summer vacation can seem as open as the ocean. However, most students don’t spend their time in Nicaragua shadowing doctors and administering medicine to those in need. For Global Medical Brigades, a registered student organization on campus that encompasses pre-med students who partner with local agencies to provide medical care, this is the norm. On Monday, May 2, 33 students and two faculty members left Miami International Airport and headed to Nicaragua, armed with pharmaceutical supplies and medication.

Global Brigades started as a medical relief organization for impoverished communities abroad but has now grown to include eight other types of brigades; including Public Health, Dental, and Engineering. Global Brigades is a secular non-profit organization that relies on student and professional volunteers to promote a holistic method when providing aid. The holistic method educates and empowers the members of the community to continue the work that Global Brigades began when the student-led brigades have left the country. Using this method allows the aid the volunteers bring to have a lasting impact!

The WKU students spent over a week in Nicaragua. One of those students was Sam Fugate, who is the current co-president of the chapter. He said they worked for three days with the Medical Brigades at a mobile medical clinic, two days with the Public Health Brigades program building sanitation stations and one day with the Water Brigades program which focused on digging trenches to provide clean drinking water.