May 16, 2012

You are here: Home / Regions / Africa

Hearts on Fire at the Heller School – Discussing Philanthropy

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
iscoltalkmini
Jill Iscol and Jacob Lief

Andrew Hahn Ph.D.'78 (left), Jill Iscol (center) and Jacob Lief (right)

On the evening of Thursday, March 29th, the Heller School hosted a book discussion in collaboration with the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program and the Silberman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy on the newly released book “Hearts on Fire: Twelve Stories of Today’s Visionaries Igniting Idealism into Action” by Jill Iscol, author, philanthropist and longtime advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Iscol and Jacob Lief, one of the visionaries featured in Iscol’s work, spoke about their processes as philanthropists and activists both from behind the scenes and in the field.

Lief spoke about his project the Ubuntu Education Fund in South Africa, which he co-founded and acts as the organization’s current president. In his responses he made a clear statement that in his opinions the large aid-organizations mostly originating in the US have not been effective and do not have any long-term effect. He is both a supporter and successful example of very localized grassroots projects, which may appear small but have a lasting influence in their specific areas. His project clearly showcases just how effective a long-term commitment and investment can be. While his influence may seem insignificant, he has vastly changed a number of young people’s lives, ultimately enriching the entire local society’s well-being and socioeconomic status. For Lief, this was the true achievement to obtain and it appears to be of much more value than a brief limited impact on a larger area and number of people. Iscol herself also commented on the necessity of the smaller localized grassroots organizations. Her own organization, IF Hummingbird Foundation, has helped fund numerous smaller groups to help in exactly such a way.  She acts more from “behind the scenes” compared to the hands-on approach of Lief, as her focus lies on strategic philanthropy and the business aspects of successful projects. It was inspiring to hear the opinions and experiences of two people so heavily involved in social justice and activism and seeing the diverse approaches possible for philanthropy.

During the brief Q&A session open to the audience, the main focus remained on the experience of the two activists. Their message was engaging and elating as they kept pressing the issue of the general population’s involvement in social activism. In their opinion, anyone can become a philanthropist and activist and has the social responsibility to do so in some way or another. As Iscol ended her final answer with the uplifting and inspiring remark “You (the students in the room) are our future and are the future ‘changemakers’. Anyone can bring on social change, even if you are not an entrepreneur or leader. There are always ways to become active.”

While I personally am always interested in learning about more ways to become active in social justice, I am also critical and skeptical of the American upper-middle class often empowered to lead such projects (which I am a part of myself). Despite my critical eye, which I cast on Jill Iscol specifically and her seemingly somewhat sensationalized book and reports on the twelve ‘changemakers’ she describes, I left this particular presentation with a positive sense of Iscol and Lief’s work and do believe they made many valid points in their optimism towards the future of long-term grassroots activism. I felt these two speakers had a very clear grasp on what it takes to achieve positive change in the world. While Iscol’s audience is the upper-middle class American and she plays this field well, I felt reassured of her sincerity after hearing her very realistic yet committed recount of her experiences. Lief’s education project speaks for itself in terms of validity and efficacy and I commend his humble yet confident approach to philanthropy.

Further information see The Justice and BrandeisNow.

Filed Under: Africa, Alia Goldfarb, Authors, Blogs, Global Campus, Regions, Students

Nimbaya! Women Performing Powerful Blend of Song, Percussion and Dance

February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Nimbayafeature
Nimbaya!

Nimbaya!

At 4pm on Monday, February 13th, the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium erupted with the sounds of traditional Guinean percussion and song. Eight women  took the stage drumming, singing and dancing. Nimbaya! came to the university to teach, perform and create a path for peace through their music. Under the umbrella of ‘Deis Impact! hosted by the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis and sponsored by Music Unites Us and the Brandeis Music Department, the group shared a full day of workshops, performances and the screening of the film Wardance with the campus community.

 At first, the Guinean women had some difficulty getting the politely silent western audience to engage actively with the performance, however after several attempts the crowd finally let the pulse of the music reverberate through them until nearly everyone was dancing alongside the performers for their final piece. These eight women transformed the sterile setting of the cold concrete SCC building as their compelling rhythms and energetic dances began to ripple through the audience. Despite the simplicity of their set and costumes, which consisting of a number of instruments and simple western dress sporting the Guinean national colors, their riveting rhythms and mesmerizing footwork took the audience on a journey through dust and sand, bringing us to West Africa. TIn other words, they brought a piece of their homeland to our community. These women tell their stories through their powerful music and dance, captivating their audience to the very last beat of a drum.

To find out more about Nimbaya! visit their website.

Photo Credit: David Weinstein

Filed Under: Africa, Alia Goldfarb, Authors, Blogs, Global Campus, Regions, Students

Heller School “Tuesday Talks” Lecture Series Presents: Global Health Spending: Learning to Do More With Less

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Global Health Feat

Professor Allyala Krishna Nandakumar

Last week, Professor Allyala Krishna Nandakumar presented a lecture titled, “Global Health Spending: Learning to Do More with Less. ” The lecture was one of a series known as “Tuesday Talks,” a lecture series held by the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. The lecture room was fully attended by faculty, staff,  students, and alumni who came to hear Nandakumar explain the problems with our global health spending, namely, that we need to spend the funds we have more efficiently.

The world spends about 5 trillion on health a year. While this enormous amount has only increased over the past decade, the rate of morbidity and mortality has not decreased at the rate one would expect if such funds and technology are available. For instance, since 1990, annual child mortality decreased by 30%. Yet still, 8.8 million children died in 2008. This unfortunate disparity, according to a World Bank  assessment, is the result of poorly managed projects and an inefficient allocation of funds. Moreover, many of these projects share similar characteristics: negligible monitoring and evaluation, inadequate supervision, lack of baseline data for which to set realistic targets, and insufficient political or institutional analysis to name a few.

To complicate matters, the majority of donor funds go to Third World countries where corrupt governments misuse them.  Since 2008, however, the majority of donations have been channeled through NGO’s or non-governmental organizations in order to offset the rampant corruption.

Another complication is that low-come countries are often dependent on donor funds from high-income countries. This dependency is very dangerous for a state since donor funds are volatile and therefore unsustainable. This is especially disconcerting because many low-income states substitute donor funding as the sole means for government health spending.  This dependency is also harmful because states receiving funds are not allowed to decide how to allocate funds: much of global health spending is “disease specific” in that donors typically donate for a specific cause such as HIV AIDS or malaria, and thus states who receive funds may not even be able to use them.

Another issue with global health spending is the unequal distribution of donors. Low-income countries, which compose 85% of the world’s population, only contribute 14.3% share of global health funds. Meanwhile, high-income countries, which compose 15% of the world’s population, contribute 82% of the global health spending. For instance, Ethiopia spends less than $10 per person on health; the US, nearly $7,300.  This places a burden on high-income countries such as the United States, to sustain the health programs of other countries. Surprisingly, while the United States is the leader in global health funding, the second largest source of funding comes not from a country but from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Where are countries like Britain, France, and Germany? This interesting fact shows that other high-income states aren’t pulling enough weight.

Evidently, there are many problems with our global health spending. It goes without saying that millions of people shouldn’t have to die every year from diseases that could have been cured or treated but weren’t due to rampant corruption and a host of problems in our global health spending. We have the funds, we just need to allocate them more efficiently. To remedy these problems, we can employ numerous measures: increase accountability and transparency of governments to combat corruption, ensure that funds reach beneficiaries directly to avoid waste, empower individuals with health vouchers, and reform the health care system. Only then can we prevent needless death and disease. For more information on global health spending, visit the World Health Organization online.

 

Filed Under: Africa, Authors, Blogs, Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, Global Campus, Latin America & the Caribbean, Middle East, Nahum Gilliat, Regions, South Asia, Students

Engagement and Ambition at the eXperiential eXpo

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
featured el exp

On October 25th, 104 poster presenters, 52 group presenters and five faculty presenters shared their experiential learning knowledge with the rest of the Brandeis community at the eXperiential eXpo. As a whole, the eXpo reinforced the notion of Brandeis as an incredibly diverse and motivated campus, with students’ presentations impressive in topic choice as well as ambition. With projects ranging from promoting community health in Waltham to examining the role of human rights in China, the posters represented a truly global focus.

Mangaliso Mohammed '12

One such global project was embarked upon by Mangaliso Mohammed ‘12, an environmental studies major and WOW recipient, who worked with the city council in Mbabane, Swaziland on environmental sanitation in the city. Collaborating with city council members to set up programs in waste management and general litter control, environmental sanitation and health, and urban environment management, Mangaliso truly embodied the experiential learning spirit. He spoke extremely highly of his site coordinator, and despite the challenges he described – such as underdeveloped litter and waste management infrastructure – he seemed humbly pleased at the positive impact he made over the summer in terms of environmental health management in the city of Mbabane.

Alexander S. Hulse '12

Similarly globally focused but vastly different in topic, Alexander Hulse ‘12 – majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Economics – presented on his internship with the University of Texas San Antonio Mopan Valley Archaeological Project in Cayo, Belize. Focusing on power transitions of Ancient Maya through archaeological excavation, Alexander had the opportunity to not only take part in the project but also supervise the excavations at a site in Belize. His goals of understanding the site’s location in the political structure of the valley were ambitious, but the findings he described – analysis and synthesis of a particular structure and cultural context to determine its likely role as an ancestor shrine and association with a political actor of some power, for example – seem to indicate his successful achievement of that goal.

The experiences of both Mangaliso and Alexander seem to encapsulate the purpose of the experiential expo, as well as the motivation behind the experiential learning emphasis at Brandeis. The drive and ambition of both projects – changing and introducing ideas of sustainable development in the urban waste management system of an entire city and directing the excavation of a site as part of a larger archaeological effort in understanding the political dynamics of an entire valley – are two of many equally ambitious and laudable projects. The most incredible part of the eXpo was the fact that without this sort of forum to present their experiences, the stories and incredible insights many of those presenting would not be heard by the larger community. 156 total students participated, and because of how humble all the participants were there would be no way of finding out their amazing stories without this kind of event. The effort, care, and professionalism seen at the eXperiential eXpo was a credit to all in the community who make such opportunities possible, and bring a whole new realm of possibility to the question, “what did you do last summer?”
Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Blogs, Global Campus, Latin America & the Caribbean, Regions, Students

Competing and Converging Narratives

September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
narratives2

From left to right: Prof. Hale, Prof. Gaskins, Allyson Goose of the Office of Study Abroad, Prof. Sundiata, Kylie Vallario '12

Summer break and the incredible experiences traveling students and faculty embark upon remains among the most exciting and useful aspects of life in any university. Rarely does the opportunity come up to hear about the experiences of others, however: a gap the event “What Did You Do Last Summer?” aimed to close. Sponsored by the African and Afro-American Studies Department and moderated by Professor Faith Lois Smith, the experiences of six Brandeisians were highlighted: two undergraduates (Jessye Kass ’13 and Kylie Vallario ’12) and four professors  (Jane Hale, Richard Gaskins, Ibrahim Sundiata, and Pashington Obeng).

As participants reflected in discussion later in the event, the notion of narrative as understood by one’s self and by others played a large role in the events of the summer. The speakers noted the inherent difficulty in contending with different narratives, particularly when tied to being a traveler in a foreign land.

Jessye Kass, who visited Ghana for the third time this summer with the Sorensen Fellowship Program, founded her own non-governmental organization based around art therapy in rural villages. In particular, she brought up the issue of the conflicting aims of anthropology and social justice in difficult situations, since anthropology stipulates detached observation and social justice demands intervention.

She was followed by Kylie Vallario, who spent time studying race and human rights with a focus on public health in Salvatore, Brazil. The necessity of striking a balance between one’s sense of self and cultural understandings were emphasized in her talk.   She relayed tales of the conflicts she observed on the topic of academic discussion about religion as well as regarding the question of asserting feminism in a culturally appropriate manner.

Professor Hale traveled to Haiti and Lesotho this summer, and broadened the discussion to address a myriad of situations across the globe, including her past experiences in Senegal. She emphasized that it is people who make places what they are, and advised future study abroad participants to meet local people (to not only socialize with expatriates). Along the same lines, she described the worthiness of learning at least the greetings in the local language, for the sake of both communication and respect for the culture.

Having led the Summer 2011 Brandeis in The Hague program, Professor Gaskins offered another perspective on the notion of narrative through his experiences with the International Criminal Court. There, different local, global, and foreign perspectives compete and attempt to combine to create a solid position through the proceedings.  He described the complexity of the issues debated with regards to both the background of the trial and its impact on the local community in the present and future. He ended by noting how small one’s perspective is without multiple sides of an issue, an essential idea applicable to not only law but also life.

From left to right: Prof. Obeng, Jessye Kass '13, Prof. Smith, Prof. Hale

Professor Sundiata first explicitly brought up the notion of narratives when discussing his recent travels in Ghana, related to collective and individual memory. Specifically, he discussed Elmina Castle – one of the most prominent slave trade forts in Ghana – to illustrate the idea of competing narratives. He discussed: heritage tourism, the problems of being a tourist in a place of pain, and the sincerity of a docent during his tour of the castle (who made a point to avoid sensationalism).  These stories raising the issue of competing, conflicting, and equally valid narratives to prominence.

Finally, Professor Obeng spoke of his time in India with two undergraduates from Harvard and Wellesley, and the problems with simplistic or one-dimensional views of situations. He discussed this in relation to race, caste, and disenfranchisement in India, pointing out the lack of a single root cause of marginalization, despite the many factors leading to it.

After further discussion regarding experiences and reactions to their own and others’ travels, the event wrapped up with speakers giving advice to those studying or traveling abroad now or in the future. Of the advice given, two sentiments in particular stood out. First, Professor Hale stressed the importance of traveling with the ability to fail: she advised that people know when they travel that is failure possible, and everything will be all right if they do. Second, Kylie Vollario stressed the importance of keeping an open mind not only about the culture one is visiting, but also about one’s self. Only by pushing ones boundaries can the culture and situation be experienced fully.

Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Blogs, Brandeis in The Hague, Europe, Global Campus, Haiti, India, Latin America & the Caribbean, Regions, South Asia, Students

Global Brandeis Profile: Tawanna Johnson ’16

September 19, 2011 By 1 Comment
tawanna2
Tawanna Johnson

Tawanna Johnson, B.A. '16

Possible Major/Minor: International and Global Studies major, French minor

Year of Graduation: 2016

Hometown: Providence, Rhode Island

Previous Education: E-Cubed Academy

Clubs/Organizations: Transitional Year Program, University Chorus, works at the Library

“My history teacher had asked me who I was.  I thought, Who am I really? Who had I become? What is my legacy? About 300 years ago, my ancestors were uprooted from Africa and forced into slavery in Providence, Rhode Island. After years of slavery, my ancestors were finally freed and left Providence in search of a better life in Liberia. Shortly after their return, civil war broke loose in the country. My ancestors had to make a decision whether to stay in Liberia or return to Providence: a place where they were enslaved by their memories, but where opportunity awaited. The discovery of my family’s past made me recognize the traces of my ancestors in the person I am today.”
-excerpt from Tawanna’s college admissions essay

Our past defines who we are, but few people face theirs so unflinchingly and proactively as Tawanna Johnson. Born in New York only a year after her mother’s immigration to the United States as a result of the first Liberian Civil War, Tawanna spent most of her life in Providence, Rhode Island. Currently a Transitional Year Program student, she is proud of being at Brandeis, particularly since “when I was in pre-school there was a point where we didn’t have a house.  Education-wise, I guess I was lucky, or at least [my mom] always said I had a good head.”

Liberia plays a part in her life larger than most Liberian-Americans, with her uncle having run for President of Liberia in 2009, and planning on running again in November of 2011. For her politics are more than abstract ideas, they intimately affect her life: “since the civil war, my life’s just been a bunch of like political stuff, like who’s doing what, and who’s not supposed to do this, who’s better, who’s not, and who’s not listening.”

She continually emphasizes the importance of security and safety to her, describing how “I can’t say certain things, and people will write stuff on the internet, and it’s just scary.” Describing her position of being torn between wanting to go back to Liberia and visit with family and being intimidated by stories of unrest and corruption, she finds comfort in the current stability of Brandeis.

Although she is no longer interested in pursuing politics as a future line of work, she does “really want to work for the UN, or something in that area. I want to invest in building schools, and just be a person that would go in and not direct things (like a political analyst) to help the country progress.” Her hope is to build the confidence to face the factors that scare her, and that “through Brandeis, once I know more, and once I go through all these classes and learn about human rights and know what to do, I can build that confidence to walk right in there and say ‘hey, we’re gonna do it this way!’.”

Her dreams are more than admirable, and certainly what the world needs in its rising leaders. She notes that she is not the only one with these types of ambitions, saying “I know a lot of people my age in the Liberian community are trying to do the same thing: everyone wants to go back and change everything, trying to make it better than what it is now. That’s what everyone wants to do, and I’m really, really happy about that, because now I feel like I’m not the only person to go in there.”

“What will be my legacy? What will my future generations discover about me? 300 years from now my family will see that I graduated from college and became a policy analyst. They will see that I went back to Liberia to help mend the laws of education. They will see my devotion to my people who will no longer have to move because knowledge and opportunity will be at their doorstep. Providing opportunity for others is rooted in my culture and will always be a part of me. I know who I am. I am the first step for the next generation.”
-excerpt from Tawanna’s college admissions essay

Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Profiles, Regions, Students

Sorensen Fellows: Updates from the Field

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
paul2

This article has been reposted, by permission, from the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life website.  You can view the original article here.

June 1, 2011

The 2011 Sorensen Fellows are spending eight weeks “in the field” this summer, grappling with conflict resolution, death, disability, education, migration, and poverty. They return to Brandeis in the fall to process their experiences in the seminar “Internship in Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies.”

Calliope Desenberg '12, conducting a workshop with Centro de Estudios para la Paz (Center for Peace Studies), which is based in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Calliope Desenberg ’12, is working with the Centro de Estudios para la Paz (CEPPA – Center for Peace Studies), in San Jose, Costa Rica. After her first conflict resolution workshop, Calliope wrote, “I wanted the instigators to make up for all their actions, the victims to be paid for all damages done to them, and for everyone to dismantle the poisonous structures of machismo, patriarchy, and the overwhelmingly unfair distribution of resources that frame the entire situation. This, however, was impossible. No matter how angry it makes me, the best we can do is work with the torn, bloody fabric of reality. And while I can’t magically transform it into the beautiful tapestry that I cling to, I can try to patch it up and leave it at least a little better by the time I am done here.”

Sarah Michael ’12, is an intern at Children’s Association for Maximum Potential (CAMP), a summer camp in Texas for children and adults with special needs. Sarah wrote: “One of the CAMPers who has been coming to CAMP for over twenty years spoke about her dislike for people talking over her or like she wasn’t there. Can we see past a disability to see a person? or is that disability a large part of that person and must be accepted along with the person?”

Jessye Kass '13, with a child she worked with in Accra, Ghana.

Jessye Kass ’13, is working in Ghana, as one of the founders of Attukwei Art Foundation (AAF), which brings art projects to students who are living in underprivileged areas, or who have been victims of forced child labor and sex slavery. After doing an art project with kids about what they wanted to be when they were adults, Jessye wrote: “I knew that out of the 15 people who wanted to be doctors, maybe one would get to that level, but what was important was their smiling faces as they held up their beautifully colored drawings and told me that they would help people when they grew up. They would save lives.”

Shani Rosenbaum ’12, is working with the Hotline for Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv, which promotes the rights of migrant workers and refugees and works to eliminate human trafficking in Israel. She wrote of her visit to the children’s detainment in Matan, which houses largely Eritrean and Sudanese teen boys: “The children can’t be deported because they’re considered asylum seekers, and can’t be released because they’re unaccompanied minors. There’s a sort of heavy cheeriness among the staff here; each wears a sighing smile that seems to be part of the uniform of people caring for kids in limbo.”

Piyawat "Paul" Sukijthamapan '13, interning with the Bairo Pite Clinic in East Timor.

Piyawat “Paul” Sukijthamapan ’13, is an intern with the Bairo Pite Clinic (BPC) in East Timor, in South East Asia, which serves an average of 539 members of the resource-poor local community each day. On a tour of the clinic on the morning of his very first day, Paul was thrust right into the action: “Just as we were watching over Maria, the first patient, someone came in asking for help with a 16 year old pregnant teenager who had to be transported to the maternity ward. We were helping with the wheelchair down the stair and through the rough terrain when she lost consciousness and her head swung without direction. We took her out of the wheelchair and carried her the rest of the way, until she could be stabilized.”

Sarah Van Buren ’13, is an intern with Wildflower Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand: a shelter, clinic, and school for women who have been victims of sexual abuse and the sex trade. Sarah wrote: “The women at the Wildflower Home are largely from Hillside tribes, with limited rights and almost no access to formal education. The women are young, ranging from 12 to 25. But these women are strong, both together and alone.”

Filed Under: Abroad, Africa, Authors, Blogs, Israel, Latin America & the Caribbean, Middle East, Regions, South Asia, Staff

Looking back

June 29, 2011 By 1 Comment
tawah1b

This post is by Alie Tawah ’11, a Health: Science, Society & Policy and Biology double-major.  Alie was a a Hiatt WOW Fellow who interned in Cameroon in July 2009.

It has been two years since I began my story of my experience in Cameroon. I gave an introduction then disappeared from this site and went on to live my life. Now things have changed. I finished my summer in Cameroon, went back to Brandeis for my junior year, studied abroad in Geneva, Switzerland the fall of 2010 and graduated in May 2011.

Reading over my previous entry, I realize that I did not do it justice.  My descriptions were very general and did not give a true personal look at what was going on at the time.  I did not describe the extreme heat that I felt as I landed in Douala, the country’s largest city located in the littoral province, because of the lack of air conditioning in around 90 degree Fahrenheit weather. I did not describe the joy I felt to be picked up from the airport by a cousin whom I was used to seeing at my house in the United States but looked a little different in her territory. I remember seeing the lush untouched forest green trees that covered the mountain tops as we drove a hour from the airport in Douala to Beau, a city in the south-west province, where I would be staying for the next few days until my father came to take me to Yaoundé, the capital of the nation located in the central province, where I would begin my two month internship.

Due to my lack of description and follow-up you never had the chance to get a glimpse of the mix innocence and purity of the people of the nation that lived in the cities I visited, or the mix of luxury and poverty that was evident as you drove through a neighborhood: next to very nice modern-looking mansions stood shacks made of plywood and tin coverings where families lived.  I did not describe the characters I met along the way that believed so much in their countrymen and the need for change that they spent their whole lives working with and around the corrupt system of the government to do what they could to improve the lives of the country’s citizens. I did not describe the mothers that worked tirelessly at their farms and in the market selling whatever produce they harvested to try a feed their young children. I did not describe the students I met at the university who were a few years older than me and very eager to learn but found themselves unable to do so with the limited resources at their university. Within this group I met one who dreamed of becoming a research scientist but knew that his school did not have the materials necessary to conduct experiments and there were very few centers in the country that did.

Looking back I realize that I was not being fair to the people I met along the way of the people who read my entry as I gave general overviews of everything as if I was a reference textbook. I hope that all of you take this as my apology and realize that I have learned this lesson.  The next time I choose to write such a blog I’ll be sure to paint the picture so you can have a glimpse of my true experience and hopefully give me a glimpse of yours.

Read Alie’s previous posts: A Foreign Homeland and Healthcare in Cameroon.

Filed Under: Abroad, Africa, Alumni, Authors, Blogs, Regions

Ghanaian Music and Dance Class Challenges and Delights Students

April 25, 2011 By 1 Comment
ghana_dance2

Student practice for their Festival of the Arts performance

Having heard drumming coming from Schwartz many times while walking past Usdan, I was eager to learn more about the class those sounds came from. Completely unlike any class I have experienced at Brandeis thus far, Music and Dance from Ghana was both exciting and intense. Beginning with drumming at the very start of the class, the coursework was clearly demanding. Yet, it was also evident the amount that was learned, and the freedom with which it was learned, makes this course one of the most unique at Brandeis.

This session was their final class before their performances in the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts on Thursday, April 28.   The time was spent perfecting both the drumming and the dancing that will be part of the festival. When finalizing drumming, instructor Nani Agbeli made sure that each student played an instrument they liked and were comfortable with. Later, during the dance portion of the class, he stressed the importance of making the dance one’s own. He did not simply want it to be an accumulation of memorized steps, but an embodiment of the dancer.

Students echoed this sentiment. “I really enjoy all parts of the class: I think it’s really awesome.  I love the drumming, and it’s really cool to learn about a different cultural musical experience. The dancing is really fun, it’s a really good workout, and he obviously knows his stuff,” Zoe Novic stated. “He is a perfectionist, which is good in any teacher – especially a dance teacher – so he’s hard on us sometimes, but it’s all for a good cause. He makes us better in the end, and he’s fun.” The class certainly seemed engaging, with no dull moments between the drumming and the dancing.

Students learn drumming techniques under the tutelage of Nani Agbeli

Walker Stern agrees, saying: “It’s a really excellent class, even more so because African dance is often taught by people who are not of the culture which originates the dance they teach, and in this case that is not at all what’s going on. So, it is, I think, in many ways more difficult than it would be otherwise, because he’s a very demanding teacher, but it’s also interesting culturally and mind-expanding musically.”

Members of the class are excited about their performance later this week. Displaying both drumming and dancing they have practiced all semester, it will be their opportunity to show to Brandeis what they have learned. “It’s very engaging. I think it’s a class that everyone should take as it’s fun to do,” says Pokuaa Adu. From Ghana as well, Pokuaa was excited to take the class and is looking forward to the performance. “I’d like for people to see what we’re doing. Because I see a lot of people walk by, kind of peek in.  It’ll be exciting.”

The Ghanian Music and Dance performance will occur on April 28th at 6:00 pm in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.  Students in MUS 87, as the ensemble Fafali (“there is peace”), will perform instrumental music and dance from the Ewe tradition of West Africa, led by master drummer Nani Agbeli with special guest artist Frederick Abban.   A reception with refreshments follows the performance.

NEW 4/29/2011: Read coverage about the above event in the Hoot.

MUS 87A, “Music and Dance From Ghana“, will be offered again in Fall 2011 on Thursdays from 6:30-8:50 pm.  Music department signature required.

Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Blogs, Global Campus, Regions, Students

Global Affairs Table: Libya

April 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
libya_table2

Global Affairs Table, April 13, 2011

The final Global Affairs Table of the semester took place on Wednesday, April 13.  The discussion centered around the history and current events of Libya with about twenty students, faculty, and staff members in attendance.  We were fortunate enough to have guest speaker Diederick Vandewalle, a professor at Dartmouth College and renowned expert on the country’s history and politics, to lead the session.

Vandewalle began with an introduction of the political climate of Libya in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  Due to the twenty-year sanction against the country, he was one of the few researchers allowed to visit for a long period of time.  Vandewalle, who teaches courses on Middle Eastern politics and government, explained how no one took Gaddafi seriously in the 1970s.  He turned the regime inward, and wrote an “alternative to capitalism and socialism” known as the Green Book.  This book contained ideology about everything: “there was even probably a Green Book opinion on electricity”, Vandewalle quipped.  Gaddafi argued that people should be governed like a tribe, for that would be the only way to create “a perfect democracy”.  He professed a “third universal theory” and created centers to promote his views through the 1980s.

In the 1990s, Libya saw the need to re-emerge onto the international scene because it had become so isolated due to the sanctions.  In the late 1990s, “not even Gaddafi could control the system,” Vandewalle said.  In 1999, the leader worked with the British to create talking points regarding potential cooperation.

In 2003, the United States and Libya recognized a shared goal of eradicating terrorism and began discussing strategies.  “[American government officials] thought that Gaddafi had rehabilitated,” Vandewalle explained.  However, they were incorrect, and we all know what happened next.

The rebellion, which began in March of this year, was a surprise to Vandewalle.  “I thought such an uprising would be impossible.  The regime had systematically done away with all opposition that existed.”  Additionally, it has not been as quick of an overthrow as many experts expected.  “The international community now has to decide if they want to go forward and remove Gaddafi,” Vandewalle said.

After Vandewalle’s introduction, the rest of the session was devoted to answering questions from the group.  Participants posed queries about the (mis)perceptions regarding Gaddafi’s son Saif, comparing the Libyan struggles to that of Egypt and Tunisia, the international response, western perceptions of the opposition, relations with Turkey, and the possibility of a permanent split of the country between the east (the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council) and the west (the Tripoli-based government of Gaddafi), to name a few.  All of the questions were very insightful and reflected the in-depth global knowledge of the Brandeis community.

The Global Affairs Table began with the help of a seed grant from the Global Brandeis Fund.

Filed Under: Africa, Authors, Blogs, Global Campus, Regions, Shelby Bleiweis, Staff

Global Brandeis Profile: Holly Devon ’11

April 6, 2011 By 1 Comment
holly2

Holly Devon '11

Year of Graduation: 2011
Major: Comparative Literature
Minor: French
Home region/country: Los Angeles, California
Previous Education: Santa Monica High School
Clubs/Organizations on Campus: Brandeis Al-Quds Partnership Fellow, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, WOW Fellow

“I’d just like to continue being in places that make me feel alive, and continue having conversations and contributing however I can.”

While traveling, learning, and working over the course of her Brandeis career, Holly Devon has certainly pursued her passions successfully. Beginning her freshman year, her application and subsequent acceptance to the Brandeis Al-Quds University Partnership program triggered a series of travel experiences both powerful and exciting. She describes how “I just kind of like to get in there, mix it up with whatever opportunities I have. Literature is my passion, intellectually, amongst a lot of others – I’m a very typical Brandeis liberal arts student, I take a little of everything each semester – but I’d just like to continue being in places that make me feel alive, and continue having conversations and contribute however I can.”

Her adventures are certainly reflective of this, having traveled to Istanbul and Jerusalem with the Al-Quds University Partnership, to Kenya with an Oxford volunteer program, to France for study abroad, and to Argentina with a WOW fellowship. The Al-Quds University trip started her involvement with Brandeis and the opportunities therein, and she described it as “just a really humbling experience, really powerful, really hard, scary, but I felt really glad that I did that.”

From there, her summer expeditions became more non-governmental organization focused: she worked with NGOs in both Africa and Latin America, about which she says “comparing the [the two] was also really interesting.” Possessing strong convictions of the necessity for respect on the part of the volunteers for the people being helped as well as on the part of the people for themselves, she describes how she “felt sickened a lot of the time [in Africa] because there was this sort of expectation, in a way, that we were supposed to impart our cultural knowledge on to them. It was kind of paternalistic … there are a lot of problems in Africa that don’t have to do with the obvious – AIDS, poverty, war – I think there’s a lot of it also going on that we neglect to see how important it is that people feel like they have something to offer.”

She emphasizes the importance of respect; saying that what makes the difference is “how you think of it, and how respectful you are.” This emphasis on respect is reflected in her experiences with Confluir, a local NGO in Argentina devoted to acting as a legal and local intermediary between the people of the communities and the NGOs in the region. She describes how it was “also engaged in a larger conversation about poverty and education,” with a markedly greater sense of self-sufficiency and self-respect.

At the same time, it proved to be a challenge to her greater level of immersion into the community and culture. “I’ve never been in a position like that before, where I really felt I had to just trust people around me,” she says. “I didn’t really know anything about my surroundings, I was just trying to kind of plug in and work with them and do anything I could.”

She describes these opportunities as some of the most powerful in her life, and hopes to continue this encountering of new cultures and places this summer, potentially returning to Al-Quds University to foster more inter-student relationships between that university and ours. Whatever her future holds, it will surely be filled with more powerful experiences and conversations, helping and making her feel alive.

For more information about the Al Quds University/Brandeis University Partnership, please click here.

Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Europe, Israel, Latin America & the Caribbean, Middle East, Profiles, Regions, Students

Global Brandeis Profile: Noam Shuster ’11

March 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
noamshuster4a

Noam Shuster '11

Majors: International and Global Studies; African American and African Studies

Minors: Theater; Peace and Coexistence Studies

Year of Graduation: 2011

Home region/country: Neve Shalom~Wahat Al Salam (Oasis of Peace), Israel

Previous Education: Primary school in Neveshalom, High school in Israel; New York Film Academy program in filmmaking

Clubs/Organizations on Campus: Slifka Coexistence Scholar, Sorensen Fellow, Social Justice WOW Fellow, Davis Project for Peace Fellow

“I really believe that we still have the power to change things, and really do things differently, and I’m really happy that Rwanda has been one of the teachers to help me go back and do things better.”

As a Slifka Coexistence Scholar hailing from an Israeli-Palestinian peace community in Israel, Noam Shuster has certainly taken advantage of the opportunities presented at Brandeis. For two summers, as a Sorensen Fellow and then a World-of-Work recipient, Noam has been involved with youth groups in Rwanda, particularly developing strong ties with Women’s Equity in Access to Care & Treatment, an organization that works to both empower and help treat women with HIV. Noam has worked to bolster summer youth programs, and with the Davis Peace funds she has received she plans on continuing that work in the summer to come, and possibly for even longer.

She eloquently explains, “HIV in Rwanda plays as this kind of legacy of genocide, because it was used against women, and with the stigma around it it’s very sensitive. In our program, we don’t only have children of women who were raped, we have children of perpetrators, and we have children who were born out of the rapes. It’s really healing on different dimensions. On the one hand we have this platform for them, so they have a place to express themselves, a place to play, a place to know that they are not alone, and have a place to know what their abilities are, and on the other hand there’s the post-genocide issue of kids of perpetrators, survivors, and this really reminds me of my work in Israel trying to bring the children of those that were hurt in a very real way.”

Having visited Brandeis in her sophomore year of high school with an Israeli-Palestinian peace delegation, she describes her experience both at Brandeis and in Rwanda as a voyage, saying that “this experience was really a journey for me, coming here as a sophomore with the Israeli-Palestinian delegation and hearing about the scholarship, and then becoming a scholar myself, and then through Brandeis resources like Sorensen and Davis to do this [work] in Rwanda. Sometimes its hard for me to digest, because it has been a journey in so many narratives.”

Healing from conflict is her passion, beginning with her work with youth in her home of Neveshalom. This ardor is what prompted her involvement in Rwanda: in fact, “Rwanda’s healing narrative from the genocide was something that I was very interested in, because I come from the Israeli narrative where we remember the Holocaust very, very differently from what I’ve seen in Kigali, Rwanda in general. Rwanda really opened a door to me to my home, and the way we deal with trauma back at home.”

Taking a very strong stance of mutual reciprocity in work, Noam describes how “it is a process, it is a long-term commitment I’ve made to Rwanda,” at the same time as “this work is only teaching me more and more what can be done in my home and in Rwanda.”

She believes strongly in her work towards future change for the better, saying “I am an example of a young generation that was educated differently, and was able to see that your homeland can actually have a different future with the other side that is called your enemy where we both can live in as two people.” She says, “I really believe that we still have the power to change things, and really do things differently, and I’m really happy that Rwanda has been one of the teachers to help me go back and do things better.”

This passion is part of who she is, and her plans for the future are to simply “keep on doing this advocacy work that will bridge between people, and really never stop doing that.” She emphasized the possibilities for students, both at Brandeis and in the world, saying “if students read this and are at the beginning of their Brandeis career, know that there is so much you can do … once you go out there you find out so many things about yourself, and what your abilities are.”

Update 10/18/2011: Read the Justice article about Noam’s presentation on 10/11/2011.

Filed Under: Africa, Ariana Hajmiragha, Authors, Israel, Middle East, Profiles, Regions, Students

Building Sustainable East African Coffee Businesses

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
zachcohen1b

Zach Cohen ’09 was an International and Global Studies major at Brandeis.  He works for the international non-profit TechnoServe in East Africa.

Zach at an annual cooperative general assembly in Tanzania.

Before jumping into the details of my East African adventure, I would like to give you a background of the company, TechnoServe (TNS), I worked for while there. TNS is a non-profit organization that works in many developing countries across the globe with the aim of finding business solutions to poverty. Entrepreneurism and sustainability are central to finding these solutions. The specific project that I worked on was the Coffee Initiative, which seeks to help smallholder farmer cooperatives enhance the quality of their coffee through improved processing methods, higher production, and market linkages.

Throughout my almost two years working for TNS, I performed various activities. My first task was to collect and analyze costs of production data from each of the countries in which the Coffee Initiative has a presence – Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. This information was valuable for a number of reasons. By understanding the industry benchmark in each country, TNS would be able to quantify the impact of its work with the cooperatives and determine which specific areas of operation are strong and which are weak. Much of my time spent on this task consisted of going out to the field and interviewing farmer cooperatives in each country.  As you may imagine, this type of work, at times, forced me out of my comfort zone and ultimately provided me with experiences that will forever have a positive impact on me. One thing that I promised the many people that I encountered along my journey was that I would share the experiences with people back home.

Zach in a meeting with a coffee farmer cooperative in Kenya.

Given that I was most recently in Ethiopia, I will go ahead and share some of my observations from there.  Let me start by debunking the common misconception that Ethiopia is an arid desert. In fact, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and has some of the highest quality coffee on the planet. It is a country with a very rich culture in food, coffee, and religion.

Ethiopian food is certainly unique, and I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried it to give it a shot. The first lesson in Ethiopian food culture is that you must always wash your hands before eating. Of course, this seems a common theme with any dining experience in any part of the world, but Ethiopians are particularly strict about it. Why? Because Ethiopian food is eaten exclusively with your hands. No matter what you order, your food will come served on a platter with what would appear to any outsider as a rather large, thin sponge resembling a pizza pie with no cheese or sauce. This is a bitter, very absorbent bread called injera that serves as your spoon, fork, and knife. On it goes any number of culinary delights ranging from tibs, pieces of meat cooked with spices, onions, and peppers, to beyaynetu, an array of vegetable dishes served on fasting days.

A coffee tree

As I mentioned before, Ethiopia is among the most highly regarded coffee origins in the world. Obviously, the inherent climate, altitude, and soil conditions are the primary reasons for this. But, ironically, the lack of development of the coffee sector in Ethiopia contributes to its superiority in quality. Due to a lack of large scale processing infrastructure, Ethiopian coffee production is dominated by smallholder farmers. When you have hundreds of smallholder coffee farmers pooling together their coffee at one cooperative, the blend of flavors creates unique coffee profiles that appeal to the most discerning of buyers. By linking these cooperatives to buyers in the US, Europe, and Japan, TNS helps these smallholders fetch significantly higher sales prices than they would have received otherwise. What we are seeing is that the quality of this coffee is high enough to motivate buyers to form sustainable business relationships with these cooperatives so that TNS can remove itself as the facilitator.

While what I shared was brief and incomplete, I hope that I have exposed you to something that is new and different, and that you carry this over to explore some more on your own.

Filed Under: Abroad, Africa, Alumni, Authors, Blogs, Regions

Global Brandeis Profile: Irene Cocovi-Mensah, M.A. ’11

February 28, 2011 By 5 Comments
Irene2

Program: Sustainable International Development, Heller School for Social Policy and Management

Graduation: May 2011

Hometown: Cotonou, Benin Republic (West Africa)

Previous Education: Come District High School, Benin
University of Abomey Calavi, Benin (degree in Agronomic Science)

Brandeis Clubs and Organizations: African Forum, Fitness Club

“I am sure that my experiences at Brandeis have shaped my leadership skills and will undoubtedly help me to achieve my goal: inspiring other young people to work together and lead in the development of Africa.”

What was it like growing up for you?

I grew up in a middle class polygamous family, and was taught to uphold values inculcated by my father. Discipline, hard work and faith in achievement are the values that my dad gave to me. The foremost among the values was his constant claim that nothing is for free in life and there is no easy way that is effective – so he deeply inculcated in us the importance of hard work, perseverance, use of failure as a new energy and the guiding light of prayer. I believe that it is these values ingrained in me since childhood that shapes my life and defines my goals. Hence, all the successes I’ve achieved to date and all aspirations I will meet in the future will be fueled by these core values that I take with me wherever I go.

Irene at the Africa Business Initiative, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Why did you decide to attend school in the US?

Subsequent to my bachelors degree I joined a research organization that conducted evaluations and research on macro-economic policies and poverty reduction programs implemented by the Government of Benin. This was a research network branching out all over the continent of Africa, reaching to Latin America, Canada and Asia. Annual conferences are held in different locations and during my tenure I had the opportunity of attending such a conference in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2005. Despite my expertise in research and the knowledge I wanted to share at the conference, an unexpected constraint I faced was my ineptitude of English language. While I had always wanted to pursue graduate studies in a western academic setting, I had looked at countries where French was either the national language or there were dual language policies. However, because of my encounter at the Hanoi conference, I was determined to go to a country where the medium of learning and communicating would be English.

Why did you decide to attend Brandeis?

My decision to select Brandeis was shaped by two individuals that visited The Hunger Project I was working with in 2007. Their visits were at two different points in time, however I had the occasion to work closely with them to design a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the project. I was impressed and in awe of the knowledge and skills they brought into the discussion and on further inquiry wad told that they’ve followed the Sustainable International Development program at the Heller School of Brandeis University.  I was granted admission in 2008, however due to funding requirement I deferred till I received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2009.

President Barack Obama listens to a question during a town hall-style meeting with young African leaders, Aug. 3, 2010.

Tell me about the President’s Forum with Young African Leaders. Why were you chosen to participate, and what was your experience like?

I was selected for the Forum because of leadership role I have played in my country by creating the African Girls and Women Empowerment Program (AGWEP). The role of the AGWEP is to empower rural women through training and micro-finance and to ensure that girls in rural areas remain in school. The uniqueness of the program is that it uses a social entrepreneurship approach.

Words cannot describe the experience I went through and the overwhelming emotions I felt to be before President Obama. To a majority of Africans like me he is more than the American President: he is a legend in the eyes of Africa. My belief is that if Obama has been elected President of the USA, everything is possible in life. Africa could be developed, but Africans have to be conscious that they are the key actors of this development.  I never anticipated that I would have the privilege of meeting political figures and leaders that I’ve only read of in books, magazines and seen on television. The opportunity to see, meet and listen to figures like Hillary Clinton, Johnnie Carson, and President Obama will remain a lifetime experience with me. We met several chiefs of multi-national companies, funders of development in Africa and representatives from IFIs like the World Bank and the IMF. There were 120 participants who represented all 53 countries in the African continent.

What global issues are of the greatest importance/value to you?

Irene and a colleague at the Peace Corps Headquaters

Conflict and food security.  Since the end of the cold war there has been a rise of internal conflicts within national boundaries which are primarily taking place in developing countries. This factor perpetuates already existing socio-economic setbacks within these societies. Without eradicating the causes of social unrest and economic manipulations that create most of these conflicts it is futile to attempt sustainable change.

Food security is a pertinent issue in all developing countries. Existing economic and market inequalities are primarily contributing factors to this growing issue. In the meantime, present day predictions and discourse on climate change is an imminent contributor to this issue. While the issue of food security in developing countries is complex, it is one that should be given prominent and committed attention by designated stakeholders.   

How does your classwork reinforce what you learned at the conference and out in the world?

I have found the SID program to be fantastic. It opens my eyes and increases my understanding of development issues. It reinforces my knowledge and perceptions that development should be community owned and community driven in order to be durable, possible and sustained. Economic growth is important sure, but it is not sufficient. A holistic approach to development should encompass the discovery of personal capabilities and the realization of capabilities of a community as a whole to identify their version/idea of development. Ideally national goals should align with those aspirations of communities within the boundaries of a country. Where national goals reach out to meet a wider global paradigm, the communities of a country gets ignored and lost within the system.

Which one specific memory/moment sticks out in your mind the most (in regards to your global experiences), and why?

There was one incident that I will carry with me throughout life. I had the opportunity of facilitating a training and grant opportunity to a woman from back home in my country. While almost ten thousand received the same training and grant through our program, this particular woman stood out because of her commitment, perseverance and die-hard belief in herself. She succeeded in changing her life, those of her family and her whole community. I realized that this individual represented values that could be found and is evidently present anywhere in the world – what people need are opportunities and a strong sense of confidence in themselves.

Irene at the US State Department Headquarters

What are your plans for the future?

Since the Obama Forum we (the participants) have been maintaining communication and took our inspirations further by establishing a Young African Leaders Association of which I am on the Executive Committee. As part of my commitment to the development of Africa and the development of my own country, I created the Young Beninise Leaders Association.  I have been invited by the government of Benin to participate in the design of the next five year strategic plan for the republic in November 2011.

Is there anything else that you would like to mention that we didn’t cover yet?

I would like to state that Brandeis gives me the opportunity and drive to reach my goals. I have learned a lot about international development at Brandeis, but more importantly, I have learned that there is not a one straight answer. There is what the best is for each community and what people really want to do. In this way, change will start from a community and will be durable.

I would like to take this occasion to say a special thank to all those exceptional people I have meet on my path and whose generosity has allowed me to reach my goal and to keep dreaming.

Filed Under: Africa, Authors, Profiles, Regions, Shelby Bleiweis, Staff

Back from a Summer in Liberia: 1 Semester Later

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Recuperation_thumb

Office farewell party for Adam (Liberia, August)

It is now January 2011 and both the Holiday Season and New Year’s Eve have come and gone… WOW time has flown!  It feels like just yesterday that I returned to the U.S. after a terrific three months of research in Liberia.  My dual-M.A. program at Brandeis is two and half years in length, and after two years in the classroom I was expected to do a summer of research followed by an autumn of final-paper-writing.  So, with that summer research in the bag all I had left was the final paper (as of September 1st).  Fall semester was the final half of that two and half year journey through graduate-school at Brandeis University, and what an odd half it felt like.  I spent the semester as a 3rd year Masters student, officially enrolled at Brandeis, but without any classes scheduled… I had one task and that was to compose a paper based on my summer research.

I spent my first week back in the U.S. at my mother’s house in Fairfield County, Connecticut… which was great!  Upon returning to Massachusetts I found myself stuck in a nomadic lifestyle, I was supposed to move into a friend’s father’s house in Cambridge but I had to wait 4-6 weeks.  During that time I enjoyed myself around the area and spent many days socializing on campus.  All this was a blast, but my paper was not getting written.  I finally moved into my friend’s father’s house (with a year of glorious house-sitting ahead of me), I created a “war room” in the kitchen, and I got down to business with that paper.  It was not easy to begin, I sort of lost confidence in what I had achieved in Liberia, plus all the fun between Connecticut and Massachusetts had only helped to distance me quite a bit from that (three month long) challenging summer.

I pulled it together quite quickly and the creative juices flowed and flowed.  I had to essentially go underground for two months in order to both begin and complete my paper, and it became something of an obsession and it got written.  My 1st draft was due November 15th and I completed the document at 5am on the 14th.  It had been my goal all along to submit a fully completed paper (in my opinion) on the 15th even though the final draft was not due until December 15th… and I believed I achieved this!  The paper is titled Baby-Steps Toward a Peaceful and Profitable Future in the Republic of Liberia: Establishing Economic & Environmental Coexistence Between Rural Communities and International Logging Companies and I could not be happier with it.  I am truly proud of the fact that it fully speaks to my curriculum and experiences within both Brandeis’ M.A. in Coexistence & Conflict and the M.A. in Sustainable International Development and, of course, it fully addresses my three months of research in Liberia during summer 2010.  Additionally, I feel my undergraduate education in urban planning is also visible within the document.

Adam recuperating for a few days in the Berkshires (Massachusetts, September)

I received word from my Advisor (Prof. Ted Johnson) on December 20th that I had in fact submitted a good and final paper, I had now completed all the requirements of my program at Brandeis.  Specifically, Professor Johnson said “Very well done Adam.  You’ve tackled a serious problem and raised some vital issues not only for Liberia but other resource-stretched societies.” He continued by stating “I will say that you’ve more than met the requirements for passing this requirement… you may want to publish it.”  Needless to say, this was thrilling feedback for me.  But, the moment was bittersweet.  I love Brandeis and I have loved my time here, I have never felt so happy and at home… what a bummer to have to leave now.  But, like many experiences before it, Brandeis has now become a part of my identity and I look forward to representing it wherever I go in the world and in whatever I do.  It is easy to feel as though my time with Brandeis has come to an end, but I do realize that this very moment just marks the beginning of my relationship with the school.  I now have the rest of my life to be involved with Brandeis University, an institution that I own as much of as any other student that has ever obtained a degree from it.  I am, and forever will be, a Brandeisian!

Filed Under: Abroad, Adam Rosenberg, Africa, Authors, Blogs, Regions, Students
« Older Posts

Protected by Akismet
Blog with WordPress

Welcome Guest | Login (Brandeis Members Only)