Several student organizations will come together for the first time to sponsor African Awareness Week from Nov. 13 to Nov. 17.
The week is organized by Students for Kenya in conjunction with the Department of Medical Health and Society, the Office of Active Citizenship and Service, the International Awareness Committee, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, the African Student Union, United Planet and the Global Health Council.
In an effort to raise awareness, these organizations will hold an information fair on Nov. 16 from 11-2 p.m. in the Sarratt Promenade followed by a lecture series in Buttrick that will feature Dale Cockrell, professor of musicology, Sten Vermund, director of Vanderbilt’s Institute for Global Health, and Larry Zwiebel, professor of biological sciences.
The professors will speak about their own involvement in Africa as well as how students can become more active in the area.
The week’s events are part of International Education Week, a larger effort initiated by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education in order to acknowledge global exchange between the United States and other countries.
Senior Dani Buscariollo, president of Students for Kenya, said the idea for African Awareness week came after she and others realized the need for awareness in the Vanderbilt community.
“Basically, there are a bunch of organizations on campus that are dedicated to issues in African countries,” Buscariollo said. “We thought it would be a good idea to bring everyone together and bring awareness in the Vanderbilt community about how students can get involved in global issues, especially in Africa.”
Although the main focus of the week is awareness, Students for Kenya also hopes to raise money for the continued construction of a medical clinic in Lwala, Kenya, through the sale of t-shirts.
Students for Kenya was founded last year to facilitate the efforts of Milton Ochieng, a third-year medical school student, who is from Lwala.
Last summer Ochieng began construction on a medical clinic so that people in his home village could have access to primary health care as well as testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS, services that were previously unavailable in Lwala and the surrounding area.
The structure of the clinic is already complete, but members of the organization hope that the money they raise throughout this week will aid in well-digging, the acquisition of supplies and staffing of the clinic.
Buscariollo believes that devoting a week to African awareness is important, especially at Vanderbilt.
“It provides a bridge between what is going on in Africa and what we can do,” she said. “It seems so far out of reach, but we wanted to tell people that there are things they can do to make a difference.”
