Elizabeth Andrews
Elizabeth Andrews spent the spring semester of 2011 living and studying in Tunis, Tunisia. At the time of her arrival, the first wave of the Arab Spring had begun, and a new Tunisia was emerging in the wake of the ousting of former president Ben Ali. The rapidly evolving political situation birthed many research questions which Elizabeth continues to pursue. She spent the last few weeks of her SIT study abroad program researching a topic of her own choosing. Elizabeth hopes to build upon her experience living and working at a refugee camp which the United Nations constructed at the Tunisian-Libyan border, and explore the deeper questions of UN refugee policy and the implications of statelessness
Krystal Brady
Krystal majored in Anthropology and Pre-Medical studies at the University of Notre Dame. She traveled to Uganda during the Spring of 2011 to study abroad through the School for International Training. Her semester abroad consisted of living with a home-stay family, learning the local vernacular of Luganda, attending lectures concerning development, and conducting a 6-week independent research project. For her project, Krystal studied the barriers that women face to accessing maternal health care services in urban and rural Uganda. Krystal spent time at St. Francis Hospital Nsambya and Kagando Hospital, where she interviewed mothers and health care providers and observed deliveries and caesarian sections.
Rosabelle Conover
Rosabelle Conover spent summer 2011 living, working, and experiencing life in rural El Salvador thanks to the ISSLP program in the Center for Social Concerns. She is incredibly grateful to her Salvadoran medical team for putting up with her poor Spanish and inexperience with healthcare, and especially to Gene Palumbo for introducing her to all sides of life in El Salvador. After graduation in May 2012, she hoped to spend a year working in clinical healthcare or youth development in the Philippines or Central America.
Erin Hallagan
Erin Hallagan spent two months working at La Casa del Migrante in Tecun Uman, Guatemala during the summer of 2011. La Casa del Migrante is located on the border between Guatemala and Mexico and provides food, shelter, medical attention, and legal services to migrants for up to three days. Her time in Tecun Uman was spent completing the daily activities at the Casa, including cooking and cleaning, as well as conversing with the migrants and learning of their experiences. Erin’s trips was sponsored by the International Summer Service Learning Program through Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns.
Katelyn Melloh
Katelyn Melloh majored in anthropology with a minor in Latin American studies, putting both of those to the test summer 2011 at an anthropological field school in the northern Peruvian Andes. Thanks to a grant from the Kellogg Institute (ETW), she was able to experience a unique culture and meet some amazing people. The field school, sponsored by the Center for Social Well Being in South America, had a focus on cultural immersion by joining the community in everything from agriculture to medicine to education while advocating for community improvement through participatory action research (PAR). Some of her favorite parts of Peru were the gorgeous landscapes, volunteering at the local preschool, and participating in traditional medicine.
Hanna O'Brien
Hanna O’Brien majored in Anthropology and Pre-professional Studies, spent summers 2010 and 2011 conducting field research in palliative care in the Central and Eastern regions of Uganda. Her research was funded by the Kellogg and Kroc Institutes at Notre Dame and sponsored by the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) in Kampala. Hanna’s research addressed the perspectives of health disparities in Ugandan palliative care and disease-modifying services. Through collaboration with PCAU and the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in South Bend, Indiana, Hanna hopes that their work will help create a tangible difference by developing sustainable health initiatives.
Rose Raderstorf
Rose spent 2 months during the summer of 2011 at the Finca del
Niño, an orphanage in rural Honduras. She went through the
International Summer Service Learning Program (ISSLP) sponsored by the
Center for Social Concerns. Rose lived at the Finca with other
volunteers and taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade science and English as
well as Special Ed. Outside of school, she spent her time with the
kids, doing everything from playing fútbol to searching for sand
dollars in the ocean.
Ilse Zenteno
In the summer of 2011, Ilse Zenteno volunteered with la Pastoral de Movilidad Humana of the Archdiocese of Cochabamba, Bolivia, which was facilitated by the Maryknoll Lay Missioners and sponsored by the International Summer Service Learning Program through the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame. For two months, Ilse immersed herself in the culture of Cochabamba—exploring different sectors of society, interviewing migrants at the Casa del Migrante to further understand their situation and future goals, working at the office compiling data about other migrant shelters throughout Latin America, driving to el campo (the countryside) to broader her horizon of Bolivian life, and sharing in the struggles and joys of the community through social gatherings and get-togethers.
Diane Zielinski
Diane Zielinski travelled to China during the summer of 2011 to participate in a Notre Dame Business and Culture Program. She spent time in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai and attended classes while embracing the culture on a daily basis. Travelling to different parts of the country allowed her to gain insight to both differences nationwide and on a worldwide basis. Over the span of her trip, she visited about 15 different companies, enabling her to progress in her major by learning about the country’s unique business culture.