Like every student of my age, I wanted to take my time off after completing undergrad. For an ordinary student, the normal routine would be to study hard for GMAT. Not for me, I spent almost two months high up in the Himalayas, volunteering for a special project run by a small yet unique non-profit organization in my country Nepal, called Himalayan Health Care.

Karishma Chand Thakur

It was a bit daunting at first, because it was high up almost 15,000 feet or more, in the most rural regions of Nepal. Our team comprised of 15 aspiring medical students, nurses and enthusiastic volunteers (like me!). It was a 10-hour drive to our first Camp where on the way, we were hit by a big hail storm and a snow blizzard, but our team leader Mr. Anil Parajuli kept trying to cheer us up, keeping our spirits high. So it wasn’t that bad, besides camping in beautiful forests was an out-of-the-world experience!

Days of camp: From 6 am we had people of all ages sitting in queues, waiting for the health camp to start! The first day of camp was so busy; we had up to 50 patients per doctor. A triage had been set up where the very friendly nurses from Boston and New York would take their vitals and send them over to the physicians. I was assigned to a physician from Houston; where I spent the next 5 days, talking to people, trying to know their ailments, and a lot more of family issues. Some were shy, some were scared, and most did not understand the purpose of our visit. The first thing everyone would ask for were ‘Vitamin pills’ because they thought it was a special medicine which healed everything, this touched my heart.

Among all the patients we checked, there were a few cases, which were quite unforgettable and touched my heart deeply. An 83-year old man who climbed 7 hours up the mountain to come to our camp, with a huge swollen left leg. It had been infected for years but this never stopped him from digging acres of land with his bare hands. The doctor and I tried to drain the fluid out but he was in a lot of pain. We decided to give him steroid shots to temporarily ease the pain. Then he was helped by the local volunteers and taken below to the city for surgery. The other case was of a very sweet lady, she was a mother of 12!! But this was explainable because high up in the mountains where there is no access to proper medical treatment and no clue about family planning, she couldn’t have done much. She was suffering from a prolapsed uterus for years, her entire uterus, had been exposed out of her body, it looked like a giant tumor. She too was immediately transported to a bigger city hospital where she underwent a successful surgery.

The final day of camp, there I stood among all the doctors and nurses, really exhausted but proud of ourselves. We were given a very honorable farewell. And as they applauded I guess we all stood there with a sense of content, humble, but with a feeling of a great achievement, our perspectives on life changed!

Karishma is a graduate assistant in the International Studies program office. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Information Systems.

The Fairfield Model United Nations club hosted 166 high schools students for its ninth annual high school conference on Friday, November 16. Students came from 12 schools located in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Tri-state area. The International Studies program was well-represented at FUMUN IX by several outstanding students.

Allison Scheetz ’16

All five UN simulations were led by International Studies and International Business majors. Carolyn Kosewski ’14 (International Business) chaired a Human Rights Council session focused on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Erin Wolfe ’14 (International Studies) led a simulation on genocide and the need for humanitarian action today. Chris Damon-Cronmiller ’13 (International Studies) chaired a committee on political situation in Libya. Gabe Sacco ’13 (International Studies) was the lead for a special session on human trafficking in the Balkans. Finally one of the newest members to the Model UN, Allison Scheetz ’16 (International Studies), did a fabulous job of leading the Fukushima disaster committee. She was a late replacement for Tom Dalo ’14, who served as co-Secretary General for last year’s conference with Lorena Gullotta ’14.

Amanda Lynch ’13 more than held her own as Secretary General for this year’s conference. She recruited all the chairs and the additional students that served as co-chairs or runners for the conference. Amanda also made sure two conference traditions continued: lunch in the cafeteria with Fairfield students and a guest speaker from the Faculty. This year’s speaker, Dr. Anne Campbell, came from the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions. Dr. Campbell is director of the TESOL & Bilingual Education program and Associate Professor of TESOL & Bilingual/Multicultural Education.

Plans for next year’s conference, the club’s 10th, will begin in early Spring 2013. If you are interested in participating, the Model UN holds meetings every Wednesday in BCC 202 at 7p.m. You can find pictures from this year’s conference here.

Another semester is quickly approaching the Thanksgiving break. It it amazing how quickly the time passes. So much has happened in the last two months. Dr. Terry-Ann Jones is settling into her new role as director of the International Studies. The program held two gatherings, on September 5 and November 5, to give IL and IB majors an opportunity to ask questions related to the majors.

The program also sponsored a variety of programs to peak student interest including internship info sessions with Save the Children and the Montage Initiative. Faculty and staff have also been available to talk about research and student resources. In October, Dr. David Crawford and Ms. Ajsha Bajcinca were available to answer questions about anthropological research and study abroad, respectively. Dr. Janie Leatherman and the Associate Director of the IL program once again collaborated to supervise Fulbright applications from Fairfield. Last year, Fairfield had six applicants with three receiving awards. This fall, we had TWELVE applications thanks to support from Fairfield faculty and staff.

In the Spring, there will be more opportunities to have lunch with faculty and staff from diverse fields. We also plan to welcome additional guests from outside organization and institutions. Check out our Calendar of Events for more information.