September 8, 2011 - 12:18am
Campus Clubs: Global Brigades
BY BRANDON SHAW
A brigade on campus has waged a war on conditions preventing communities in developing countries from moving forward.
The goal of the student group, the Honduras Medical Brigade, is to improve the quality of life in communities in developing countries such as Honduras and Ghana. The organization, which is affiliated with the international non-profit Global Brigades, is divided into five different clubs: dental, medical, microfinance, public health and water.
LSA senior Rikav Chauhan, Honduras Medical Brigade campus chairperson, said a community may choose to start with an medical program and then progress to finance, business, water or other more developed public health projects.
The Honduras Medical Brigade began at the University in 2006 as a public health and medical outreach club, and members have since taken more than six trips to developing countries. The club’s goal is to have nine different clubs on campus and to expand with projects in architecture, business, environment and law.
“We’re trying to cover all of the bases of creating a sustainable and livable community,” Chauhan said.
The club also hopes to expand awareness on campus of the developing countries’ needs, Chauhan said. He added that he thinks the club is unique because rather than providing a one-time fix, Global Brigades strives to make a community self-sustainable in the long term.
“We want these communities to be sustainable in the future, without the necessary presence of Global Brigades at those future times,” Chauhan said.
Correction Appended: A previous version of this article misidentified Rikav Chauhan. He is campus chairperson of Global Brigades.
