(Long Distance) Calls to Service
How do a recent grad and a Thacher parent wind up working on behalf women's health in Sierra Leone?
Community service is not a requirement at Thacher, but, at any given time, three-quarters of the student body is likely to be involved in volunteer service, mostly in the Ojai Valley. As the world has become smaller and more interconnected, Thacher’s tradition of service has extended beyond the village of Ojai to the global village—often long after someone leaves the School. Take Julia Robinson CdeP 2004, for example. After graduating college last year, she decided to pursue volunteer work, a decision strongly influenced by her time at Thacher.
“I’m not sure exactly why,” she writes. “Maybe it’s mucking a stall and developing a close relationship with and a sense of responsibility for a horse…or learning how important it is to care for and rely on others on a camping trip…but, like me, so many alums I’ve talked to have sought out jobs that aren’t strictly about making money, or are doing philanthropic or service-based activities on the side. Maybe it’s about bringing that sense of community to others, or looking for it elsewhere.” An African history major in college, she was considering a variety of volunteer and NGO (non-governmental organization) jobs in both the U.S. and Africa but was feeling a bit lost, unable to choose. Then she got a call from Helen Weld.
Helen is a Thacher parent (Ian Strachan CdeP 2004, Annie Strachan CdeP 2005, and Will Strachan ‘09) and aunt (Johanna Harding CdeP 1991, Megan Harding CdeP 1993, Sean Harding CdeP 1998, and Joe Bell ‘12). Needless to say, her connection to the School is deep and longstanding. In 1975, when (by her own admission) she was “floundering,” she was hiking in a remote part of southern Sudan when she encountered a man with a life-threatening machete wound. She was utterly unable to help him—and that was her epiphany. She returned home to Portland, Oregon, and entered a four-year nursing program, determined to acquire the practical skills necessary to help others. From 1980 to 2006, she held a variety of nursing jobs in Oregon, California, Maine and Queensland, Australia. But her experience in Sudan was never far from her mind. After she earned a Masters of Public Health at James Cook University of Townsville in Queensland, she began her overseas volunteer work in the earthquake region of Kashmir, Pakistan (www.medicinewomen.blogspot.com), with subsequent service in East Timor and Tuvalu. The next stop in her odyssey of service was Bo, Sierra Leone. And what drew her there was the West Africa Fistula Foundation (WAFF).
Vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) is a disabling (though also preventable and reparable) condition caused primarily by complications during childbirth. The first fistula hospital was opened in New York City in the late 1800s. It closed thirty years later because of advances in obstetric health care. Now, for the most part, VVF does not exist in the U.S. Unfortunately, this is not true elsewhere.
It is estimated that 2-3 million women in Africa suffer from VVF, and nowhere more acutely than in Sierra Leone, which after ten years of civil war has become one of the world’s poorest countries, with woefully inadequate obstetric and gynecological care and services. Privately funded, WAFF was founded in 2004 to provide that care, as well as other resources to help reduce the number of new VVF patients and to surgically remedy those who already exist. Its long-term goal is to train a sustainable working staff from within the country itself to treat ongoing cases, maintain a hostel for incoming patients, provide post-operative treatment, and facilitate patients’ reintegration into society through vocational education. Helen is its Director of Program Development and Volunteer Coordinator. Volunteer coordinators need volunteers. Helen thought of Julia.
She knew that Julia (a classmate of her son Ian) was already interested in Africa—especially Sierra Leone. In college, Julia learned a great deal about the country’s involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the early days of empire. Helen brought her up-to-speed on its contemporary history and invited her to come work for WAFF. It was exactly the opportunity Julia was looking for. Not only was it in a country that already intrigued her, but the nature of WAFF made sense to her. “WAFF is not religiously or politically affiliated,” which were basic criteria for her. Moreover, “WAFF is not an organization that closes shop without leaving something behind.” The goal of the West African Institute, WAFF’s umbrella, is to expand to include credit and business services, sustainable agriculture, and renewable technologies. “We are collaborating with locals so that community needs are addressed. We are an organization that is trying to work itself out of a job.” She came to Bo in September, unable to offer medical expertise or “any kind of expertise at all.” She is currently WAFF’s acting administrator and expects to stay on in that capacity through May.
“Acting administrator” means she does anything and everything—whatever needs doing. From the mundane (policy/program writing, holding the flashlight as a generator is connected, straightening out passport problems, hiring and training the community cook) to the profound (assuring the safe transport of an ultrasound machine over an almost undriveable road, sitting with a woman as she learns she has terminal cervical cancer, meeting with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health). The job is ever-demanding. But, as so often happens in volunteer work, she draws her strength from the people she is serving. “Whenever I’m having a hard time, I go to the ward and sit with them. And in very little time, I’ll be soothed, through getting my hair braided…or laughing at their jokes…and I’ll remember that I’m here for them and that nothing else is important.”
Helen and Julia are not the only members of the extended Thacher community to take an interest in the work at Bo. Helen’s daughter Annie has already volunteered and a few current Thacher seniors have expressed interest. To find out more about the work WAFF is doing and about how to be a part of it, one can contact Helen at helenweld@gmail.com. She and Julia also invite everyone to visit their blogs for more detailed and ongoing information about their life and work in Bo: www.hwph.blogspot.com (Helen) and www.juliainsierraleone.blogspot.com (Julia).
Back
“I’m not sure exactly why,” she writes. “Maybe it’s mucking a stall and developing a close relationship with and a sense of responsibility for a horse…or learning how important it is to care for and rely on others on a camping trip…but, like me, so many alums I’ve talked to have sought out jobs that aren’t strictly about making money, or are doing philanthropic or service-based activities on the side. Maybe it’s about bringing that sense of community to others, or looking for it elsewhere.” An African history major in college, she was considering a variety of volunteer and NGO (non-governmental organization) jobs in both the U.S. and Africa but was feeling a bit lost, unable to choose. Then she got a call from Helen Weld.
Helen is a Thacher parent (Ian Strachan CdeP 2004, Annie Strachan CdeP 2005, and Will Strachan ‘09) and aunt (Johanna Harding CdeP 1991, Megan Harding CdeP 1993, Sean Harding CdeP 1998, and Joe Bell ‘12). Needless to say, her connection to the School is deep and longstanding. In 1975, when (by her own admission) she was “floundering,” she was hiking in a remote part of southern Sudan when she encountered a man with a life-threatening machete wound. She was utterly unable to help him—and that was her epiphany. She returned home to Portland, Oregon, and entered a four-year nursing program, determined to acquire the practical skills necessary to help others. From 1980 to 2006, she held a variety of nursing jobs in Oregon, California, Maine and Queensland, Australia. But her experience in Sudan was never far from her mind. After she earned a Masters of Public Health at James Cook University of Townsville in Queensland, she began her overseas volunteer work in the earthquake region of Kashmir, Pakistan (www.medicinewomen.blogspot.com), with subsequent service in East Timor and Tuvalu. The next stop in her odyssey of service was Bo, Sierra Leone. And what drew her there was the West Africa Fistula Foundation (WAFF).
Vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) is a disabling (though also preventable and reparable) condition caused primarily by complications during childbirth. The first fistula hospital was opened in New York City in the late 1800s. It closed thirty years later because of advances in obstetric health care. Now, for the most part, VVF does not exist in the U.S. Unfortunately, this is not true elsewhere.
It is estimated that 2-3 million women in Africa suffer from VVF, and nowhere more acutely than in Sierra Leone, which after ten years of civil war has become one of the world’s poorest countries, with woefully inadequate obstetric and gynecological care and services. Privately funded, WAFF was founded in 2004 to provide that care, as well as other resources to help reduce the number of new VVF patients and to surgically remedy those who already exist. Its long-term goal is to train a sustainable working staff from within the country itself to treat ongoing cases, maintain a hostel for incoming patients, provide post-operative treatment, and facilitate patients’ reintegration into society through vocational education. Helen is its Director of Program Development and Volunteer Coordinator. Volunteer coordinators need volunteers. Helen thought of Julia.
She knew that Julia (a classmate of her son Ian) was already interested in Africa—especially Sierra Leone. In college, Julia learned a great deal about the country’s involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the early days of empire. Helen brought her up-to-speed on its contemporary history and invited her to come work for WAFF. It was exactly the opportunity Julia was looking for. Not only was it in a country that already intrigued her, but the nature of WAFF made sense to her. “WAFF is not religiously or politically affiliated,” which were basic criteria for her. Moreover, “WAFF is not an organization that closes shop without leaving something behind.” The goal of the West African Institute, WAFF’s umbrella, is to expand to include credit and business services, sustainable agriculture, and renewable technologies. “We are collaborating with locals so that community needs are addressed. We are an organization that is trying to work itself out of a job.” She came to Bo in September, unable to offer medical expertise or “any kind of expertise at all.” She is currently WAFF’s acting administrator and expects to stay on in that capacity through May.
“Acting administrator” means she does anything and everything—whatever needs doing. From the mundane (policy/program writing, holding the flashlight as a generator is connected, straightening out passport problems, hiring and training the community cook) to the profound (assuring the safe transport of an ultrasound machine over an almost undriveable road, sitting with a woman as she learns she has terminal cervical cancer, meeting with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health). The job is ever-demanding. But, as so often happens in volunteer work, she draws her strength from the people she is serving. “Whenever I’m having a hard time, I go to the ward and sit with them. And in very little time, I’ll be soothed, through getting my hair braided…or laughing at their jokes…and I’ll remember that I’m here for them and that nothing else is important.”
Helen and Julia are not the only members of the extended Thacher community to take an interest in the work at Bo. Helen’s daughter Annie has already volunteered and a few current Thacher seniors have expressed interest. To find out more about the work WAFF is doing and about how to be a part of it, one can contact Helen at helenweld@gmail.com. She and Julia also invite everyone to visit their blogs for more detailed and ongoing information about their life and work in Bo: www.hwph.blogspot.com (Helen) and www.juliainsierraleone.blogspot.com (Julia).
More About Thacher
Interested in learning more about Thacher? Sign up for a virtual visit here.
A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12
Notice of nondiscriminatory policy as to students: The Thacher School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other School-administered programs.