Article by noah huff

Global Brigades “A Handful of Vitamins�

Sustainability in the Developing World through Global Brigades

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governance, etc.”

These problems are rampant in underdeveloped countries around the world, and Global Brigades is trying to resolve these crises through holistic and sustainable development.

Bonnie Huff stood in the middle of a small village in Ghana, with two duffel bags. One contained clothes and personal effects, the other was full of medical supplies. She was immersed in the culture of Ghana.

She was there to help the local people help themselves to overcome the numerous and

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serious problems that plague their communities. No access to clean water or medicine, and makes life for these people very difficult, and Bonnie was there to treat those in need of medical attention. She was a member of a Global Medical Brigade.

Global Brigades is an organization of mainly college students who venture to impoverished communities to assist them in building healthier, happier lives. Their goal is to help the communities develop in a sustainable way that the people

manage for themselves long after the Brigade has gone. According to “Major Problems Facing Ghana Today” by the AfricaW website, “Ghana… is crippled by several economic and social issues such as poverty, hunger, corruption, poor

There are many groups sending volunteers and supplies to assist in developing countries. Some of them are guilty of a concept called “volun-tourism.”

Volun-tourism is a term used to describe organizations and people who visit Third World countries with the apparent intent of helping. They build a school, or a house, or raiåse money for food, but at the end of a week, they go home. They

leave behind an empty school building with no teachers or materials. Or the week’s worth of food that they brought is eaten and forgotten, with no way to create more. They will go to a third world community, take their blood pressure, give

them six months of drugs and be gone. Afterwards, they can put on their resumes and college applications that they did volunteer work in a poor country, but it’s not clear how much good they really did.

the quality of life and increase the productivity of the community by installing sustainable water systems that deliver water straight to the community from the source. Families each receive a spigot that quickly supplies clean water so they do not Global Brigades operates on a have to spend half of their day very different model. As Huff walking to other sources, and puts it, “It’s more than just gocome back with heavy containing in and throwing handfuls of ers full of dirty, parasite-riddled vitamins at people.” The focus water. is sustainability, the approach is holistic. The ultimate question Medical Brigades works to is always, “what can we do to create not only a healthy preshelp this community meet its ent, but also a healthy future, own needs?” by teaching the locals how to be self-sufficient, as many of them Global Brigades is sepaare un- or under-educated. rated into nine sections: Water They begin to build the strucBrigades, Medical Brigades, ture for a healthy community, Business Brigades, Dental Bri- and teach the locals to comgades, Engineering Brigades, plete it.

Environmental Brigades, Human Rights Brigades, MicroDental Brigades is separate from Medical Brigades but

dures that we in the US might find difficult to watch. Dental Brigades works to not only fix the problems, but also educate about what causes the problems and how the locals can be proactive in preventing them in the future. While it is a very important and necessary Brigade, as Huff chuckled ruefully, “Dental is definitely not for the faint of heart.”

finance Brigades, and Public Health Brigades. Each section contributes a critical service in development of third-world communities.

ing the drinking water. Water storage units are large sanitary containers designed to hold the water brought to the community via projects by the Water and Engineering Brigades’ projects. The showers are simply constructed, 2 or 3 gallon con-

For example, Water Brigades’ mission is to improve

equally important. Dental issues are some of the most serious issues that plague the rural communities in these countries, primarily because they often go untreated for years.

Brigade dentists will do extractions and other difficult proce-

The final piece of the global health side of the puzzle is the Public Health Brigade. While Medical Brigades treat existing conditions, Public Health Brigades focus on prevention through education and structural household improvements.

There are five main project types -- Latrines, Water Storage Units, Showers, Eco-Stoves, and Concrete Floors. The latrines are obviously to keep human waste from contaminat-

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tainers raised on poles in makeshift stalls so that to can get clean in a sustainable way. The eco-stoves, as they are known, are essentially chimneys built into the side of the house to ventilate the smoke and soot that result from burning wood inside the house. Finally, Public Health Brigades will install concrete floors, which greatly improve the respiratory conditions, particularly among infants and seniors.

While one side of the organization is concerned with global health (Medical Brigades, Public Health Brigades, and Water Brigades), another side focuses on development (Business and Microfinance Brigades, Human Rights Brigades, Engineering and Environmental Brigades).

As Huff explains, “the focus is on holistic development, . . . they all go at problems of development from a different angle, and the idea is that by bringing them all together you can really help the community move forward in a constructive and

“We use a hollistic model” 4

sustainable way.”

For example, consider the Microfinance Brigade, which introduces the concepts of banks and loans, and increase the economic viability of local businesses. Microfinance sets up a small bank, funds it with a few thousand dollars, and then trains community members to run it. They teach arithmetic and accounting. Everyone gets a savings account, which makes it psychologically easier to save money because it takes more effort to access it. The bank is set up to give out microloans, small loans of as little as $20 for a school uniform and supplies, for example. A “real” bank wouldn’t even consider such a thing, so the local community bank is a perfect way for the community to develop financially.

Once the bank has been put in place by the Microfinance Brigade, Business Brigade begin consulting with people about their businesses, how to improve them and make them run more efficiently and be more profitable. For someone wanting to start a new business, they will help them figure out what the best way to do that would be. Keep in mind that the average education of a citizen of Panama is fifth grade. Without much education, it’s difficult to man-

age business concepts. So that’s what Business Brigades do -make those concepts accessible to people with limited education. The ultimate question for GB is “how is what we do going to help the people of this community out of the poverty trap that they’re caught in?”

Engineering Brigades work in conjunction with Water Brigades and local engineers and technicians to design and implement the aqueducts and pipelines that bring clean water over sometimes massive tracts of land to the local communities. There are many practical challenges in this, and the solutions are often scarce and hard to come by. They must account for budget restrictions, local materials, and appropriate technologies, as well as ensuring that the final product is economically and environmentally stable.

Environmental Brigades embodies the philosophy as their goal is to help develop agricultural setups in such a way that they are efficient and sustainable in terms of ecofriendly techniques. They also must help environmental damage that may have already been done, either from ignorance or apathy. Current agricultural practices often encourage harmful activities that impact the environment very nega-

tively, such as excessive use of pesticides and lack of crop rotation. Along with all of this, volunteers in Environmental Brigades also protest and push back against deforestation, as such practices are obviously not only bad for the environment, but also bad for the local communities.

Human Rights Brigades has the mission of educating people about the justice system in their country, the laws that protect them, and the rights that they are entitled to defend.

Remember we are dealing with people who might not have a full understanding of legal concepts. Human Rights Brigades set up legal clinics where people come to consult with an attorney about whatever legal issues they’re facing, including land disputes, domestic violence, and divorce. They empower the individual to overcome the hurdles impeding fundamental human rights, and the availability of justice.

contributed to the greater good of the community. As Bonnie observedt, “True development is measured, not necessarily by economics, but by the range of opportunities that is created for each member.” Global Brigades’ focus on sustainability, and its unique, holistic approach help create those opportunities for the individuals in the communities they serve.

Bonnie and I talked for several hours about the passion she had for community development with Global Brigades.

You could hear the excitement in her voice as she described the work of each one. As she spoke, I was struck by the way all the pieces fit together, how each Brigade provided a service or taught a skill that 5