Chaylene Grieve-Saunders
Where: Cameroon
Internship: Works with Ubuntu, an organization based out of North Bay, Ontario. Her internship involved doing administrative and planning work as well as leading a group to their community partner in Cameroon for two weeks.
"The term “Ubuntu” is an African concept that embodies the belief we share: a person is a person through people. As we see it, we are not offering charity but rather support so that others may achieve some fundamental human rights - clean water, health, education, a sustainable income.
The main areas that Ubuntu works on are: health, education and sustainability. Currently we are focusing our efforts in the area of health, specifically, water quality, sanitation and hygiene. Lack of clean water, poor sanitation and hygiene, and diarrhea caused by these factors, are major contributors to the high morbidity and mortality rates in children under 5, and clearly, also affect the wellness of adults.
When planning our projects, we always strive to ensure that they are completely sustainable - the community must be able to get all the supplies locally, be able to build and maintain the equipment, etc. We also aim to engage in projects that have growth potential outside of our involvement so that the people we work with aren't forever dependant on our resources or financial support.
The education component involves sharing all the information with the villagers so that they understand the initiatives, are comfortable with them, and are able to sustain them. In many of the areas in which we work, the literacy rate is quite low; all of our 'how to' information has been put in pictorial form to ensure that all villagers are able to access the information and follow the steps to ensure the projects' success."