When Emma Clippinger '09 went to work in Rwanda this summer, she had no idea her experiences would lead her to pursue future community service work in the country. But after witnessing firsthand the effects that malnutrition has on HIV/AIDS treatment for Rwandan women, Clippinger, along with Yale University sophomore Emily Morell, decided to found the Umurima Project.
The project is designed to set up gardens that will employ HIV-positive women in Rwanda. The project will also help the women grow their own food. Clippinger and Morell, who originally traveled to Rwanda as interns for the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, plan to return in January to select locations for the gardens. They are also planning to fundraise in preparation for the project's launch, which they hope will take place in 2007.
According to a document detailing the pair's plans for the Umurima Project, the project was conceived in order to "to decrease malnutrition, enhance long-term food security and lay the basis for effective HIV/AIDS care and treatment." The document outlines plans to produce over 2,000 pounds of new crops in the gardens and to enroll about 60 women in the program by the end of December 2007. Ideally, the project will start in the summer of 2007 and continue until the end of that year.
The project is part of Gardens for Health International, an organization Clippinger and Morell established in August 2006 to fund the project.
In addition to the project's two gardens, in which workers will harvest high-nutrient food, the project will provide the community near the garden with a trained agronomist - an expert in the science of soil-management and crop-production. The agronomist for each garden will be able to teach more sustainable farming techniques.
Michael Merson, a former professor at Yale who is now director of Duke University's Global Health Institute, referred to the project as "a very innovative idea."
Merson, who taught Morell during her freshman year at Yale, supported Morell as she drew up preliminary plans for the project. The project has also garnered support from top medical professionals in Rwanda, Clippinger said.
Backgrounds in serviceAid work in foreign countries is not new to the two women. Before working in Rwanda, both had visited and studied in foreign countries.
Clippinger took a year off before she came to Brown to study in Senegal. She said she lived with families who often went without running water or electricity. She also worked for a variety of nonprofit organizations in Senegal, which helped prepare her for her internship in Rwanda.
Morell spent the summer of 2004 in Thailand, working at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine of Mahidol University in Bangkok, where she learned about diseases affecting foreign countries.
The two worked on separate projects in Rwanda. Clippinger focused on agriculture in Rwanda and said part of the inspiration for the Umurima Project stemmed from this experience, as many HIV-positive people were not allowed to farm because of stigmas against the sick.
Morell worked on issues including overcrowded health centers and HIV testing for women and children.
The Umurima Project "just sort of fell into our laps," Morell said.
Clippinger and Morell shared an apartment in Rwanda, having met at a March 2005 health forum at Brown. The idea for the Umurima Project sprang out of talks Clippinger and Morell had over dinner, Clippinger said.
FundraisingIn order to draw more money for the project, the two had to establish the Gardens for Health International nonprofit organization.
Clippinger and Morell have applied for tax-exempt status, a designation that would allow the group to get grants and funds from corporate donations, according to Clippinger.
Excluding the expenses of traveling and living in Africa, the general cost of the two gardens is around $14,000. Clippinger and Morell want to raise at least $22,132.15, according to the Gardens for Health International Web site.
"We aren't asking for a lot, and we're fortunate to come from networks that have lots of resources," Clippinger said.
They have not yet done serious fundraising projects or events, but the pair plans to do so in the near future. Clippinger is currently applying for various grants.
The two are not particularly worried about the cost of the program and continue to maintain a positive attitude about the project.
"This just has to happen," Clippinger said.
