BJB Scholarship

From my perspective, one definition of a community is simply a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. This is what we most commonly think of as a community -- people who live together in a neighborhood, work together at the same company or go to school together. A second, and maybe more interesting, definition of a community is a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. A ‘feeling of fellowship’ seems to be an idea more fitting for 2020. Even if I can’t physically be with my community, I can adapt and recreate the feeling of fellowship in different ways. Whenever I can, one of the most effective ways of giving back is volunteering my time at places like my local non-profit, school, homeless shelter, animal shelter, etc. My time is valuable and gifting it can make a world of difference in the lives of many people. The importance of giving back to society can’t be understated. When I give back, I can better the lives of the people around me – my loved ones, the people in my community, or the lives of people somewhere else in the world. And finding meaning by giving back to the community doesn’t just benefit others – it benefits me in the process. There’s no better way to adopt an attitude of gratitude than by asking myself how to give back to the community. Helping others can make me realize how much I have to be grateful for. I am currently a junior at George Mason University with a major in History. I have graduated high school in 2020, but I hope to break barriers and obtain my bachelor's degree in History by fall 2022. Then, I'll start a master's program in the teaching of secondary education in spring 2023. I hope to get that degree by the end of Fall 2023, and even though it may be a bit unusual, I'm pursuing this path, so I can have more time in my life to do good things and give back to the community. I plan to become a middle school teacher, and even though my first choice is to teach social studies, I am also open to teaching other subjects and electives, including science, language arts, math, health & physical education, and family & consumer sciences, as well as oversee community-based extracurriculars, such as student government and general volunteering at different events. My vision for the future is that more people will volunteer for different organizations, especially those organizations that are working for a good cause, such as stopping climate change and feeding the world population, since at this point of world history are such problems beginning to trigger the alarm on the world citizens. As the saying goes, "the smallest things can make the biggest differences", and I envision that everyone will do their part to solve global & local issues.

Community means identity, what life can be as it represents the environment where people live. It can be a protector or threatening. The 2010 Earthquake was the saddest event I had ever lived in Haiti. On a population of about 11 000 inhabitants, about 300 000 lost their life. Three million people were affected primarily their house was destroyed totally or partially. Nearly 1.2 million were displaced; for several years after. Among the displaced, a group was in the countryside another group was in shelters in the capital. That situation was not favorable for good hygiene. The country was in mourning. Almost never a face was smiling during a long period in the street. At that time universities, schools were closed. When the activities should restart slowly the epidemic of cholera started to spread rapidly during 2010-2012 which caused more than 800 000 infected and killed nearly 10 000. Indeed, considering the high consequences that the cholera epidemic had when joined with all that displaced people of the earthquake, the organization that I was apartheid COFAB (Coordination des femmes de Bainet) we prioritized preventive care. I organize many sessions of health education in the South-East department. I spent one-month doing regular awareness in schools, churches, and communities on hygiene in order to promote the prevention of cholera. That contribution helped a lot because the population was still reluctant to change behavior and put chemical treatment in their water in order to treat it. Today Cholera is no more a matter in Haiti as the population included me, the ministry of health worked hard for this result. I am a foreign dentist. I come from an underserved area in Haiti. I am the chief of the health department of a community-based organization addressing the issues in this area and other rural areas in Haiti. I have the goal to address the health issues in this community. Located in the South East of Haiti in the town of Bainet, The reality there is people should walk about 4 hours or take a motorcycle for 1 hour to reach the nearest hospital isolated to the community by a bad and expensive means of conveyance and a great river. Sometimes people are forced to stay at home either because of a flooded river or when they are really sick and cannot face this perilous travel. I feel committed to changing that as a member of this community. I am doing now a master's degree in public health that will provide me with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead a project for delivering quality care to Haitian, particularly those living in remote areas in starting at Bas des Gris Gris and surrounding communal sections. I will put into practice knowledge gained about access to healthcare for vulnerable people, how to act on social, environmental, financial even political factors to improve health, and the quality of care provided to people away from cities. This project will stop rural migration and create jobs for the population.