Enter: Jeff Sachs. This world-renowned professor and economist, listed multiple times by Time Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” has tirelessly researched the possibility of comprehensive global development and discovered concrete formulas on a path to these solutions. As former Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General, Sachs has been one of the most outspoken advocates in demanding simply that the world keep its promise to financially fulfill the Millennium Development Goals.
Enter: Alana Keusch. A sophomore at UW-Madison, Keusch applied for an internship with Project 40/40, an awareness and fundraising campaign for the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI). As an intern for the Awareness Programming Committee, Keusch worked diligently to secure a webcast with her hero, Jeff Sachs. The event hosted many students, professors, and members of the media, anxious to hear Professor Sachs and his commitment to social justice. This activist-outreach began Keusch’s first personal contact with Professor Sachs.
Despite his dedication (and Keusch’s admiration), many of the goals were falling behind due to a lack of funding. Thus, Sachs worked with the Earth Institute of Columbia University to develop the Millennium Villages: financially independent pilot programs. With the success of these programs, Sachs hopes to prove to the world that the goals are attainable, if countries fulfill their financial obligations.
In Kisumu, Keusch moved in with an older couple outside the city. She quickly clicked with both the husband and wife, who soon became mentors and friends as she adjusted to the rural setting. The wife, a community health worker, was a particularly inspiring character. “Her level of involvement in her community was very striking,” explained Keusch. In the Millennium Villages, community members are hired and trained in public health, but they still face the challenges of rural healthcare.
“My ‘mom’ would spend all day going house to house, rounding up all the children, making sure one-by-one that each took their de-worming medication. There aren’t cars or even nice roads, so she was literally walking around all day, taking personal responsibility for her community’s help.”
Keusch also described the level of dedication to sharing access to information and drugs among the community health workers with whom she met. “The women would host community meetings in the middle of a field or somewhere completely random, to ensure that each household got a water purifier, knew how it worked, and knew why they needed it, what diseases it would prevent,” explained Keusch. These health workers, with whom she worked, never used their challenges as an excuse to leave their job unfulfilled.
In the Millennium Village, Keusch served as the supervisor for the training in the community’s brand new computer lab. She used her time with students and faculty to simultaneously include sex education. After the computer lesson, she would take personal questions or detailed questions about her sexual education. A form a birth control offered in the Millennium Villages is inserted into a girls arm to prevent pregnancy without her partner knowing in an effort to protect women in a situation where they may or may not have control over the sex.
“One student asked: ‘can that [the birth control] be damaged if your man drags you by the arm?’ This was very troubling to me because clearly some of these young girls were sexually active in a society that allows that abusive behavior,” reflected Keusch. “Many of these situations were very challenging.”
Ultimately, however, Keusch found an incredible opportunity overseas to get first- hand experience in international development at a young age. “Students found internships in grassroots economics, the media, teaching, all sorts of things,” Keusch claimed about her program. “I’d encourage anyone who’s interested in this specific program to do some research in advance. It really allowed me to make the most of the time and resources available to me in Kenya.”
To hear more about Keusch’s internship in the Millennium Villages or the Millennium Development goals, email Keusch at alana.keusch@gmail.com.
8 Millennium Development Goals
1.Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2.Achieve universal primary education
3.Promote gender equality and empower women
4.Reduce child mortality
5.Improve maternal health
6.Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases
7.Ensure environmental sustainability
8.Develop a global partnership for development
