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Helping the poor in Honduras...
Greetings, My name is Elena Miller and I am a sophomore pre-med, biology major with concentrations in neuroscience and biomedical studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
This interim break, January 28-February 5, I will be traveling with a group of about 30 students from St. Olaf College along with two medical doctors and a dentist to Honduras with an organization called Global Brigades.
Honduras is cited by the World Bank as the 3rd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti and Nicaragua and has been designated as a priority country by the Pan American Health organization/WHO Strategic Plan. The basic needs of education, health care, and clean water are luxuries for the majority of the people there, and in the rural communities where we will be working, these luxuries are even harder to find. It is highly common for a family of four to live on less than $2.00 a day with less than 3 gallons of water per day available for use.
Global Brigades is a student-led organization that works diligently through 9 different programs to provide these underserved communities with sustainable health and developmental initiatives in order to improve their overall wellbeing. Since spring 2008, UNC Global Medical Brigades has run over 7 weeklong trips to Honduras, treating over 10,500 patients in rural, underserved communities that otherwise would have no access to medical care. Yet this is still barely scratching the surface of what we can do and we are working hard to bring even more aid to those who need it most.
As a person who was born and adopted from Peru, a country not quite in the same shape as Honduras, but deals with some comparable issues in government and economics, I connect to the experience through culture. This trip will allow me to see what I hope to do with the rest of my life—practicing medicine in Central and South America. Knowing that just by chance I am living here in the United States I feel a need to give back in every way I can. I hope that even if it is a small impact that I will know I have begun my dream.
Please join me in supporting the work that I will be doing in the underserved communities in Honduras. Any support you can give will make a tremendous difference, be the donation large or small. YOU could be a valuable asset to creating long lasting change in these communities since your donation will not just be going to fund my trip but will also be going to further develop the medical brigades program. In this way, Global Brigades is able to provide a more holistic and sustainable care allowing each donation to have an even greater impact. To make a donation please visit my fundraising page: http://www.empowered.org/elenamiller. This site is completely secure and all donations are tax-deductible. After you make a donation, you will automatically be emailed a tax receipt.
Thank you so much for your consideration. Please email me at: elena.miller13@gmail.com if you have any questions about my trip.
Sincerely,
Elena Miller
St. Olaf College '14
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