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Printer-Friendly ModeStudent to fight AIDS in Africa
Funding for Ghana trip supplied by University grant
January 29, 2007 —
Kristina Hester's international travel experience currently only extends as far as Canada. However, this summer she'll be traveling completely alone to the West African country of Ghana where she'll be volunteering her pre-med skills at an area hospital to help fight the spread of AIDS. So is she nervous?
"Honestly, I'm more nervous about applying to med school," she says with a smile.
As Hester is well aware, sub-Saharan Africa is currently the region of the world most affected by HIV and AIDS. This area is home to 25 million individuals living with HIV, and accounts for 60 percent of the world's total HIV/AIDS population.
And Ghana specifically?
There are more than 350,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana, a democratic nation that is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Oregon. Ghana's hospitals are in poor condition, many of its doctors have packed up and left to earn a living in America or Europe, and approximately 30,000 of its 22 million citizens die from the rapid transmission of HIV/AIDS each year. It's not exactly Saginaw.
"I've worked in hospitals here," Hester explains, "and now I'm taking this opportunity to get a global view of medicine. I can't even describe how excited I am about it. I'm going to be able to help there. I mean, I help here... but in Ghana I'll be immersed in a foreign culture, I'll be learning from doctors, I'll be observing surgeries, and I'll feel more like an integral part of the puzzle because there is more of a need there than there is here."
The Student Research and Creativity Institute's selection committee evidently agrees with Hester's objectives for her international expedition, as it was responsible for awarding the $6,149 necessary to fund the eight-week trip.
"No one seems to know about the SRCI," Hester says, "and it's sad because it's such a great opportunity for SVSU students. They give you money to do what you want to do. If you're not sure if they'd like your idea... just find out. Write up a two or three page proposal and find out. It's not too hard."
In fact, nothing seems to be too hard for Hester, who describes herself as someone who knows where she wants to go and who will do everything she can to get there. She's a senior majoring in biology/pre-medicine, with a double minor in chemistry and Spanish. Why the Spanish? So the medical skills she's busily accumulating will be more readily available to others outside the English-speaking world. "The fewer restrictions the better," she says, matter-of-factly.
She was born and raised in Bay City, the daughter of parents who frequently went on mission trips to the Philippines. She, therefore, grew up with the understanding that cultural awareness is crucial to the understanding of others and her own identity.
Hester is also the president of SVSU's Health Professions Club and a nurse's assistant at Covenant Health Care. Her career goal is either to become a cardiologist or cardiac surgeon. Oh, and she plays piano in her spare time. If the trip to Ghana hasn't already made it obvious, it should be clear now that Hester is not the average college student.
But what really sets her apart is her rationale for wanting to go to Ghana in the first place.
"We can't say AIDS is 'their' problem just because it's a scary thing," Hester says. "It's not 'their' problem. It's our problem. It's a problem that affects the entire world - not just Africa. And am I nervous to go? I obviously will be cautious, but if I lived every moment of my life afraid... I'd never do anything. AIDS is something I'm going to be confronted with in a hospital setting someday, and there's no reason why I should let any sort of fear stop me now from being able to help people."