|
Olga Gruss Lewin Post-Graduate Fellow for International Service
& Education 2008
Isaura Zelaya Favila ’08, an Economics and French Studies double major, was
born and lived in Mexico City until she moved to the United States to attend
Dartmouth. Growing up in Mexico, Isaura felt attracted by questions of
economic inequality and injustice; this interest led her to pursue community
service. Throughout high school, she volunteered as a Mathematics teacher
at a public elementary school, at an orphanage, and at a clinic for children
with cancer. In addition, she was involved with Solidaridad
Internacional Juvenil, a student organization working with the Tarahumara
indigenous group of Northern Mexico. Isaura’s quest for the origins and
possible solutions to problems of inequality led her to major in Economics with
a concentration in Development, while her interest in international affairs led
her to study languages. She learned and went abroad for both French and
German, in addition to the Spanish and English that she already spoke. In
pursuing the Lewin Post-Graduate Fellowship, Isaura looks to start a career in
international Economic development, which she hopes will enable her to help
communities in need across the globe.
As the Olga Gruss Lewin Post-Graduate Fellow for International Service &
Education, Isaura will be working four months full-time with Global Grassroots,
a non-profit organization based in Lyme, New Hampshire. Global Grassroots
is an organization that uses social entrepreneurship training and seed funding
to help women victims of conflict and genocide launch their ideas for social
change. They primarily work with communities in Darfur, Rwanda, and South
Africa. At Global Grassroots, Isaura will be conducting research
regarding the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict in several
countries within Africa, including Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote
d’Ivoire, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Northern
Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Sudan/Eastern Chad. She will
investigate a number of themes related to the causes and consequences of the
use of sexual and gender violence as a weapon of war: the Role of Women
in Society, the Female Body as a War Zone, Health, Stigma, Justice, and
Response and Protection.
As part of her Fellowship, Isaura will also be working at the Tucker
Foundation as part of the Service and Education Team. A large portion of
her work will involve advising students seeking to undertake service programs
in international locations, as well as provide advising support to all Service
& Education team programs. Isaura looks forward to advising and
working on diverse service projects located in different parts of the planet;
she hopes that her work will benefit some of the communities that are most in
need, irrespective of the country they are located in. In acting as the
students’ advisor, Isaura seeks to create a constant questioning and improving
of ideas through dialogue. Isaura says: “I look forward to advising
students as part of my job; I hope to implement my cross-cultural experience
and skills in creating a cultural bridge and a connection between Dartmouth
volunteers and the communities they seek to help.”
As the Olga Gruss Lewin
Post-Graduate Fellow for International Service & Education, Isaura will be
able to reach out to communities beyond, both through direct work with Global
Grassroots and in impacting the work of others at the Tucker Foundation.
“Personally, I search for a sense of social utility in my work; I need a sense
of having a positive impact on other human beings, knowledge of where the
product of my work goes. Putting my efforts to others’ direct benefit and
having my objective be their well-being agrees with my personal values and my
search for meaning in a professional sense.”
|
