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Cross Cultural Education and Service Program

 

Cross Cultural Project Archive

Other Cross Cultural Programs

Overview

The Cross Photo of group in Nicaragua.Culture and Education Service Program (CCESP) was founded on the principles of immersion, education, cultural exchange, service, and reflection. Under these principles, the program strives to accomplish two principal objectives. The first is to create a wide variety of learning opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students of Dartmouth College. With such opportunities, the students will be better prepared to speak and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in a global community. They will better understand diverse cultures and develop intercultural skills. They will be able to integrate academic interests in service work. And they will nurture a life of self-examination and reflection. The second, equally important objective is to provide service in an under-developed community by focusing resources on issues and concerns determined by members of the host community. (The Cross Cultural Program should not be confused with our Alternative Spring Break Trips, which are run annually and do not contain an academic component).

Our philosophy of cross-cultural exchange is well represented by the Common Ground symbol (pictured), Common Ground Symbolwhich depicts two converging circles, paralleling the two converging worlds of Dartmouth and Nicaragua. When these two worlds come together on an equal plane—with an attitude of service, respect, and learning—they create a third realm. In this realm of overlap, transformational things happen. Each world has its own multitude of viewpoints, as represented by the many points on each circle. Lines connect these distinct points to a central point, or common ground: a place where people from different cultures recognize in each other their shared humanity.

Through the relationships that form, an inextricable bond forges these two worlds together. It is in this spirit that students, faculty and professionals from Dartmouth College endeavor to carry out the Cross-Culture Education Service Project.

The William Jewett Tucker Foundation is pleased to be one among many different organizations that contribute significantly to the CCESP. Dartmouth College has tremendous academic and professional resources that can be utilized more in service work. In order to mobilize those resources, the Tucker Foundation has partnered with Engineers Without Borders from the Thayer School of Engineering, faculty and fourth year students from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical School, and the faculty of Dartmouth College.

 

The Cross Cultural Education Service program was probably one of the more defining experiences of my college career. I worked as a medical translator in a rural Nicaraguan health post. We saw 555 patients in 6-1/2 days and of course I learned invaluable medical skills. It was a one of a kind experience because you take down 10 undergraduates, you take down three medical students and three really knowledgeable doctors and so the medical students get the great experience of working as doctors in the developing world. The undergraduates get the experience of working essentially as medical students … You know, it’s a very different experience from going in to see a doctor, being the person who--  You’re the first one that the patient sees and you’re the first one that establishes that line of communication with them.

In the clinic in Nicaragua we struggled a lot with the problem of sustainability. For example, of the 555 patients we saw I would say a third to a half had gastrointestinal problems. That’s largely a result of the fact that over 60% of the people in the region don’t have access to potable water so we kind of struggled with this problem. We can treat your parasites for example. We have medicine that can treat your parasites. It costs us $8. It’s two pills. You take them overnight and your parasites are dead but if you go back home and you walk six hours back home and go drink dirty water again come two weeks from now you’re gonna be sick again and you’re gonna be saying where are the gringo doctors to help me out?  And so we struggled a lot with this problem of sustainability and for me I gained an appreciation of public health, understanding that there’s more than medicine tying into curing problems in the developing world.

—Zak Kaufman ’08

For further information, please contact:

Bridges to Community, Inc. http://www.bridgestocommunity.org/

Uraccan - Universidad Comunitaria Intercultural http://www.uraccan.edu.ni/

Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth College

Lynn White Cloud (program director); Lynn.C.White.Cloud@Dartmouth.EDU; (603) 646-3373

Last Updated: 11/5/07