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Cross Cultural Project Archive
Other Cross Cultural Programs
Overview
The Cross  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),  which 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
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