The 1 year Anniversary: Where is Haiti now?

One year after the Earthquake that shattered Port-au-Prince, Haiti, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and another hundreds of thousands without shelter, Haiti continues to struggle. When will the struggle end for a people who have been deliberately ignored by the world? Despite the mass pouring of aid and support, Haitians continue to face new threats. I have decided to focus on two of those threats, both of which pose a huge global health crisis: the cholera epidemic and the brutal rapes of Haitian women living in mass tent cities.

The cholera epidemic has claimed hundreds thousands of lives in Haiti and has sickened thousands more, possibly causing a spread to the rest of the Caribbean via relief workers who may not know that they have been contaminated upon returning to their native lands. For those who may not be familiar with cholera, it is an infection of the small intestine that causes severe diarrhea. If left untreated for a few hours the result is almost always death.

source

Secondly, the brutal rapes of Haitian women living in tent cities has posed another deadly threat to the country. Due to the high rate of sexual violence, the birth rate in Haiti has tripled since the earthquake, climbing from 4 percent to 12 percent, according to population experts. Can you believe this, TRIPLED. How sickening is that for a country who has lost so much, now has to face brutal rapes. This makes for a huge public health concern, considering that Haiti lacks maternal health care. Most importantly, some of these women have tried terminating their pregnancies, which is extremely dangerous for both mother and unborn child.

Marie Kena Michelle’s dream was to become a nurse. Then the Haiti earthquake struck, killing her mother, disabling her father and destroying the family home. With no place to live, she moved to the tent city of La Piste near Port-au-Prince. Soon after she arrived, a group of young men attacked her, putting a plastic bag over her head and raping her. Marie tried, unsuccessfully, to terminate the pregnancy that resulted from the rape. Here, she's shown a few hours after giving birth in a tent in the crowded camp. (Nadav Neuhaus) source

To learn more about a people who have endured, a resilient people, our won borthers and sisters, log unto to pbs and cnn to find out more information on Haiti, one year after the 7.0 earthquake.

Goals for 2011

In just a few days, we'll be celebrating the year 2011!! As usual, I always start off the New Year with a list of resolutions goals that I would like to achieve. They're usually nothing extravagant...just a few things that I would love to see come to reality, which of course will make me HAPPY! Here are my short & long term goals for 2011:

Short term Goals (Things that I plan to achieve in the first 6 months of 2011)

1. Land a summer internship (preferably one that is paid)

2. Participate in regular physical activity

3. Laugh more

4. Blog more

5. Solidify my Master's thesis topic

6. Buy more dresses

Long term Goals (Things that I plan to achieve in the last 6 months of 2011):

1. Visit a country I've never been to before..I mean ever

2. Become C.H.E.S certified [Certified Health Education Specialist]

3. Take the Road test and GET MY OWN DRIVER'S LICENSE

So what are your goals for the New Year? And remember be realistic, specific and optimistic. 

Merry Christmas,

Lilia :o)

My OWN Thanksgiving meal

My family and I never really 'celebrated' Thanksgiving. This is partly due to our immigrant status. It's only been about 2 years ago that we've tried to have the whole family gathering over a big feast. I only had 2 days off for Thanksgiving this year, plus the weekend of course, which is a short break from what I'm used to, but I'm not complaining :) As a result, I decided to stay in OH and i tried my own thanksgiving meal. The Bf visited and we cooked together. Here is the meal we cooked/baked:

We argued the whole time..laughed the whole time and enjoyed a great meal we cooked ourselves. It was great!

This is the pumpkin bread I baked. Surprisingly, it tasted nothing like pumpkin....Probably 7 cups of flour was too much...LoL

And here's the happy couple...

What's going on?

I have been very busy lately, you know Grad school stuff! LOL. I have several projects that I am working on: the first is a group project that I where we are in the process of writing a grant whose aim is to implement a one-stop wellness center for the elderly. Our hope is that the wellness center will provide a space for the elderly who would like to participate in physical activity and rehabilitation. In addition, the wellness center will provide information on nutrition specifically for the elderly (i.e in the form of cooking classes etc.). Lastly, we hope that the wellness will have a counseling component designed for the elderly in mind. Overall, our vision for the wellness center is all-inclusive....hence, one-stop.

The second project that I an working on is writing a literature review. I have completed the first draft of the lit. review, now it's time for draft II. This lit. review addresses the non-financial barriers to seeking rehabilitation for the disabled elderly and the ways in which a mobile rehabilitation unit can address those issues.

Stay tuned for more non-academic updates. :o)

Cecile

Strangers with a similar voice

This weekend, I was able to present my research at a national conference in Philadelphia. And what is my research you might ask? My research examines mentoring for black, female undergraduate students by black, female professors at predominantly white institutions. I was able to present my findings with my mentor at the Research on Women & Education. It was a great experience to get my 'feet wet' and to observe the work of other scholars in their field, but to network as well. 

Honestly, part of the work of a graduate student is to present their work, and by work I mean research. Even if that work is not related to your thesis. It is highly recommended and encouraged. Professors are impressed with students who are able to present at national conferences. So, please present: The earlier, the better. Trust me. 

Ten/Ten/Ten

Dancing & Ice skating was on the agenda for last night. I had so much fun with friends trying to ice skate and for those of you who don't already know, I have little to no ice skating skills, but being on the ice was fun. Dancing was also ridiculously fun that we did not want to leave the dance floor. Despite all the fun we were having on the dance floor, there was one thing hanging at the back of our minds. The dance club that we went to is a favorite my undergrads. As a grad students, our interaction with undergrads now takes on a different approach. Most of us have teaching assistantships, where we teach undergrads, and the idea of bumping into one of our students raises our anxiety level a little bit. 

For instance, here you are dancing to one of our favorite hits and you suddenly turn around to see your student acting 'crazy' on the dance floor. Question: what do you do as a graduate student: keep dancing, pretending not to see this student? turn around? move to a different spot? or leave the dance floor?

This is our dilemma! I mean knowing who you're dancing with takes on another level...random dancing can't work anymore... talk about awkwardness...

Our goal is to stay far away from places such as these...although as a grad students we can blend in with the under grads, but it just doesn't cut it anymore...

A Graduate School Affair!

Yet another update on what's going on in Grad School!

Last night was soooo much fun! As a grad student, you can lost in your department, never seeing other graduate students from other departments. This is why the Graduate Students' Association (GSA) exists: to provide the opportunity for other graduate students to meet other graduate schools from other departments. For example, the graduate school organized a bowling night that I attended with a friend from our department.

At the bowling alley we met other graduate students who were in the Psychology, Botany, Microbiology, and Zoology departments. We had such a fun time. My bowling was not that great (I believe I bowled like 6 gutters that night), but I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard and so long.

I encourage graduate students to step out of their bubbles, and meet other graduate students. There is so much more to graduate school than just academics  y'all.