Introducing Project Global Village at UIC

Through Project Global Village, UIC partners with humanitarian service organizations, corporations and foundations to create a series of philanthropically supported service-learning initiatives. Many UIC faculty and graduate students return repeatedly to the same communities for long-term projects. They learn the local languages, customs/traditions and develop trusting relationships with community leaders. Project Global Village will support the development of these relationships by providing opportunities for faculty and students to improve the health, well-being and education of people in communities around the world where UIC researchers work.

A Pilot Run

UIC Graduate College alumna and current employee Kristina Dziedzic and her husband David Wright (also a UIC Graduate College alumnus) have returned to Kenya where they each completed research projects for their graduate degrees. David, who currently is a post-doctoral research associate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has a National Geographic Society Explorers Grant to do an archaeological survey in the Lake Turkana/Chalbi Desert region. Project Global Village will begin on a small scale to test the concept while Kristina and David are in Kenya until mid-March.

The pilot project will distribute 500 personal water filtration devices to people in Kenya who have limited or no access to safe drinking water. LifeStraw® is a portable water purification tool made by the Vestergaard-Frandsen Company headquartered in Switzerland. The cylindrical device is about 25 cm long and 3 cm in diameter with a series of screens, carbon particles and resin filters inside that remove 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and 98.7% of waterborne viruses from any source of water. Use of the LifeStraw® prevents diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and cholera.

Photographs and stories from the field will be posted to this blog, so check back often to follow UIC Global Villagers around the world! To get involved or learn more, please send us an email or visit the Graduate College website. As we say in Swahili, safari njema (have a nice trip)…