Liberian YALI Fellow Returns to Campus

The Dickey Center welcomes back to campus Patrice Juah, a recent Liberian Fellow in President Obama's Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). She will be speaking at a student-only event sponsored by the Dickey Center's student health organization, the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health, about the Ebola crisis and the anti-stigma campaign she and the Arterial Network, a Pan-African network of artists, activists, and others, recently launched called "Ebola Is Not My Identity."

Juah has a busy schedule this week. She will be meeting with many Dartmouth YALI program partners and with Dartmouth's Emergency Planning Group, which is outlining policies and actions for addressing a response to potential Ebola threats on campus. Juah has been away from Liberia for 26 days and has cleared the monitoring period. In addition, she's being interviewed by the Standpoints student global health magazine and meeting with various faculty.

She also will be giving a talk at FH Clothing in Quechee, VT, on Friday, November 21 at 3pm that is open to the public.

Patrice Juah is a poet, media professional, activist, fashion entrepreneur and former Miss Liberia. She is dedicated to changing Liberia’s image within the international community. Her nonprofit foundation, Martah Juah Educational Foundation, named in honor of her mother who was a primary school teacher for 47 years, creates and advocates for educational opportunities for girls in rural Liberia. The supplies drive will benefit students who are sitting idle due to the closure of schools resulting from the Ebola outbreak.

During the summer of 2014, the Dickey Center in collaboration with multiple partner organizations hosted 25 young leaders from 19 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. They represented a wide range of backgrounds with an incredible array of experiences. These young leaders were the first cohort of the "Mandela Washington Fellowship," which is flagship program of President Obama's Young African Leadership Initiative. YALI is a State Department-led program working to provide opportunities to "spur growth, strengthen democratic systems and enhance peace and security."

As an outcome of Dartmouth's engagement with YALI, the Dickey Center has launched international internships that partner with some of the projects led by YALI Fellows. A handful of undergraduates will spend winter term in Tanzania, Ghana, Angola and Zimbabwe interning with YALI Fellows on a wide range of projects from financial market assessment to community-based water projects. There is even a fashion design internship.

Dartmouth is the only YALI institutional host actively sending undergraduates into the field with Fellows as a consequence of their visit to the US. Another 3-5 Dartmouth students may be working with  Fellows in Africa during Spring term 2015.

Dartmouth is in the process of renewing its agreement with the U.S. State Department for another year or two of support for the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which will bring a new cohort of 25 African Fellows to campus in Summer 2015.

Read the 11/18/14 Valley News story.