Cassandra Foradori

International Experience Country:
Tanzania
Cohort Year:
2015
Home Institution:

University of Pittsburgh | Greensburg

Heinz Programming Area:
Children, Youth, and Families
International Experience Summary:

Cassandra Foradori spent five weeks in Iringa, Tanzania learning the culture, language and public health policies of Tanzania. While in Iringa she visited several rural health clinics and toured the regional hospital. During one of her visits to the clinic she was able to observe an etonogestrel implant procedure. Cassandra also spent three days at Fox’s NGO in Mufindi participating in several areas of the organization. On her first day at the NGO she was introduced to the Children’s Village. This is an area where at risk children from the village are able to come and live. During her time at the Children’s Village, Cassandra participated in “baby power hour” this is the time when eleven little ones need play time, fed, washed, and put to bed. It was hectic and slightly overwhelming but it was the part of the trip that Cassandra enjoyed the most. The next day Cassandra went into the village to participate in home care visits to sick individuals of the village. The ages of the people she visited ranged from toddlers to the elderly and she witnessed people suffering from all kinds of illnesses. During her short time in Tanzania Cassandra was able to experience and learn about a healthcare system that was completely different from anything she had ever experienced before. This experience furthered her desire to become a physician and one day become a member of Doctors Without Boarders. 

Community Engagement Experience Summary:

CEE Title: Poverty Abroad: What are the Global Factors

Our CEE was titled Poverty Abroad: What are the Global Factors. The goal of our CEE was to educate our local community on the factors that play a part in poverty around the world. In our CEE we each presented our individual experiences with poverty while abroad. The presentation was accompanied by a panel discussion aimed to improve our local communities’ idea of what poverty is. Each member of the team presented on how they witnessed poverty in their respective country. We compared experiences in order to show the stark differences that can be seen with poverty in various areas. After the individual country presentations, our panel of professors was invited to provide insight on what poverty is to them and what factors they believe are behind poverty in Greensburg. The panel shared insight both from an educators stand point and a personal standpoint, keeping the audience engaged during the discussion. After the panel spoke on what they believed to be the causes of poverty, the audience was invited to provide their experiences with poverty locally. In closing, those in attendance were able to address their own questions with both the panel and the members of our CEE team.