Abuwala Seeks Support for Yale Medical Outreach in Peru

By Jawahar Malhotra

MISSOURI CITY: Nafeesa Abuwala, is a pre-med sophomore at Berkley College in Yale University majoring in Cognitive Science and in the Global Health Studies program, hoping to graduate in 2019. She is originally from Missouri City where here parents live and her dad Ammar has a travel agency, Reliable Travel & Tours.

Growing up in the community has fostered a desire for service in Nafeesa and from her freshman year living at Dwight Hall, she has been involved in the Service program and is on the Executive Committee. She also volunteers for Students for Autism Awareness, Volunteers Around the World, and Student Partnerships for Global Health and is also a research assistant in the Canine Cognition Center.

Abuwala, a premed and public health student, volunteers with Volunteers Around the World, a non-profit organization whose mission to conduct an annual medical outreach program in which 25 students are selected to travel to a country to assist with health care to rural, underdeveloped areas. Last year, she was selected to travel for two weeks in Peru, which allowed her to see the disparity between the developing and the developed world.

This year, she will return to Cusco, Peru as a member of the executive board and will share her experience from last year with other aspiring pre-medical and global health students. She and the other volunteers will receive several weeks of training in healthcare and the Spanish, a language she already has a learnt for seven years. She hopes to make a positive impact on a small part of the world and gain insight on the factors that lead to healthcare inequality there.

To participate in the VAW program, Abuwala requires funding for the training and medical supplies as well as for logistical expenses of the volunteers, including travel and living costs. Volunteers must raise a minimum of $2650 to cover their expenses and collectively cover the medical resources required for a successful medical outreach, including diagnostic equipment like sphygmomanometers, stethoscopes, needles, pharmaceutical medications, and other basic medical supplies like gloves, lab coats, and sanitary wipes.

Abuwala is seeking donations to participate in the program. If you wish to donate as a sponsor, go to: www.empowered.org/Yale-Medical-Outreach-trip-to-Peru-March-2017/Nafeesa-Abuwala-1/donate.

To learn more about the organization, visit: www.volunteersaroundtheworld.org/ or www.empowered.org/VAW-at-Yale-Medical-Outreach