Abhay Nadipuram and Rachel Coleman received a Davis Foundation 100 Projects for Peace scholarship to travel to Guyana. Submitted photo
PHOEBE GYAMERA STAFF WRITER
Two Wartburg students spent their summer focusing on malaria prevention in Guyana, a South American country.
They supplied materials to make bed nets that protect against malaria-breeding mosquitoes, which kill 3,000 children in the area each year.
Abhay Nadipuram and Rachel Coleman received a Davis Foundation 100 Projects for Peace scholarship to embark on their three-week trip in July.
“Rachel and I had thought about working in a developing country,” Nadipuram said, “but the only reason why we chose Guyana was because of Dr. Roy Ventullo’s connections in the country.”
Ventullo, professor of biology, teaches a May Term ecology class that travels to Guyana every year. Ventullo accompanied Nadipuram and Coleman on the trip.
“A while back, I sent an e-mail to Rachel about the Nothing but Nets campaign, and I guess it was the reason for the birth of this project,” Ventullo said.
They flew to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, and made the 12-hour bumpy trip to the country’s North Rupununi District.
There are 14 villages in the district, but they were only able to travel to six of them due to flooded roads and other inconveniences, Ventullo said.
While they were there, they gave presentations to the villagers on how to prevent malaria through good sanitation and the use of mosquito nets.
They also supplied 5,000 square feet of netting, sewing machines and kits to the villagers to enable them to sew mosquito nets for their beds. Each woman who sewed a net was paid $4.
“Nets there cost about $15 to $30, which is absolutely unaffordable for these people because they need to save up for food, education and things like that,” Nadipuram said.
They gave three nets to each of the 890 homes in the district. During their stay, over 200 nets were made.
“We want to continue to help grow and sustain the development of these villages to preserve their rich culture,” Nadipuram said. “Not only by supplying them with nets but by teaching them how to keep carrying out these safety methods.”
Nadipuram, Ventullo and Coleman were faced with a language barrier because the people of the district spoke the local dialect of Macushi. However, they said they had an excellent translator who made things move swiftly.
“This trip was such a great opportunity that we are thinking of doing more things, like fundraising, to help those communities,” Ventullo said.
“We want to continue funding it even though it may not be as fast as we would want it… It’s still worth it.”