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BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published April 22, 2010

The Global Health Forum campaign against malaria, “Give a Net, Get a Vote,” earned three of its members, Network Coordinator Cary Chester ’13, Treasurer Jes Downing ’12 and Director of Education Daniel Pak ’12, the opportunity to attend the Clinton Global Initiative University last weekend.

CGI U is an annual meeting held at the University of Miami in which 1,500 students from around the world meet to discuss and take action against global issues regarding human rights and peace, public health, education, environmentalism and poverty.

“It was an amazingly well done, perfectly organized, beautiful conference,” Chester said. “It was just tons of smart people with lots of really great ideas.”

Downing said that they had made “a lot of really good contacts, which was really important.”

Students are required to apply online to attend the convention, and they must propose a commitment to action in one of those five focus areas. In addition to evaluating them based on the commitment, CGI seeks select participants from a variety of backgrounds.

“We also look for diversity and try to make sure that we have a good proportion of community colleges, Ivy League schools, and public and private colleges,” Keisha Senter, director of CGI U, said.

CGI U provides students with brainstorming opportunities, lectures, panel discussions and advice from specialists, as well as the chance to communicate with other young activists.

“It was just a really good place to talk to other students who had similar ideas for initiatives,” Downing said.

Pak said that exchanging ideas with other activists was the most valuable part of the conference. “I thought it was a great opportunity for socially conscious groups across the world. There were even older people too, like graduate students, and leaders of other organizations. We were able to … network and communicate with them.”

The attendees of the conference observed panel discussions about activism and broke into small groups of about 10 people, called working sessions, to talk about “ideas that they had had, topics that had been running through the discussions,” Chester said.

Panelists included former President Bill Clinton, Usher and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Senter said that most specialists held office hours, which allowed them to meet one on one with students.

Pak, Chester and Downing said that they have come away from CGI U with new goals for the future of the Global Health Forum but added that so far their plans have not been solidified.

Downing described their current campaign as good but in need of change.

“We try to do a lot of education [about malaria] on campus, we do fundraising for bed nets. Bed nets are on the most cost-effective and the best malaria prevention tools available right now,” Downing said.

Global Health Forum and its partner organizations have no overhead or administrative costs, so all donated money goes to buying bed nets. “You wouldn’t think this would be unusual, but it is,” she said.

When people donate, they have the option to sign a letter to a state representative that mentions their contribution, which the group hopes will encourage them to take the letter writing campaign seriously.

“The letters say that they have paid $5, so it shows politicians that issues of global health are important to their constituents. This isn’t really a political issue, it’s a humanitarian issue,” Downing said.

Most of the bed nets have been donated so far to one particular chiefdom in Sierra Leone, but they will probably soon choose a new area to sponsor because that chiefdom is “pretty much covered,” Downing said. They may move their efforts to India, Nigeria or another location.

“One of the things you’re always told as part of a social justice organization is that you should be trying to work yourself out of a job, so that’s what we’re trying to do — to become less and less necessary,” Downing said.

Pak agreed that their methods were in need of change. “We know that we have to make our plans and discuss the issues better. We will maybe expand our initiative to different parts of the world, because other organizations work in parts of the world besides Africa … but we haven’t decided anything concrete yet,” he said.

The students said that they were very enthusiastic about the people they met over the weekend, from the other attendees and panelists to Dr. Gwenn McLaughlin ’81, the Swarthmore alumna and University of Miami professor who hosted them in her house.

Other students had to pay for rooms in hotels. “She was terrific, and it was great that we got to take advantage of the Swat alumni network that way,” Chester said.

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