Three grants have been awarded by the Schoenl Family Undergraduate Grant for Dire Needs Overseas to projects conducted by Michigan State University Honors College members that serve dire human needs in foreign countries.
The projects include free vision screenings for 1,500 children in Ghana, addressing food sustainability in Malawi and installing a clean drinking water system for a school in Ghana.
Arhin Acheampong, an Honors College sophomore majoring in criminal justice, worked with the Ananse Reach Concept, National Eye Health Program and teachers with the Ghana Education Service to provide free vision screenings to children living in Kumbungu and Tolon in the northern region of the country. Acheampong received a grant of $1,800.
“The project aims at targeting children between the ages of 0 and 15 in poor communities to provide them access to eye care they may never have in a lifetime,” Acheampong said. “This project is also an effort to reduce the number of children who lose their sight to avoidable blindness.”
The screenings provided about 300 children with medication, and another 15 with glasses.
Sarah Tresedder, an Honors College junior majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, installed a clean drinking water system at the Augustine Larteh Anglican Primary School as part of an MSU study abroad program. Tresedder received a grant of $1,200.
“This project will improve the public health of the students and teachers in Larteh and help reduce the spread of disease related to unsafe drinking water and inadequate hand washing,” Tresedder said.
A grant of $1,200 was awarded to Theresa Abalo, a recent graduate of the Honors College with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in social science.
Abalo partnered with the MSU Global Center for Food Systems Innovation, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Lilongwe City Council to address food systems in Lilongwe, Malawi.
“This project will address critical infrastructure, public health, and government communication in four urban markets in Lilongwe, Malawi,” Abalo said. “Increasing urbanization and unpredictable food environments leave these critical systems vulnerable, but this project seeks to build on existing resources to synthesize dynamic relationships, focused results and ultimately, environments that sustain healthy food sovereignty and entrepreneurial innovation.”