Sep 26, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College students Nadia Abuelezam ‘09 and Seanna Vine ‘09 gave a presentation Tuesday, Sept. 16, describing their summer internships in Jinja, Uganda, working with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO).

With help from Iris and Howard Critchell Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biology Karl Haushalter, who taught the course “HIV/AIDS: Science, Society and Service” that piqued their interest in the project, they set out in July 2008, for six weeks working with TASO. Haushalter’s research on AIDS has allowed him to develop many contacts in Africa.

During the presentation, the students described how isolated they felt when they arrived in the Ungandan capital of Kampala and realized they were the only white women they observed in the bustling city. However, during their time in Uganda, they formed many friendships and a deep appreciation for the need for help in dealing with ravages of AIDS throughout Africa.

“Here in the U.S., [AIDS] is not part of our everyday lives,” according to Vine, who is a chemistry major. “In Uganda, everyone is affected. Now I know the consequences it has on society. Many families cannot think about sending their children to college because they are caring for orphans.”

“I expected to create a mathematical model to improve efficiency at TASO,” Abuelezam, a mathematical biology major, told the packed Green Room audience during her talk. “But there was no infrastructure to do mathematical modeling.”

Instead, she assisted lab technicians testing villagers for HIV and developed an improved system of data scoring and storing information about the many persons TASO serves. In working on a survey of TASO clients, she learned how little some people knew about how AIDS is contracted.

Similarly, Vine planned to use knowledge gained from her membership in the HMC organization Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) to work on a project dealing with sustainability. She ended up assisting with TASO’s sustainable livelihood program, which teaches basic skills that patients need to thrive. She also developed an improved system of monitoring TASO patients, a process she discovered was sorely lacking.

Abuelezam was frequently sent into the field, often having to travel great distances. One time, she recalled, “We went to a village that made me feel like I fell off the edge of the earth. It’s so hard to fight AIDS when you can’t find people.”

Thanks to an introduction by Mahesh K. Kotecha ‘70, they had the opportunity to meet High Commissioner of Uganda to India Nimisha Madhvani. During their visits to schools in Uganda, Abuelezam and Vines delivered letters from HMC students encouraging students to study math and science.

Both of the students described how the experience changed their lives and helped them decide their futures are in the areas of public health and the effects of disease on society.

“It was a real culture shock that allowed me to learn who I am as a person,” said Abuelezam. “Just your presence can make a difference. I get e-mails everyday that say, ‘Come back!’”

Seanna Vine kept a blog of her experiences and Nadia Abuelezam posted many of her photos on a Picasa web album.