The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding welcomed back to campus Patrice Juah, a recent Liberian Fellow in President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Juah spoke at a student event sponsored by the Dickey Center’s student health organization, the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health, about the Ebola crisis and the anti-stigma campaign she and the Arterial Network, a Pan-African network of artists, activists, and others recently launched, called Ebola Is Not My Identity.
Juah will also be meeting with Dartmouth YALI program partners and with Dartmouth’s Emergency Planning Group, which is outlining policies and actions for addressing a response to potential Ebola cases on campus. Juah has been away from Liberia for 26 days and has cleared the monitoring period. Juah is a poet, media professional, activist, fashion entrepreneur, and former Miss Liberia. She is dedicated to changing Liberia’s image within the international community. Her nonprofit foundation, Martah Juah Educational Foundation, creates and advocates for educational opportunities for girls in rural Liberia. The foundation is named in honor of her mother, who was a primary school teacher for 47 years. She will be giving a talk at FH Clothing in Quechee, Vt., at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21. The Valley News featured Juah’s visit to Dartmouth in a story published Nov. 18. During the summer of 2014, the Dickey Center, in collaboration with partner organizations, hosted 25 young leaders from 19 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. They represented a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. These young leaders were the first cohort of the “Mandela Washington Fellowship,” a flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative. YALI is a State Department-led program working to provide opportunities to “spur growth, strengthen democratic systems, and enhance peace and security.” As an outcome of Dartmouth’s engagement with YALI, the Dickey Center has launched international internships that partner with some of the projects led by YALI Fellows. A handful of undergraduates will spend winter term in Tanzania, Ghana, Angola, and Zimbabwe interning with YALI Fellows on a wide range of projects, from financial market assessment to community-based water projects.
