Cincinnati State students go “Beyond Borders”
April 7, 2009
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College prides itself on being a student-oriented institution that provides a cost-effective education that will lead to a good job.
That doesn’t mean its students and faculty are blind to the big wide world outside Greater Cincinnati.
In fact, a group of students and faculty members at Cincinnati State have recently gotten involved in one of the thornier issues facing the international community: Getting humanitarian aid into troubled Zimbabwe, which has been hard hit by a cholera epidemic spread by contaminated drinking water.
Spearheaded by two international students and faculty members with a long history of social activism, Cincinnati State is trying to help raise money to give Zimbabwe’s war-ravaged residents access to clean, safe drinking water.
At the same time, they’re launching an ambitious education and fund-raising program in schools throughout southwestern Ohio – an effort they’re hoping will someday attract the attention of Oprah Winfrey.
“The people in Zimbabwe are dying because no one is willing to stand up against the oppression within the country,’’ said Cara Dyne, a 21-year-old from Zimbabwe who recently completed a degree in English in Cincinnati State’s Associate of Arts program.
Dyne, who now works for the Upward Bound program located at Cincinnati State, was among a group of students who last December organized a group known as “Beyond Borders.’’ Its first big project: Raise money to purchase water purification tablets and distribute them in Zimbabwe.
“Cholera has taken a terrible toll on the people of Zimbabwe,’’ said Richa Ghevarghese, a Cincinnati State student who with Dyne helped organize the Beyond Borders group. “It’s like the Holocaust all over again.’’
Like Dyne, Ghevarghese -- a native of India who was raised in Nigeria -- understands all too well the problems that many Zimbabwe residents face each day in getting access to one of life’s most basic necessities, clean drinking water. They believe that Zimbabwe’s leader, Robert Mugabe, has historically blocked humanitarian aid in that country.
The young women, along with other members of Beyond Borders, have connected with Cincinnati State faculty members Elvin Friesen and Martha Brosz, who for years have worked to raise money for water purification and humanitarian relief in Africa and elsewhere.
With encouragement from Brosz, Friesen and a Cincinnati State administrator, Tenisha White, the students formed “Beyond Borders’’ at Cincinnati State and held a small fund-raiser. This gave them a thirst for something bigger, and they organized a benefit concert at Baba Budan’s, a Clifton coffeehouse, in December. The show attracted more than a dozen performers, including Cincinnati State’s own Marcia Caulton, and generated more than $500 for their project.
The students are now expanding their horizons beyond water.
Beginning in April, the Beyond Borders team plans to take part in a project sponsored by World Vision called 30 Hour Famine. Participants will fast for 30 hours to put on display what the average person in Africa goes through on a daily basis. Beyond Borders is also planning a food drive in connection with the event.
Meanwhile, Brosz and Dyne have launched what they envision as a series of programs with regional schools to raise awareness about cholera and water quality in Africa. During sessions in February with more than 900 Amelia High School students, for example, they demonstrated how one highly-regarded water purification system works and laid the seeds for a fund-raising program there. A week later they were doing the same thing at Glen Este High School and were trying to line up similar programs at other schools in Greater Cincinnati. They’ve also been talking with one of Brosz’s former students who is currently teaching in suburban Dayton, Ohio, about launching a fund-raising challenge – a project that is already on the radar of Oprah Winfrey’s far-flung network.
Brosz also hosted a seminar at Cincinnati State in March for teachers who want to incorporate clean water into their science, geography and world affairs classes. It featured hands-on demonstrations involving methods for purifying water.
“Maybe we can’t change the whole world,’’ she said, “but we can try to improve it as best we know how.’’
