Embracing the poorest of the poor

How a Marquette alumna created the world’s largest student-led global health and development organization

Imagine living where every house has a 10-foot wall fortified with electric wires.

Imagine living where residents are afraid to walk a few blocks to the grocery store, because they may not make it back.

Imagine a government that decides that every man for himself is a good plan to lead a country.

Imagine one of the largest cities in your country, and your very own hometown, has been named by the UN as “the murder capital of the world.”

This gives a glimpse into daily life in Honduras, according to Marco Del Arca, who grew up there.

“Poverty, corruption, and violence are aspects of the country I call home,” he says. “It’s a country that desperately needs all the help it can get, but also a country that truly has a heart to appreciate a random act of kindness.”

But how far can kindness go?

That’s what Shital (Chauhan) Vora intended to find out.

Today more than half of the Central American country’s population lives in poverty. Many communities of Honduras are in desperate need of clean water, health and dental care, new infrastructures, business guidance and human rights missions.

This country is in need of an organization with the power to bring these needs and empower people to make a change in their communities.

And thanks to Vora, this organization now exists today. It’s called Global Brigades.

“Organizations like Global Brigades help keep that optimistic hope alive,” says Del Arca.

This is the story of how it all began.

“We oughta go to Honduras over spring break.”

It was no more than a quick comment tossed from one friend to another in the fall of 2002.

At least that’s how Vora remembers it. She was a physical therapy major in her third year at Marquette.

Something about that suggestion — spring break in Honduras — worked its way into Vora’s heart.

After all, the country boosts extraordinary beauty. It is home to one of the largest coral reef barriers in the world, the beaches attract thousands of tourists every year and the mountains and forests are home to exotic nature. Hondurans are friendly and are always willing to give a passing smile.

She didn’t know then what she would find deep in the mountain villages thousands of miles from Milwaukee.

What began as a fun, tropical trip to Honduras with a group of friends, became a crew of about 20 undergrads traveling to a third-world country, helping the poorest of the poor day in and day out.

Vora returned to Milwaukee forever changed, convinced that what she and her traveling band experienced in the mountain crevices of Honduras was just the beginning and had to continue.

She searched for — but did not find — any organized service trips targeted to undergrads.

So she started her own.

What started as that spring break to Honduras is now the nonprofit Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization, serving the poorest of the poor in Honduras, Panama and Ghana.

Today, 10 years after its foundation, Global Brigades has mobilized tens of thousands of university students and professionals through skill-based programs that work in partnership with community members to improve quality of life in under-resourced regions while respecting local culture.

From peering down the throats of kids with tonsillitis to extracting abscessed teeth, from teaching the villagers to build eco-stoves that keep their huts free from lung-clogging soot to building community banks to pouring concrete floors that cut down on parasites, Global Brigades wholistically transforms the lives of people who live in unthinkable and unimaginable poverty.

We sat down with GB’s co-founder and Marquette alumna Shital Vora to hear what Global Brigades has done since 2004 and how others can help make a difference like she did.

How has starting global brigades changed your life? How far has the organization come since its founding in 2004?
Global Brigades has changed my life in so many ways. It had taught me a tremendous amount of knowledge around development work but also how to work with and motivate a team. An organization like Global Brigades would not function unless you have the support and enthusiasm of all your team members, which can be sometimes easy to come by and sometimes challenging. It has become a lifestyle for me and my family and we are blessed to have such an opportunity to have this experience.

The organization has come further than we could have imagined. In 2004, we had about 10 chapters (300 volunteers) volunteering in Honduras. Today, in 2014, we have over 8,000 volunteers from the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Ireland traveling to Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Ghana.

How did Marquette instill this passion of helping others and made you want to go out and change the world?
Marquette has a culture of service and student empowerment that is so influential to its community. The “go for it” attitude and enthusiasm for reaching towards the highest possible goals is prevalent in faculty and support staff. When we were in the beginning phases, that mentorship on campus was essential in the success of starting Global Brigades.

With all the horrible and traumatic things going on throughout the world today, what can individuals, like Marquette students and alums, do to make an impact and truly “be the difference?”
With all the difficult things we hear about or experience, there is always an opportunity to put yourself out there and get involved. Many people think that their involvement or time may not be significant enough to make an impact, which is false. Becoming a “doer” instead of an observer is critical in becoming the difference.

What’s next for Global Brigades?
Global Brigades is focusing on the four countries its in, impacting as many communities as possible. At this time, we do not have plans to add more programs rather than strengthen the ones we currently have. We are currently improving and adding to our programming to ensure that the approach is the most sustainable as possible for our communities.

In a few words, what advice would you give for young people who want to make a difference?
Always listen for opportunities and never be hesitant to go after them!

Original reporting by Barbara Mahany in Marquette Magazine. Article and follow-up interview was updated and conducted by Katie Miller, intern for the Office of Marketing and Communication at Marquette, and graduate student studying Communication. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.