As I was making my way through the Campus Center’s main level, a bulky sign saying “Milk Tea” with an accompanying image of bubble tea caught my attention.
I stopped to buy a cup, and the receptionist began to introduce herself: “Hi, this is Global Brigade!”
“What is Global Brigade?” I asked.
“Global Brigade is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping underprivileged communities set the groundwork for a sustainable community.”
That was June Lee ’20, the communication chair of Global Medical Brigade . “There are many [volunteers from] universities going on trips to help with medical [and] public health services.”
The club sends students to Honduras on a trip each J-term. Last year, “in the first three days, we stayed at a Global Brigade facility, and visited the surrounding communities and health workers. Access to health care was low — health workers were new and inexperienced, and hospitals were out of the way.”
Over the next three days, alongside local doctors, Global Brigades members, translators, local police and Smith alumnae helped with the medical services so that people from multiple communities could receive proper medical consultation.
“We want to figure out the specific health care conditions in these communities and also have some hands-on experience in helping to promote the conditions.”
There are short-term and long-term commitments in the club. “In the short term, we provide medical [services], drugs and doctors they need; in the long term, we hope to give them the foundation [so] that they don’t need us anymore.”
When asked why the club chose to sell bubble tea, Lee said, “We are just trying to think of fundraising opportunities with low costs but high profits. Getting the materials to make bubble tea is not that expensive and there is a high demand [among students].”
“Where the money is going?”
“Every year we have to pay Global Brigades $1,500 for [a] membership fee [to] stay as a university in order to continue [our] trips. [This] money will be used for the communities [through Global Brigade],” Lee said.
“[The money] is not for Brigade,” Serene Lee ’20, President of Global Medical Brigade, added. “The money we make goes into providing medicine throughout the year.”.”
When asked about her next steps, Serene Lee said she wanted the club to grow slowly but steadily.
“We are now so small a club that we cannot envision a big fundraising event compared to [other] universities,” she said. “We are just at the fundamentals right now.” Start small, dream big. Hopefully these volunteers can continue their devotions in global medical services.
