The pet projects of tomorrow’s innovators

Iris Amuto: “The African Paradox”

At the event, Iris Amuto, a fourth-year student completing a double major in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies read an excerpt from Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden to start her presentation, which attempted to correct misconceptions and negative stereotypes about Africa. Her portrayal of African culture through music, dance, food, and literature showed Africa as a colourful continent rather than a troubled place. She also emphasized this point: “Not all Africans are fighting or starving”.

Q:What is the African Dream project?

Amuto: The Africa Dream is the UBC Africa Awareness Initiative’s project to push for more African courses that go towards the African Studies Minor program. We want students who are interested in the minor and Africa to mobilize effectively to voice their concerns about the current minor as it simply draws different from other disciplines such as Anthropology, Political Science, Sciences and so on.

Q: What is the take-away message from your talk?

Amuto: The takeaway message from my talk was simply to look at Africa’s positive, vibrant side. I have problems when the continent is constantly viewed in one dimension – poverty, disease, war, HIV-AIDS. Africa has SO MUCH MORE to give to the rest of the world. I’m not saying that these issues do not exist. They very much do. But we tend to forget that Africa has humanity that other parts of the world do not have. It is time to look at culture, ordinary life, traditions, music and so on on a more regular basis.

Nadine Qureshi: “Malaria: How We Are Biting Back”

Nadine Qureshi is a third-year Cell Biology and Genetics student and the co-founder of Mission against Malaria. She spoke about her project’s efforts to deliver malaria prevention kits to 600 families in Tanzania, the birthplace of her father. At present, a vaccine does not exist.

Q: What is Mission against Malaria and why was it important for you to co-found this organisation?

Qureshi: I was thinking of starting an organization for several years before I actually went ahead with it; I delayed because I was wary that a cause like malaria would not generate enough interest in Canada. I’ve learned a lot about both AIDS and malaria through my studies and my own readings and what struck me the most was that both diseases result in the same number of casualties, even though one of them actually has a cure. AIDS is a serious issue in our world, and the cautions to prevent it have become well known in all corners of the world. A disease like malaria has gone under the radar in many ways, because the strategies to prevent it don’t have the same basis as AIDS, and require more than just decision making; malaria stems directly from poverty, populations that lack the basic supplies – such as mosquito nets – to prevent its spread.

I could have simply joined another organization that works towards this cause, but for me, I wanted that challenge of creating and building upon a vision in Tanzania, a country that means a lot to me. I found out that Tanzania is one of the five most malaria-stricken countries in the world. I knew that in co-founding an organization I could have the flexibility to put my ideas into action, and connect other organizations in ways that could not be possible otherwise. By next summer, our goal is to have three other organizations as sponsors- to share our ideas on joint projects, working toward spreading the word and not the disease.

Q: Why is it important to supply malaria prevention kits in Tanzania and why isn’t there a vaccine?

Qureshi: The problems in creating a vaccine lies mainly in the science behind the malaria parasite itself; the parasite is extremely resistant and it changes its ways so that our bodies often cannot recognize it twice. It is relatively straightforward to make a vaccine on a given strain, but it will not be useful because the parasite mutates more rapidly than a vaccine can be made. Also, the parasite has 3 distinct stages in it’s life-cycle and relies on two hosts, which is a huge hurdle for scientists. One vaccine cannot come close to targeting all three stages at once. Even if a vaccine were to be made, distributing it will be tough; if it needs to be refrigerated, it’s difficult to get vaccines out to tropical areas without extra costs of keeping it cool, for instance.