When opportunity calls
Emily Negrin '08 spins her study-abroad experience into gold for at-risk Namibian
women who yearn for economic independence
By Amanda Guisbond '07
Emily Negrin '08 got her first taste of culture shock while studying abroad in
Namibia during the spring 2007 semester. One morning, Negrin was left to her own
devices after her study-abroad supervisor and mentor Rosa Namises temporarily disappeared.
Alone and not sure what to do with the 15 non-English speaking local women who Namises
had abandoned her with, Negrin faced her greatest challenge yet.
The women had gathered to take part in an advocacy workshop run through Women's
Solidarity Namibia (WSN), a feminist organization founded by Namises which started
as an anti-rape movement under the name of Rape Crisis in early 1989. Although Negrin
volunteered to help, she was not prepared to be teaching a workshop on her own.
Standing before a group of mothers and wives, many abused and all poor, Negrin decided
to prompt a discussion about what these women believed to be their fundamental rights.
After conferring with a translator, Negrin asked the women "Who owns your body?"
to which all of them unequivocally replied, "My husband and God."
"That is their reality," says Negrin.
Wanting to do more
Negrin had first been working at a Namibian orphanage as part
of her study-abroad curriculum. Although fulfilling, she was eager to "do more"
in the community and asked Namises if there was another project that could also
use her help. That's how Negrin became involved with WSN. According to Negrin, the
organization's initial goals were to provide counseling to women who had been raped
or battered and raise awareness about violence against women in the local communities.
WSN was the first Namibian organization to address issues of violence against women
and children.
"Rosa goes out into these rural villages – stereotypical of what you would think
of when you think ‘Africa' – people living in huts on less than a dollar a day –
and holds workshops. She is an incredible human being," says Negrin.
Working with WSN was a real eye-opener for Negrin. Living in a "palatial estate"
along with fellow Clarkies studying abroad, Negrin says she had not really been
exposed to such a low level of poverty and classism until she began working with
Namises. Negrin recalls the home she lived in while in Namibia—a "beautiful, white
house with wireless"—noting that it was a far cry from the rural slums that the
workshop attendees inhabited.
"Namibia has the biggest disparity of wealth in the world," explains Negrin.
But just as her experience found her face to face with such dire poverty, involvement
with WSN also exposed Negrin to these "wonderfully unique and courageous women."
Bound by traditions
These women have such a drive to do something in their communities," she says,
inspired. However this drive is impaired by a powerlessness inherited by Namibian
women through their culture and traditions, she explains. For example, one mother
expressed concern during a workshop that she could not provide for her family, financially.
Despite this, she adhered to traditional tribal values and continued to produce
babies—a large family is traditionally a Namibian ideal.
It was in conversations like these, says Negrin, that she saw an opportunity.
Most of the women were unable to leave abusive situations at home because they lacked
a means for economic independence, she explains. Without money to take care of themselves
and their children—or opportunities to earn a living—these women were forced to
stay with their husbands, despite the danger.
So Negrin founded the Opportunities Center, a new nonprofit organization that
works in partnership with WSN. The center's mission is to give these women the opportunity
to claim financial independence from their husbands and an option to live on their
own.
Negrin's idea bloomed when she discovered an unutilized storage facility near
the site of WSN and asked if she could use it to house the center. Revamped into
a crafts center, complete with tools and supplies, the Opportunities Center will
allow local women to create products and crafts, which they can then sell independently
to make money to support themselves and their children. Negrin hopes the renovations
will be complete and the crafts center will open by this summer. Once open, she
says, the women will soon begin to sell their creations at local craft fairs, and
eventually start to export their handiwork to places in the United States.
The Opportunities Center will also offer vocational skills, computer, business
and language classes to the women free of charge, as well as support groups for
battered women, children and those infected by HIV/AIDS, through a collaboration
of several existing nongovernmental organizations in Namibia. Negrin says these
activities will help create future job opportunities.
The center is one part of a larger initiative, the Global Humans Settlement Network
(GHSN), which Negrin is developing with Ashley Emerson-Gilbert '08. A nonprofit,
GHSN will consist of five key components—a bridging school, HIV/AIDS education and
prevention, nutrition, community liaisons and the Opportunities Center. These will
provide a network of comprehensive assistance to those living in informal settlements.
Negrin has raised $3,000 on behalf of these initiatives and currently the network
is helping a village to create a soup kitchen and garden to feed disabled elders,
children and others who cannot afford to buy food.
Creating a legacy
While development plans for the Opportunities Center are in motion, Negrin is
in the midst of forming a legacy internship program at the center, which would add
a service-learning component to the undergraduate study-abroad experience. Each
semester, legacy interns will gain a deeper insight into the inner workings of a
grassroots organization, while they work to help sustain and grow the center, she
explains. Legacy interns from the semester before will mentor and share knowledge
with the next class.
Now back in the United States, for example, Negrin has tapped Jana Spacek '09,
who is currently studying abroad in Namibia, to test the role of a legacy intern.
Spacek and Negrin keep in touch with each other through e-mail and exchange information
about the growth of the center as it moves along.
In March, Negrin's Opportunities Center was selected as the Clark recipient of
a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant out of a pool of 11 grant proposals submitted
by Clark students. In fall 2007, Clark University was named a partner in the Davis
United World College (UWC) Scholars Program, a program intended to help internationalize
the American undergraduate experience by supporting need-based scholarships for
graduates of the worldwide United World College schools who enroll at selected American
colleges and universities. As a result of its inclusion in the Davis UWC Scholars
Program, Clark was invited to participate in the Davis Projects for Peace initiative,
giving all Clark undergraduates the opportunity to design grassroots "projects for
peace."
The idea is to encourage today's motivated youth to create and try out their
ideas for building peace in the 21st century. With this $10,000 award, Negrin, along
with Kesem Rosenblat '08 and Amy McPheeters '08, will return to Namibia this summer
to continue her work with the center, a prospect that greatly excites Negrin and
her supporters.
Negrin asserts that the center needs to serve the precise needs of its community,
so she is careful not to insert her own cultural ideas of what is "right" or "wrong."
"It's not my views that matter; it's what they want to create," she says. "Ultimately,
I want to be able to ask these women, what is your dream? And then make that possible."
To find out more about the Opportunities Center, visit womenssolidarity.theinitiative.org.
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