• Why did you enroll in this course (motivation, prior interests)?

Growing up in Bangladesh, I firsthand witnessed the challenges third world countries often faced. Electricity shortages were a common phenomenon, sometimes food was short at homes, malnutrition was prevalent, the water people drank had to be boiled and then filtered several times to make sure they did not contract any water-borne diseases, and people never seem to have stable jobs to be able to support their families. Things got especially worse when the Rainy Season arrived in Bangladesh. Homes would go days and even weeks without electricity, gas supplies would be short which meant food could not be prepared, roads would certainly be flooded due to their poor design. All these and other atrocious circumstances are regularly faced by people in not only Bangladesh but also other similar developing countries around the world. I wanted to fix all of these issues as a child. And I still have similar goals. I believe that as a human being, it is essential for us to take part in service regardless of our background. Along with that, we must learn about proper ways to tackle problems in developing nations so that they are solved for good. Judging from the first class that I attended, I can say with confidence that I will obtain critical problem solving, strong communication and other necessary skills which will prepare me for carrying out research that will leave a positive imprint in the world.

• How do you envision this course making you a better (<your major>) student?

This course will make me a better Materials Science and Engineering student because it will help me gain valuable skills that I will need on the field as a professional engineer someday. From soft skills that we gain in class like clear communication abilities, creativity, teamwork, the capability to adapt to certain situations, to hard skills like the vast amounts of information that we will develop through our fieldwork and research will undoubtedly help me have an edge over another mat sci major. Moreover, since my research involves looking deeper into efficient ways of growing mushrooms, it essentially allows me to establish systems that can stimulate faster growth of mushrooms. This essentially means that I get to research the materials that go into the system. It is my responsibility to test out different types of substances with desirable properties to determine which is the best to use for optimal mushroom growth. Further, judging from the first class, this course seems highly structured class provides the likely type of organization skill that I will need as an engineer. I also believe that I will benefit a lot from this class because it is considerably interdisciplinary which will allow me to mingle with people who perhaps are more knowledgeable than me. I know that I can surely benefit from bouncing ideas off of them to get my project to where it needs to be at the end of the semester. Also, the people that I will interact with within this course are most likely the kinds of people I would want to network with since we share the same mindset of helping the world through service and research. Lastly, I believe that this course will make me a better human being as it will provide me with the gift of helping humanity move forward.

• The World Health Organization estimates that over one billion people who need eyeglasses do not have access to them. The vast majority of these people live in developing countries like Kenya where there is barely one optometrist per one million people. Given the high poverty levels, access to eyeglasses is almost nonexistent. Lack of proper eyeglasses severely impacts people and their livelihoods by decreasing their productivity at work, limiting or eliminating new opportunities, affecting their quality of life, deteriorating their general health and possibly leading to (preventable) blindness. What solution do you propose to address this problem?

There are a few possible solutions that come to mind. Firstly, malnutrition is a primary issue that should be solved because it is one of the root causes of blindness. If children are not malnourished, they are not likely to be blind in the future (Gogate). Also, this blindness crisis should be advertised properly. The more publicity this crisis gets, the more people and organizations would contribute to providing proper eye care to the people of Kenya. In this day and age, it is so easy for us to spread the news in a matter of seconds through social media sites. So, this is certainly a feasible option.

Further, more optometrists should be introduced to Kenya so that more patients can be properly and promptly treated. Perhaps this can be done by developed countries, where they make it mandatory for students pursuing an optometry degree to do one to two years of treating patients in developing countries like Kenya before they can obtain their degrees. This will certainly bring more optometrists into the country. Another possible solution might be for the government of Kenya to work hand in hand with the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) which has a joint global initiative called the VISION 2020 that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness in developing countries (What Is VISION 2020). Essentially, they can attempt to cure treatable blindness or provide proper eye care to those who need them. I believe that partnering with nonprofit organizations is one of the best ways for Kenya to treat its blind people.

Works Cited

• Gogate, Parikshit, et al. “Blindness in Childhood in Developing Countries: Time for a Reassessment?” PLoS Medicine, Public Library of Science, Dec. 2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779494/.
• “What Is VISION 2020?” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 8 Dec. 2010, www.who.int/blindness/partnerships/vision2020/en/.