UNAI and the Millennium Campus Network's Millennium Fellowship helps students design and implement community-level initiatives to promote sustainability and help others in need.
5 April 2019- In this week's article, a member of the 2018 Class of?Millennium Fellows, Abigail Canales Ibarra, describes her goals and experiences as President of .
The Jóvenes Altruistas Pensando en México () Project helps those in need by providing healthcare services to people who do not have access to medical care. Her work furthers .
Read Abigail's answers to our questions regarding her Millennium Fellow Project below:
UNAI: Can you provide a description of your project and its overall objective?
Abigail Canales Ibarra:?J?lpem is an association of young people that provides comprehensive assistance to vulnerable communities through multidisciplinary brigades. Through the brigades, people who need medical, dental, psychological, educational and legal care receive treatment and services.??
UNAI: How has your project helped others?
Abigail Canales Ibarra: J?lpem helps others through prevention, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment in interdisciplinary therapy by supplying healthcare to children, youth, adults and seniors who do not have access to these critical services.
UNAI: What themes inspired you to take action and implement your project?
Abigail Canales Ibarra:?The lack of support that people have in rural communities in Mexico inspired our project. I belive that we all have the right to a high quality of life and good health. And thanks to all the people in our community who wanted to help, we have been able to improive the health of others in our community by combining effort, vocation and love.
UNAI: What advice would you give other students who want to get involved in their community?
Abigail Canales Ibarra: I would tell them to be empathetic, visionary, and to listen. We can all help, we just have to have humility, empathy and inclusion.
UNAI: What major obstacles have been overcome in the formulation of your project, including the initial phases?
Abigail Canales Ibarra: The major obstacles we overcame were a lack of resources for the project, the challenge of transportation to vulnerable communities, and the lack of equipment for multidisciplinary therapy.
If you are interested in becoming a 2019 Millennium Fellow, apply to the Millennium Fellowship?. First round applications are evaluated on a rolling basis.?