UC Merced students help rebuild Haiti

University of California students — including some at UC Merced — are helping rebuild Haiti.

UC Haiti Initiative is an organization formed of students, faculty, staff and alumni at all the UC campuses, said Ariana Ruiz, the UC Merced chapter director. The organization has a bilateral partnership with the Universite d'Etat d'Haiti, or State University of Haiti, she said.

Students at each campus run their projects in the areas of health, engineering, economy, law and social justice. "We develop projects that can potentially be developed and implemented in Haiti," said Ruiz, who is a third-year biology major.

Haiti was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010, and since then numerous efforts have been under way to help rebuild the poor country.

Great promise

Ruiz, who visited the country at the end of July, said there's a great need but also great potential.

"One of the things that struck me the most was that people are going on with their lives and making the most with what they have," she said. "It made me have a little bit of more hope. They have a strong potential for growth. Even the students who I talked to were so smart, and they want to see growth in their country."

Members of the organization hope the projects they're developing will be able to provide jobs for students in Haiti after graduation, and more than anything, services for the public, Ruiz said.

Faculty recruitment

Ruiz and other UC Merced students are in the process of recruiting faculty to take part in the health education program. They're in Stage 1, meaning they are developing the idea.

The next step will be to implement Stage 2, which will be to look for funding, she said. "We want to develop projects that we can see an outcome out of," she said.

Charles Nies, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at UC Merced, said having students involved locally and globally is part of the university's mission.

Research is one of the ways in which the university has an impact on the larger community, he said. Students also see benefits from their involvement by seeing how their research can have an impact on other people's lives.