CMU graduate dives in as Peace Corps community health volunteer

Central Michigan University alumna Lauren Troxtel of Wixom had never left the United States before embarking on a new adventure in Ethiopia as a Peace Corps community health volunteer. Not much could prepare her for a case of the fleas, washing her clothes by hand and bathing from a bucket.

 

Troxtel has been in Ethiopia since the beginning of October adjusting to a new culture, training and learning a new language called Tigregnay, as she lives with a host family. She will move to her own apartment in December and settle into the town of Adwa, where she will work for the next two years on malaria prevention and control programs, HIV/AIDS prevention, helping orphans and vulnerable children, and other public health projects.

 

She already has begun her work by interviewing Ethiopians living with HIV/AIDS and orphaned children.

 

“It was pretty intense, especially interviewing the children,” Troxtel said. “All of the kids have lost one or both parents. Two shared their story with us about how they have contracted HIV, and they’re only in sixth grade.”

 

Troxtel says despite the heartbreaking story she was told about their sickness, the children have inspired her.

 

“These kids are making something of themselves,” Troxtel said. “Almost all of them were in student parliament and technology clubs or sports clubs.”

 

Troxtel, a 21-year-old May 2012 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in public health education and health promotion, says her time at Central Michigan University gave her the skills, confidence and passion to make a difference half a world away from home.

 

“I learned to become more disciplined through my studies, learned to be more patient with people, and I learned about different cultures through my internship with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and alternative breaks,” Troxtel said.

 

Troxtel’s involvement in Universities Allied for Essential Medicines at CMU inspired her to join the Peace Corps. The group focuses on equal access to medicines around the world. Troxtel also participated in alternative breaks at CMU and went on a HIV/AIDS break, which helped qualify her for the HIV/AIDS section of the Peace Corps.

 

Though Troxtel says her arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia gave her a bit of a “culture shock,” she already feels as though she belongs.

 

“Community health is a great field for me,” Troxtel said. “It matches my personality. It’s exactly what I want to do.”

 

Troxtel keeps an ongoing blog about her personal journey. Follow her Tumblr to read more about her adventures in Ethiopia by clicking here. Troxtel’s experience in Ethiopia is her personal story and does not represent the Peace Corps as a whole.