GlobeMed to host Global Get Down cultural dance and a cappella competition show
Gidha for a Cause won the Global Get Down cultural dance and a cappella show last year, and will perform at the second annual competition today. (courtesy of Catherine Ni)
GLOBAL GET DOWN
Today, 7 p.m.
Northwest Campus Auditorium, FREE
By Andrea Wang
Feb. 16, 2011 12:32 a.m.
It costs $40 to purchase a female goat and $50 for a male. UCLA’s GlobeMed chapter is hoping to buy 30, using donations from Global Get Down, a cultural dance and a cappella competition happening tonight.
Catherine Ni, a third-year neuroscience student and GlobeMed’s director of communications, describes the event as a mini Spring Sing on the Hill. Students will see nine different groups perform, including Bruin Harmony, Random Voices, L.A. Street Dance Collective and Samahang Modern.
Members of GlobeMed have been speaking closely with the Amuru Youth Center in Anaka, Uganda, about what people in the village need. They’ve decided to raise money in order to get goats for 30 young mothers in the village who have no family support, can barely afford school fees and cannot even buy mosquito nets to shield their bodies from pests.
“This wasn’t our idea. We met with young mothers and they wanted the goats. I think it’s already starting to bring them together and really help the community,” said Kristina Lai, a fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student and co-president of GlobeMed.
Lai said the project’s best merit is its sustainability. Once vaccinated and properly trained, a goat is cheap to maintain and yields highly nutritious milk for the family. The milk can also be sold to help bolster the economy in the village. If a female goat gives birth, the kid will be passed to another young mother.
GlobeMed needs $3,000 to reach its goal, and the club is tackling fundraising with a three-pronged approach: individual giving, small business and a staple event. This quarter, members will ask for individual sponsors and sell hand-made Ugandan bracelets, but their biggest effort will be the Global Get Down.
Last year’s winner, Gidha for a Cause, a group of women who perform a freestyle North Indian dance, will be competing again. Ni explained that GlobeMed’s hope was to bring many different student cultural groups together and spread word about the project.
“It felt great knowing that by winning we were able to collect money for the Amuru Youth Center,” said Harjot Heer, a second-year biology student and member of Gidha for a Cause.
At the show, students who make a donation will receive two “chance vouchers.” One half will be used to cast a vote for best group, and another will be entered in a raffle to win prizes, including an iPod or tickets to Spring Sing.
This summer, three to five members of GlobeMed will travel to Anaka, using the money to carry out the goat project. Lai went to Uganda last summer, and said she revels in getting to know people there on a more personal level. She said she hopes that the Global Get Down can continue to be an annual event that supports the Amuru Youth Center.
“The only way I was able to leave the town was knowing that we would be back. And that is one of the biggest things I love about GlobeMed. We’re not forgetting the people we meet, not letting them just become another forgotten community in the middle of Africa,” Lai said.
