THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012
CULTURE
PAGE 7A
Trip to Senegal stresses values in community
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
This past summer, a KU student's journey to Africa gave him a new perspective of the world. Collin Edwards, a KU graduate student studying Urban Planning, spent six weeks in Senegal, located in West Africa, learning about the region's culture, promoting development, and gaining a greater global perspective.
"My first thought was that I would just help them build a well," Edwards said. "But I soon realized that development also meant building relationships, personal and community empowerment, and spiritual growth."
Edwards had been looking for overseas mission trips and discovered Discipling for Development through his involvement with Navigators, an on-campus Christian organization.
"For the first three weeks, I lived with a Senegalese family," Edwards said. "We had no running water, only bucket showers, and no electricity."
Currently, the country has only a 59 percent literacy rate, and a life expectancy of 60 years with
an infant mortality rate of 5.6 percent.
Having only spent time overseas in Europe, Edwards's experience in Africa made him realize that American society has a skewed view of wants and needs.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
"What we perceive as needs are just things that we've been lucky enough to enjoy," said Edwards.
"In the community, everything is expected to be shared," said Edwards. "For dinner, we would sit on the floor, and everyone ate off the same plate with a spoon."
The work with community development focused on changing the mind set of the culture, which is still recovering from many years of French colonization that ended in 1960.
Edwards noticed several differences between Sengalese and American culture.
According to the State Department, 94 percent of the 12.6 million Senegalese practice Islam. Nearly 80 percent of the workforce makes their living through agriculture, with 60percent of the country living in rural regions.
"A big focus was helping them see that they can help themselves," said Edwards. "And make them more capable to use resources to better themselves." Still, the country receives a great deal of foreign aid, $85 million of which comes from the US government.
Also, Senegalese men are allowed to take in multiple wives. Edwards also noticed that having a schedule and being on time is not part of Sudanese culture.
"You could come over anytime and stay as long as you wanted," said Edwards. "People are more important than the schedule."
Edwards spent the final three weeks living in the city with other missionaries.
"We would observe, listen, see what problems they were having, and see what we could do to help," said Edwards.
Collin Edwards, on left, waits to ride a camel. Edwards interned with two other Americans including Nick Woods, on camel, from the University of Oregon.
Later, Woods lived with American missionary families.
who had learned to adjust to the different way of life.
Edwards interned with two other Americans, one of whom was Nick Woods who attended the University of Oregon. Woods said he enjoyed having other Americans nearby to experience life in Africa with him. Woods and Edwards stayed with Muslim families in the same town for three weeks, so they were able to ride bikes to each other's houses.
"I saw how American families can come to a third world country and call it home," said Woods.
"Sometimes you just want to hang with other Americans and talk about the differences between our states, or even watch a movie at a missionary's house," said Woods. Still, Woods and Edwards both said they appreciated the opportunity to connect with others with a far different background.
Edwards said that whenever he reflects on his experience he feels he gained a greater appreciation for others.
"I learned to value friendship over work," said Edwards. "Our society tends to value work more than being with people."
Edwards also gained greater appreciation for the lifestyle he's been blessed with.
He also said that his time abroad gave him greater global awareness and appreciation for the lifestyle he has been blessed with.
"It's a privilege to be a minority and to have nice things," said Edwards. "We shouldn't hoard our blessings and instead help those who don't have the things we do."
Helping others is a great responsibility American society has, according to Edwards.
"We have a lot to give," said Edwards. "There's a lot of people who are living with a lot less and
are still joyful."
Despite the many differences between American and Senegalese cultures, Edwards sees a great deal of universality between people.
"We're all not that different," Edwards said. "We all have the same emotions and are trying to make life work."
Edited by Caroline Kraft
HEALTH
Marijuana mouth spray plans to sell in American markets
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — A quartercentury after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.
A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents—a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.
pressure on the federal government to revisit its position and encourage other drug companies to follow in GW Pharma's footsteps.
permission to grow it to develop a prescription drug. Guy proposed the idea at a scientific conference that heard anecdotal evidence that pot provides relief to multiple sclerosis patients, and the British government welcomed it as a potential way "to draw a clear line between recreational and medicinal use," company spokesman Mark Rogerson said.
"There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing," said Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. "It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, 'If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.'"
In addition to exploring new applications for Sativex, the company is developing drugs with different cannabis formulations.
"We were the first ones to charge forward and a lot of people were watching to see what happened to us," Rogerson said. "I think we are clearly past that stage."
patients are cautiously optimistic about Sativex. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has not endorsed marijuana use by patients, but the organization is sponsoring a study by a University of California, Davis neurologist to determine how smoking marijuana compares to Marinol in addressing painful muscle spasms.
Possessing marijuana still is illegal in the United Kingdom, but about a decade ago GW Pharma's founder, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, received
In 1985, the FDA approved two drug capsules containing synthetic
if they are shown to be clinically beneficial," said Timothy Coetzee, the society's chief research officer. "The big unknown in my mind is whether they are clearly beneficial."
"The cannabinoids and marijuana will, eventually, likely be part of the clinician's armamentarium,
Opponents and supporters of crude marijuanas effectiveness generally agree that more research is needed. And marijuanah advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuanase use.
THC, Marinol and Cesamet, to ease side-effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The agency eventually allowed Marinol to be prescribed to stimulate the appetites of AIDS patients. The drug's patent expired last year, and other U.S. companies have been developing formulations that could be administered through dissolving pills, creams and skin patches and perhaps be used for other ailments.
Doctors and multiple sclerosis
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