In the place where Dylan McDowell grew up, wildlife meant sea lions, sandpipers, salmon and passing pods of spouting whales. Where he’s going this summer, wildlife means something else entirely, something reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, exotic and fearsome: wildebeests, jackals, baboons, leopards, warthogs. And rhinos that have been poached nearly [...]
Tag » Africa
June 27, 2012
Labor of Love
Master's student aims to solve health-care puzzle
The resilience of the women was surprising, as was their appreciation for just being heard. After all, they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy in one of the world’s poorest countries. No one had shown much interest in their stories until an Oregon State University student showed up last winter. Bonnie Ruder, a [...]
June 5, 2012
Pumped Up
Zachary Dunn helps bring clean water to Kenyan farmers
How far would you go to help someone get a glass of clean water? Zachary Dunn knows exactly how far he’d go: 9,000 miles. And that’s just one trip, one way. By summer’s end, Dunn and fellow Oregon State University students had traveled almost 36,000 miles — greater than the Earth’s circumference — to help [...]
February 20, 2012
Green Evolution
Economists evaluate options for farming in a warmer world
East Africa’s farms feed millions, but production is likely to fall if temperatures rise and droughts become more common.
February 14, 2012
Dirt, dung and discovery
As humans encroach on wildlife habitat, scientists scramble to identify critical travel corridors.
It was the dry season of 2006 in Tanzania, Africa. Across a landscape that varies from vast savannah to steep hillside to dense, wet forest, Clinton Epps and his science team trekked more than 400 miles on foot. He, Lauren Gwin and students from Tanzania’s Sokoine University battled intense heat and thieves who attempted to [...]
October 4, 2011
Birth Knowledge
Master's student aims to solve devastating maternal health problem in Uganda
As a midwife in Eugene, Ore., Bonnie Ruder has overseen more than 150 successful homebirths. When she leaves for Uganda with her family in November, she will be investigating circumstances when things don’t go so well.
