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| Sunisha Neupane. (Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
Think globally, act locally. It’s one of those catch phrases that Dalhousie student Sunisha Neupane takes to heart.
“I feel, being here, that I am encouraged to help my world,” says Ms. Neupane, who came to Halifax from Nepal three years ago. She was chosen as Nova Scotia Volunteer of the Year by the nonprofit development agency CUSO-VSO. “When you’re in the Third World, it’s like you’re waiting for someone else to come and help … I’m not waiting anymore. I am that someone.”
A double major in chemistry and international development studies, Ms. Neupane wants to become a doctor and plans to divide her time and energy between Canada and her native Nepal. With a population of 27 million, Nepal is the poorest country in South Asia and ranks as the twelfth poorest country in the world.
In the meantime, she volunteers for CUSO-VSO and helped organize its Stand Up Campaign in October to draw attention to world poverty. As well, she acts as an interpreter and life-skills counsellor for the Metropolitan Immigration Settlement Association (MISA), helping refugees adjust to life in Halifax, and assists patients during mealtime at the QEII Hospital every Sunday afternoon.
She volunteers out of a conviction that she is compelled to contribute. “Here, we have too much of everything. In Nepal, we lack everything… I think the place to start is with awareness. We have to learn more about how other people live.”
She gives an example, citing a time she travelled with her father to a rural area outside of Katmandu, where she grew up. “I was shocked when I went to the health post. There were medications but there was no one to assist … so if you had a health problem, you would need to travel to a hospital in a city. But by then you could die.”
It’s that awareness that fuels her desire to go to med school. “There are reasons why people die, but I don’t think diarrhea should be one of them.”