Mazzoni begins renovation project after time in Zimbabwe
By Meaghan Wilby, Staff Writer
December 4, 2014
The Campus
As part of a summer internship, Jessica Mazzoni, ’15, spent more than two months living in Nyadire, Zimbabwe with her friend, Natalie Geer, a student from Ohio Wesleyan. While Geer spent her time studying education at a local primary school, Mazzoni shadowed doctors at the Nyadire hospital.
As a global health major, Mazzoni was looking for an internship related to global health in a developing country and said that she discovered that her parents’ church in Pittsburgh, the United Methodist Church, ran affordable trips to Zimbabwe.
Mazzoni and Geer raised a total of $40,084 when they returned to America, surpassing their original goal of $30,000 for their crowdfunding campaign, which was associated with The Nyadire Connection, a Pittsburgh based non-profit leading a project to renovate all six clinics in the Nyadire area.
In addition to shadowing at the hospital, Mazzoni visited three of the six clinics. The clinics are primarily responsible for taking care of pregnant mothers and babies, providing care for children, HIV testing, counseling and treatment as well as treating common diseases.