April 11, 2023
Meghan O'Toole
Students awarded $10,000 for refugee health project
From left to right: Ahmed Syed, Malik, Sufyaan Syed, Ansari, and Javed
Bilaal Ansari ’25 is leading a team of his friends from various Chicago-area universities to take on a looming public health crisis for Chicagoland Rohingya refugees. The students were awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant worth $10,000 to support their plans.
Their proposal, “Addressing Healthcare Disparities of Chicagoland Rohingya Refugees,” aims to facilitate the integration of Rohingya refugees into the Chicagoland area by educating them about mental health and diabetes.
“Their poor standard of living in Burma left many racked with health problems, and since a large number have settled in Chicago, there is a growing population of people with preexisting conditions that will worsen if left untreated,” the proposal stated. “Additionally, risk factors such as poverty, loss of identity, and violence have impacted refugees’ mental health.”
As many as 1,000 Rohingya have been resettled in the Chicago since 2010. The Rohingya Cultural Center provides support for English language learning. However, language remains a barrier for many of the refugees.
Ansari pointed to language as a factor that exacerbates the issue of healthcare access in the Rohingya community. “The language barrier limits their ability to even use basic services in Chicago like the public transportation system, and it has especially impacted their ability to access the healthcare system,” Ansari explained.
The Rohingya Cultural Center expressed a need for health education support, which led the students to their specific approach for the project. The students are organizing a series of presentations and sessions led by doctors, who are volunteering their time, accompanied by translators.
“Our purpose…is to illuminate the correlation between lifestyle and [diabetes],” the students wrote in the proposal. “We were told that this is the conceptual roadblock for many refugees who are diabetic. To that end, we will partner with a specialist who can communicate the link between diabetes and daily health choices.”
Projects for Peace is a global program that encourages young adults to develop innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Students submit a project proposal, which includes a description of the project, expected outcomes, and the prospects for future impact. Along the way, these student leaders increase their knowledge, improve skills, and establish identities as peace builders and change makers. Each year a student or student team is selected from Lake Forest College and awarded a $10,000 grant to help them accomplish their project.
Salman Javed ’24 of Lake Forest College, Ahmed Malik of University of Chicago, and Sufyaan Syed of Northwestern University are part of Ansari's team. The students’ work will extend through the summer, but they have plans to carry it beyond the scope of the grant, which acts more as an incubator for the project. Ansari also noted that Ahmed Syed of Elmhurst University made significant contributions to the idea, but he was not listed on the proposal due to the four-member limit on teams.
“Our goal is to eventually move to nearby larger populations of Rohingya refugees such as in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” Ansari said. “We need to establish longevity in making a difference.”
A pre-med chemistry and physics double major, Ansari considers this project a first step toward his larger goal of helping people.
“College is the time to actually start getting involved if you plan to make a difference in the world,” he said. “This is when we are coming into our own, and we need to use this opportunity to take a stand when we have the agency to make a difference. The grant money provides the potential for lasting change.”
Ansari’s desire to facilitate positive change in the world is part of his ambition to be a doctor. “Many of the doctors I see are part of something greater and have the agency to do great things. As a doctor, I will be able to assist with large causes like this at a higher level,” he said.