OUR FERTILE GROUND
"People are like bicycles. They can keep their balance only as long as they keep moving forward." -Albert Einstein
Jenna Janiga
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
-Gandhi
Jenna is a third year student at Loyola University in Chicago, IL. she came to Cape Town for three months during her summer break to serve as a volunteer for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital and as a counselor for Fertile Ground. Majoring in both biology and environmental science, Jenna is working toward entering medical school and then on to a career in international medicine.
Volunteering with Fertile Ground helped Jenna to affirm her desire to serve those affected by poverty and to open her mind to new ways of thinking of poverty, healthcare and disease. Working at the Fertile Ground camps with the founders and youth directors showed her that HIV/AIDS, Cancer and other health issues are diseases deeply rooted in social, economic, and cultural instability that are both the cause and effect of this prevalent pandemic.
As a camp counselor, Jenna helped combat stigma and social inequality through the provision of love and confidence and worked to change the lives of the campers by providing a safe, caring community that allowed them a reprieve from their afflictions.
