Heading Into 20 Years in Action, Western Heads East Shares Some Great News

With their 20th anniversary just around the corner, Western Heads East is stronger than ever, bringing projects and initiatives back from East Africa to London, Ontario.

Established in 2002, just a year after the tragic 9/11 incident, Western Heads East is a collaboration between Western staff, students, faculty and African partners, using probiotic foods to contribute to health and sustainable development.

As for the timing of the program’s establishment in 2002, Bob Gough, Director of Western Heads East, said that it was in response to an appeal by renowned Canadian leader, Stephen Lewis.

At a provincial conference hosted by Western Housing and Ancillary Services, Lewis noted with respect to the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, “three thousand people died that day in the United States and the world came to support them, which was so important and needed to happen. But 3,000 people are dying in Africa every single day, and I can’t get the world’s attention to the problem.”

Western Heads East was founded initially in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, but research has since shown there are many health benefits.

Largely through probiotic social enterprises, the program is established in highly underserviced areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), university and medical research institutes, to enhance community health, economic development and the empowerment of women.

Working closely with Dr. Gregor Reid from Western University and Dr. Sharareh Hekmat from Brescia University College, the program introduced the health benefits of probiotics to East Africa.

Probiotics help to build an immune response, remove toxins from the body, increase maternal health, improve gut health and stop diarrhea, which is killing a lot of young children in East Africa.

Started with just one community yogurt kitchen, the Tukwamuane Women’s Group in Tanzania, and two interns, Western Heads East and the FITI Probiotic Yogurt program sent over 140 interns abroad and helped women open more than 260 kitchens in various countries, serving over 260,000 consumers in Africa.

“So, when you’re in subsistent living, some people are just not able to lock down and that caused so many problems,” said Gough.

Due to strict curfews and rioting, the closure of one of the partner institutions, lack of rules and use of masks and vaccinations, and travel restrictions, Western Heads East and the FITI Probiotic Yogurt program looked a lot different within the past two years.

All the internship programs were remote; interns needed to work around time differences and communication issues in order to carry out all the projects.

“One of the biggest things was trying to get communication, that was really difficult, especially with the time zone differences,” said Jessica O’Flaherty, an intern at Mikono Yetu, a women-led non-governmental organization based in Mwanza, who collaborated with community partners in East Africa and London to create a recipe book that consists of over 48 different recipes using the FITI sachet.

Yet, the pandemic did not only bring challenges to the program, it, in fact, opened more doors for the upcoming 20th anniversary.

“It’s just also open, like another door opened not only for community partners, but also for Western students that are maybe not able to make it, to pay all the expenses to have an on-site opportunity,” said Maria Medina, the Program Coordinator at Western Heads East. “But they are still having this international experience and community experience while it’s remote.”

What’s even more exciting than having an international experience without having to physically travel overseas?

Western Heads East is bringing the FITI Probiotic Yogurt program and its initiatives back to London, Ontario.

Collaborating with Youth Opportunity Unlimited (YOU), Mistyglen Holsteins, Fanshawe College and Western University, Western Heads East is planning to replicate the social enterprise model in London, Ontario.

By involving students from both Fanshawe College and Western University, and using resources that post-secondary institutions have, Western Heads East aims to help local organizations to “operate the social enterprise that then take the probiotic yogurt and makes it into the different products and provides it to different vulnerable community groups,” said Gough.

The program is currently exploring growing and packaging the FITI bacteria in labs here in London, produce the start-up probiotics culture, and have students involved throughout the entire process. Over the next 3 years WHE will engage students to produce the FITI sachets in Fanshawe College’s Centre for Research and Innovation, work with Mistyglen Holsteins to produce the artisan yogurt in on-farm production, and support Youth Opportunities Unlimited to incorporate the probiotic yogurt into the diets of vulnerable populations in London.

Referring to her remote internship with a Tanzanian NGO, Azadeh Odin stated, “I didn’t know a lot about their culture, and I want to learn more about like, economy, culture, and like the policies, the education; I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to learn firsthand what it’s like to work in collaboration with community partners in Africa.” Azadeh was another intern at Mikono Yetu, who assisted young girls in East Africa with learning English and developing multimedia educational materials. “I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it very much,” she said.

Over the years, Western Heads East established a strong connection with both East Africa and the London community, helped to educate many students on critical and ethical global engagement, and created hands-on opportunities for students to explore their future career paths.

Currently, the program is planning its 20th-anniversary campaign, taking the impact of Western Heads East over the years and sharing that with the community.

“The whole idea of the campaign is an exercise in looking back at what we have accomplished together and looking forward to the possibilities,” said Gough. “So, we’re going to show the impact of all the great things that happened. And then you know, looking forward to the next 20 years.”

Western Heads East is looking to share some of the tremendous impacts of research and services. As well it wants to appreciate all the staff, faculty members, students, interns and community partners who have helped to make the program happen. In particular, to honour the local women’s groups and community leaders in E. Africa who have made the program a tremendous success.

The program is continuously growing even during an unprecedented time. With big hopes and amazing projects ahead, Western Heads East is ready to celebrate the past 20 years of achievements and look forward to the upcoming 20 years.

“Hopefully we will expand across Ontario at some point, which for me, it’s amazing,” said Medina.