Caitlin Baker

I have a very non traditional education. I did a combination of homeschooling and public school until the age of 16. At that point I started taking classes at a local university. (an Engineering major was the plan) At 18 I went to China to teach undergrads at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I ended up spending 4 of the next 5 years in China. (Teaching, curriculum development, international sales, teacher development) Although the majority of my time was spent in Shanghai (which is very westernized), I spent a great deal of time with migrants. I also spent about 2 months in a village in the province of Shandong where you can go for more than a week without seeing a car. 2 years ago I spent 6 weeks in rural Ghana and 2 weeks in Niger. My 6 weeks in Ghana showed me the ugly side of non profits that are run simply to provide income for their directors. However, I met a lot of amazing people in Ghana doing amazing things to help to improve the lives of people living there. I will be moving back to the same area in Ghana at the end of the summer or later this fall. I visited Niger just to get a chance to see more of Africa. I stayed with a friend who I met while he was studying in the United States. He was able to show me some aspects of the culture that were very unfamiliar to me. Also, I was in Niger for part of Ramadan, which was very interesting. I want to fix everything. However, my current focus is on bringing the grade standards of a 3 year old free school in Ghana up to the national standards. I hope to incorporate vocational education as well as finding a way to send the brightest on to junior high, high school, and possibly even university. I'm also working on several different business models to try to make this school self-sustainable. I'm also researching goats and the effect inbreeding of goats within the village has caused a decline in their milk and meat output. After arriving in Ghana I hope to work on tagging some of the goats in some nearby villages, track the development of these goats and try to reverse the effects of inbreeding. I'm also researching the role goat milk could play as a nutritional supplement. I also see a huge potential for an increased market of the goods and resources in the community that I was in. Using these resources to make and sell additional handicrafts as well as expanding the current market are projects I hope to take on as well. Also, protecting the well-being of young, orphan girls just reaching puberty from being taken advantage of by the founder of the orphanage as well as others who see them as easy targets weighs heavily on my mind.