AWC Sweden's own Michele Wilcox, one of only 9 recipients worldwide of the
FAWCO Foundation Scholarship awards for 2002, is on her way to India this coming January and February, to work under the direction of Dr. Mercy Muricken.
Michele will spend three weeks in India, rotating her assignment in three areas.
The first of these is in the slum communities in Mumbai, providing health service to women and children.

She will also work with Mother Theresa's Destitute Home, where a large number
of mentally retarded children and also those affected by TB and HIV are looked after.

Her third assignment will take her to an alternative health care center in rural
Maharashtra which specializes in alternative health care services like Accupressure, Accupuncture, indigenous health-care practices and Ayurvedic combined with Allopathic system.

As someone who has truly caught "FAWCO Fever," Michele already is thinking in terms of encouraging Dr. Muricken to apply for a FAWCO Relief and Development Fund grant. "There's great potential there," she says.

Stay tuned for Chapter 3 in the spring issue of the Round Robin and web site!

Chapter 1: Michele Awarded FAWCO Scholarship

Michele Wilcox is one of two winners this year of a Ruth St. John Federation Award from the FAWCO Foundation. The award, $2500, is for a member of any FAWCO club to continue her education, to take courses to enable her to change her field of expertise, or to gain new credentials.

The following are Michele's own words describing this honor.

I recently received a breathless phone call from AWC Membership Coordinator Rebecca Warnander who was just back from the FAWCO Interim Conference in Florence. She gave me the exciting and almost unbelievable news that I had won the FAWCO Ruth St. John Federation Award. The award is for $2,500 and is for a member of a FAWCO club for resuming her education at any level. The award can be used either for a traditional academic program of study leading to a degree, or the acquisition of new skills or enhancement of already existing ones.

After many years as an orchestral violinist, I decided to change my life entirely and study nursing. As a student at the Red Cross College (Röda Korsets Högskola) here in Stockholm, we are encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities to study abroad.

"Transcultural nursing" is one of the main themes which runs through our education, and if you don't go to another county you must at least do a clinical placement in an area with a high percentage of immigrants.

At an early stage I had decided that I wanted to go to India, but I didn't want to leave it to chance since the Red Cross program has only two place there. I decided to try the other option, which is to organize something yourself. This also means funding it yourself, so I applied for the FAWCO award in order to be able to do a special project in India. I am thrilled to think that I will be able to contribute something while I'm there! At the time of writing, my current plan is to work with a doctor in Bombay who also has a clinic in a small town 6 hours journey by train. I will probably be there for four weeks.

FAWCO has awards in many categories, and anyone interested in applying for the 2003 awards can visit the web site: www.fawcofoundation.org

Michele