Shawna is the Quality Improvement Coordinator at International Community Health Services, a non-profit medical and dental center that serves low-income Asian and Pacific Islander (API) populations as well as other communities in Seattle and King County. Shawna joined the Tusubira team in January of 2008 after falling in love with the mission of Tusubira and the people it works with during Tusubira’s vision trip in August and September 2007. Shawna currently serves as the Tusubira Board Treasurer.

Why do I want to help?

In the summer of 2007 God took me on a journey with ten other faithful followers to a village outside of Jinja in Southeast Uganda. Before deciding to travel, issues like poverty, the orphan epidemic, and the AIDS pandemic were issues that I wanted to help fight, but couldn’t understand how I could possibly make an impact on such huge systemic issues.

The trip opened my eyes to the community based organizations that work tirelessly to serve their communities. I saw strong leaders who were forming schools for orphans, collaborative workgroups for widows, HIV education, and income generating projects all while advocating for their communities. I was amazed by their tenacity and dedication toward enhancing the lives of each individual. Mostly, I was inspired by their huge hearts that seemed to know no limits despite limited resources. One of my favorite quotes from the trip was from a community leader who said, “In America you use US Dollars, in Europe they use Euros, but in Uganda, we use faith.”

After returning to the normalcy of life after the trip I knew I wanted to stay connected to the good work of the people we met. I also saw the role I could have in helping the organizations we worked with in Uganda back in the States. When I was invited to join the Tusubira board I knew I could regain the intimacy of working hand-in-hand with the friends I made in Uganda. I am so grateful and thankful that God has asked me to take part of His mission.