NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Today Your Mark On The World announces the winners of the Hand Up for Social Good Awards for the best small social entrepreneurs based on their mission and impact.

For this post, I interviewed The Yonkofa Project founder Dr. Gabriella Nanci. I’ll share that interview with you directly and unedited as Dr. Nanci tells her story much better than I could.

How did you come to start The Yonkofa Project?

It is a rather personal journey; I actually changed careers because of 9-11. I felt a need to help the people of the world who were just so desperate, and medical school seemed like the logical first step. I participated in short-term medical missions, and Dr. Deborah Martin, who had been my surgery preceptor, asked me to go on a mission to Ghana. While there, I set up a small medical team and went to the villages in the evenings after clinic, making house calls on patients too ill to get to the clinic site. This really changed the experience. I was struck by the tremendous effort families put into caring for their sick and dying loved ones. There was an obvious need to prevent the diseases that were causing such a huge burden: losing the children you love, caring for the chronically ill, and being unable to provide for your family due to illness.