Hanseth, who graduated from Seattle University in June, is leaving his job with a local development company. Come the first week of September, Hanseth will arrive in the African nation of Burundi, where he'll spend at least a year working on an innovate hospital project in a small village that lacks access to health care.
"It's a dire situation over there. I'm in a position to help, so this is something I realized I have to do," he said.
Hanseth leaves Seattle on Monday, Aug. 25. Following a week of training in Florida, Hanseth will fly to the Burundian capital of Bujumbura.
For Hanseth, 26, moving to Burundi was a logical step and one he'd been considering for more than a year. He knew months ago he wanted to step out of his comfort zone when he completed his degree in business management at Seattle University in June.
He's worked in real estate development, most recently with the Pioneer Property Group, which works in historic-building restoration and green-building projects. For several years he's been studying permaculture, an approach to developing perennial agricultural systems similar to those found in nature. He started growing a great deal of his own food and began developing community gardens in the Seattle area.
Such efforts turned into a passion. He studied nutrition and how communities could grow food as efficiently as possible. Hanseth recently started his own nursery on Bainbridge Island, where he grew up. Around Seattle, he worked on a project that helped propagate fruit trees around the city, notably a planting at El Centro de la Raza last year.
But it was important to Hanseth that he do something in a part of the world that is really suffering. While researching numerous nonprofit organizations doing work in Central Africa, he spoke with a friend who was working in Burundi. After learning more about the country and Village Health Works, the organization he'll work with in the country, Hanseth's decision was made.
It's a considerable understatement to say that Burundi needs help. One of the poorest nations in the world and African's smallest by area, Burundi is still recovering from a brutal civil war fought from 1993 to 2006 over the same ethnic divide between Hutu and Tutsis that led to genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The landlocked nation faces a long list of challenges, not the least of which includes a largely uneducated population and a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic - more than 4 percent of the population is infected with the virus. Roughly 80 percent of Burundians live below the poverty level, and more than 50 percent of the country's children suffer from malnutrition.
Health care is a major concern. Burundi has a population of more than 8 million but is served by roughly 200 doctors. Hanseth will join Village Health Works, an American nonprofit organization formed by Deogratias Niyizonkiza, a Burundian who left the country during the war and became a doctor in the United States.
Hanseth will live in the village of Kiguto, roughly 90 minutes south Bujumbura. It's more or less the middle of nowhere, and the hospital being built is the first in the area. The hospital broke ground last year, and in its first phase an outpatient clinic was built, one that currently serves about 100 people a day. A 30-bed in-patient ward will be built next. A malnutrition program will be started and a farm/nursery established as part of the complex.
The latter project is where Hanseth will focus his efforts. He'll develop a demonstration project in tropical farming techniques and teach nutrition. He'll also research what specific nutrients are lacking in the villagers' diet and create a nursery to grow crops needed to correct such deficiencies.
Having never been to Africa, Hanseth is well aware that he's in for a great dose of the great unknown. He's also aware that keeping his spirits up in the face of Burundi's overwhelming poverty may be one of his many upcoming challenges. He's signed on for one year but said there's no particular timeline for his return - he's stay in Burundi could well be far longer.
"It's impossible to really prepare for a move like this," he said. "The more I learn about Burundi, the more I'm overwhelmed. The country's issues are profound. It will be a challenge to keep from being spread too thin and to keep a specific focus."
Capitol Hill is near and dear to his heart, but while he expects to come back, Hanseth is aware that with an open-ended game plan and a commitment to this and possibly other projects, it may be a while before he makes a permanent return to Seattle.
"I'm still young, and I think I can try to do my part in the world before I want to settle down. I wanted to work for people who really need help, and that's more than true in Central Africa. I've been helped out a lot, I've lived a peachy life and it's time to return the favor," he said.
A concert to benefit Village Health Works' efforts in Burundi takes place on Friday, Aug. 22, at 8 p.m. at the Museum of History & Industry. The event features Clinton Feron, Mark Oi and Emi Meyer, and the cost is $18. The Museum of History & Industry is located at 2700 24th Ave. E.
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhill times.com or 461-1308.
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