The crisis of access to basic health care in Africa is dire. Millions of people go day-to-day without the basic necessities to live. Clean water, food, medicine, health – everyone should have to access to what they need to happy and healthy lives. SCOUT BANANA recognizes the urgency of this crisis and understands the fact that whether you live in Africa or America, everyone is affected and linked by the global health crisis. The great passion of youth in the Western world will be our greatest inspiration. SCOUT BANANA will work to be a resource for students and youth who want to make a difference in the world by supporting their projects, programs they identify, or organizations they know. Individuals with a cause will be our greatest allies in creating a positive solution for the global health crisis. For so many years international development was tackled in simplified single-issue campaigns, which only created any effect in the short-term. This can be attributed to the fact that most Americans have a limited worldview. Most Americans have not traveled internationally, especially to developing countries. Therefore international development issues remain remote and abstract to most Americans. International development is a long-term issue. It is inherently complex and difficult to understand. There is no single enemy, and outcomes are rarely clear-cut or translatable through numbers. Faced with this challenge, some countries have opted to undertake broad-based efforts to build increased public understanding of development issues.

SCOUT BANANA believes that young people are the key drivers of social change. The organization also believes that everyone has the potential to make a difference in the world. Along with that idea accompanies the belief that the challenge of providing access to basic health care is not overwhelming when efforts are combined. In the summer of 2000 I met a priest from Uganda, Fr. Joseph. Over the summer months he taught me to play the Ugandan drum, but he also taught me about the lack of basic health care in his community. He talked about his dream of building a health center in a remote area where he worked. I heard stories of people who died because they could not make it to the nearest health clinic or did not have $3 for a malaria medication. His dedication and the stories I had heard inspired me to get involved. After the organization raised over $67,000 for an ambulance for his rural health center, I traveled to Uganda in the summer of 2002. Although my original goal was accomplished, I realized that once I made a connection with the people of Uganda, I couldn’t just walk away. I couldn’t assume that my part was over and that someone else would pick up where I left off. I had seen their faces, held their hands, visited their homes, and eaten with them. I know that I saw the faces of people who are no longer there — so I continue to tell their story and ask for help. One of the biggest obstacles that I faced during the ambulance project was that I was labeled an "individual with a cause" and I was a young person. I was often told that I was not going to succeed, told to do something that I can actually achieve, and told that I was naive. Just because I was young and had no affiliation with anything larger than myself other organizations, businesses, and people were not interested in helping me.

One of the biggest difficulties for individuals, who want to make a difference in the world but are not affiliated with an organization, is how to get involved in a movement without that organizational support. SCOUT BANANA plays a unique role in facilitating a relationship between individuals who want to do something and communities that need financial support to design and complete health care projects. By linking individuals, chapters and communities in the U.S. with individuals, communities and projects in Africa, we are able to create change that will be sustained by a grassroots movement. Our primary focus is to build relationships between people and projects in Africa and student and community chapters in the U.S. Chapters in the U.S. are responsible for fundraising for and educating the public about the sponsored project to increase awareness and grow to know each other as people. Because SCOUT BANANA interacts with so many talented and knowledgeable people, we are also able to serve as a hub for best practices and research. Under three separate publications – Articulate, Banana Tree Papers, and The Little Yellow Book – SCOUT BANANA steers new, innovative, and reliable ideas into the global health care movement. By starting with impassioned individuals, SCOUT BANANA believes we can combine efforts to save lives and improve global health.

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