In May of 2025, a small group of University of Calgary students and staff travelled to Mbarara, Uganda for a one-month Field School. While there, we gained cross-cultural competency and communication skills. In partnership with Mbarara University of Science and Technology students, we entered secondary schools and developed sustainable interventions to address health-related concerns that the secondary school students identified. In one month of collaborative action, we constructed gardens, implemented hand-washing stations, painted murals addressing mental health concerns, provided additional beds to a school’s sick bay, and ran an essay-writing competition to allow students to express their health concerns safely and privately.
Upon our arrival back in Calgary, we wanted to continue this collaboration with the MUST students we had met and give other University of Calgary students the opportunity to contribute to positive interventions in youth health. And so, HAY! Global Partnership for Youth Health was born.
HAY! Today
HAY! Global Partnership for Youth Health is a collaboration between the University of Calgary and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). Along with our MUST counterparts, we have the goal of improving youth health globally.
We have three main projects currently being implemented. Firstly, our pen-pal program connects elementary school students in Mbarara and Calgary, promoting cross-cultural learning while allowing the students to build international friendships. Our second project is a garden building project. Many schools in Uganda are boarding schools, meaning the students live where they attend school. Providing necessary guidance and resources to help the students build and maintain a garden helps provide the students with a variety of food sources to support their physical health. Our third project is a reusable pad project addressing period poverty concerns. Providing the students the skills and infrastructure to create their own pads is a sustainable option, both environmentally and financially.
This organization provides the University of Calgary students the opportunity to develop their cross-cultural communication skills while contributing to the health and wellness of the next generation, globally.