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During the Spring 2025 semester, students selected for this project will learn about how mental disabilities and conditions are treated in Chile, conduct research on the latest interventions (including practices in the United States), and combine insights to generate ideas for projects that can help provide therapeutic benefits to these populations. The group will also meet with representatives from HdC throughout the semester, as well as with the people they serve, to collaboratively conceptualize how to utilize the outdoor space available in ways that meet the occupants’ needs, such as a space for gardening by the supported population.

During the summer, students will explore the questions: What do Hogar de Cristo’s occupants want to do with the space? Based on their research and understanding of the context, what kinds of projects are likely to provide some therapeutic benefits? How can the transformed space encourage residents to use their free time in ways that bring them meaning and purpose? How to best ensure that residents will continue to feel connected to and utilize the space once our group leaves? 

The final result will be a plan created by the students, to be delivered to Hogar de Cristo in September 2025, for utilization of the space. Components of the plan could include: materials needed, design of the physical space, an outline of training materials, projected costs and staffing needs, timeline of tasks needed to complete the project, and/or any other materials that would help HdC with plan implementation.

The overall goal is to help meet community-identified needs by helping HdC and those they serve transform their space in a way that gives occupants a sense of ownership, provides therapeutic and aesthetic benefits, and offers comfort and a sense of purpose to their community members.

 Last year, students from the 2024 offering of this course led by Dr. Caity Bolton in collaboration with two of our in-country community partners, the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) and Tanzania’s Blue Economy Ministry, engaged in a semester of project preparation and conducted in-country ethnographic research in summer 2024. Through their research, the team found that creating a series of educational modules would help address several challenges facing Zanzibaris, namely their comparatively low direct involvement in Zanzibar’s booming tourism economy and intercultural tensions between locals and tourists. 

Students selected for this project in 2025 will work stateside from Boston College with SUZA faculty and students, and will build upon the work completed in 2024. 

During the spring 2025, students will learn about Zanzibari culture as well as the ethnographic research conducted by the 2024 team. They will research social media, marketing, financial literacy, and negotiations as well as best practices in creating effective, culturally-appropriate educational modules.

During the summer 2025, Professor Mary Khatib and students from SUZA will come to Boston to work collaboratively with our interdisciplinary team in developing educational modules and materials aimed at increasing skills and knowledge that will better situate Zanzibaris to benefit from economic opportunities created by the islands’ increasing tourism as well as informing tourists about Zanzibari culture to mitigate intercultural strain.  

The final deliverables will be a series of educational modules for Zanzibaris and informational materials for tourists as well as a plan for disseminating the resources to the intended audiences. These deliverables will be provided to the Blue Economy Ministry in September 2025. 

The overall goal is to create materials that better position Zanzibaris to benefit from economic development opportunities, particularly in the context of climate change and increasing tourism, and help ease intercultural tensions between Zanzibaris and tourists.