May 26, 2003 - University of Wisconsin: Noelle Johnson went to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and served as a community health and nutrition education extension specialist

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Burkina Faso: Peace Corps Burkina Faso : The Peace Corps in Burkina Faso: May 26, 2003 - University of Wisconsin: Noelle Johnson went to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and served as a community health and nutrition education extension specialist

By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 11:38 am: Edit Post

Noelle Johnson went to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and served as a community health and nutrition education extension specialist



Noelle Johnson went to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and served as a community health and nutrition education extension specialist

Grad Uses Nutrition Education in Humanitarian Works

The 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia has had a lasting impact on Noelle Johnson. After reading about the famine, she was determined to go to Africa to help. Today, Johnson is working with Catholic Relief Services to help improve food security and sustainable agriculture in the West African nation of Burkina Faso. She uses her bachelor's degree in nutritional sciences from UW-Madison and her master's in international agricultural development from UC-Davis.

While still a student in Rockton, Illinois, Johnson dreamt of joining the Peace Corps. She wanted to major in a science at UW-Madison and as a sophomore, declared nutritional sciences as her major. Several factors influenced her decision, including a course about world hunger and malnutrition.

As she worked toward her degree, Johnson also was influenced by classes taught by Denise Ney, who chairs the Department of Nutritional Sciences, and by political scientist Michael Schatzberg.

Between her junior and senior year at UW-Madison, Johnson spent three months in Mali, which borders Burkina Faso. She worked on reforestation and community sanitation projects.


After earning her bachelor's in 1995, Johnson went to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps and served as a community health and nutrition education extension specialist. Her job included studying locally produced foods for nutritional content, and advising women on pre-natal diets, post-natal diets and on feeding their newborns. Johnson also worked on an organic farm in Virginia before returning to graduate school in 1998.

The UW-Madison Nutritional Sciences Program allows students to focus on natural sciences, dietetics or international sciences. Johnson chose the latter and also took courses in political science and agronomy. This, she feels, gave her a sound foundation for the International Agricultural Development Program at UC-Davis. Johnson specialized in nutrition in that program and received her master's in 2001.

Johnson has now returned to Burkina Faso with Catholic Relief Services whose goal is to achieve food security through education, micro-finance, agriculture, general assistance and emergency response. Johnson's assignment will last at least one year. She plans to continue working in developing countries, where she can contribute to family planning programs, and home gardening and sustainable agriculture efforts.



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Story Source: University of Wisconsin

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Burkina Faso; Nutritional Science

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