A springboard for career and mission
Christine Bolander is working with the Zion Project in Northern Uganda this summer.
Graduate student Christine Bolander says Madison's occupational therapy program fulfills her professional and spiritual goals
By Kelley Freund (’07)
Currently in JMU's occupational therapy master's program, Christine Bolander is passionate about her career choice.
Bolander and best friend Brooke Helsabeck, both alums of JMU's Huber Residential Learning Community,
are working together on their research thesis which focuses on current
rehabilitative methods used with human sex trafficking survivors. Last
winter the two attended a conference and learned that of the estimated
27 million slaves in the world today, 80 percent are sex slaves.
At first the girls thought the data for their research was going to
be gathered solely from electronic surveys sent out on the Internet. But
then two amazing opportunities were presented to them. While Helsabeck
is working with LightForce International in San Juan, Costa Rica,
Bolander is spending nine weeks this summer interning with the Zion Project in Gulu, Uganda, an organization founded by JMU alum Sarita Hartz ('02) Hendricksen.
Each morning and afternoon Bolander works with Congolese refugee
women who were forced into prostitution, brothels and the sex industry
due to poverty and lack of other options. Bolander says that through the
Zion Project these women are given counseling, mentorship and a new
occupation of bead making. In the evenings Bolander works with 17 girls
with similar pasts, ages 6-15.
"These girls and women have experienced pasts of desperation and
darkness," says Bolander, "but now you don't see the blank, emotionless
stares or the raging anger towards the world and every person
encountered. You see smiles, you see singing and dancing, you see joy
and most importantly you see hope. Their lives are still effected by
their pasts, I can see that every day, but they are healing and they
have dreams they are fighting for."
Bolander's dream is to do exactly what she is spending the summer in
Uganda doing — to become an occupational therapist in a developing
country, offering healing and rehabilitation to those with disabilities
or traumatic backgrounds. "My desire is to use OT in conjunction with
ministry," says Bolander. "I believe that in order for us to experience
fullness in life, we have to consider not only our physical, emotional
and mental health, but also our spiritual well-being."
Bolander says JMU and the Huber Residential Learning Community opened
up opportunities for her to further explore occupational therapy and
her role as a healthcare provider in today's society.
She knew what she wanted to do with her life, but it wasn't until a
meeting with HRLC Coordinator Dr. Sharon Babcock that her outlook on
occupational therapy changed. "Through our discussion I learned a
valuable lesson that has served me in my academics, as well as in my
therapeutic interactions," says Bolander. "Healing is not simply a
donation; healing is mutual. In this relationship the therapist and the
patient both have something to give and take. This has framed the way I
view occupational therapy. OT is not simply a service, but an
interaction."
But perhaps the most important lesson she learned was not about OT or
health, but about life in general. "JMU is known for valuing service,"
says Bolander. "But I believe that it goes beyond that. JMU values
people. We encourage relationships, we encourage growth, and as stated
in our mission statement we encourage conducting a meaningful life. What
I have learned from my years at JMU and through my experience with the
Huber Residential Learning Community is that a meaningful life is rooted
in giving. It's finding what strengths and gifts we each have and
sharing them with others. I have been blessed to have access to areas of
the world where there are needs for the knowledge occupational
therapists possess, and I have been deeply enriched by these
interactions."
