Beyond NYU: Working to Provide Access to Healthcare and Education Worldwide

Each week, WSN meets with an NYU student, faculty member, or alumnus who is making a difference outside of NYU. This week, alumni Eddie Bergman and Khalid Elachi share how they created MCW Global to tackle the challenges of education, the economy and health.

NYU alumni Eddie Bergman and Khalid Elachi work with vulnerable communities on issues related to health, education, and the economy through their nonprofit Miracle Corners of the World Global. MCW, which has offices and centers in New York, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, is committed to strengthening communities by providing them with more learning and leadership opportunities.

Bergman co-founded MCW in 1999 as a freshman at New York University, studying hospitality and tourism management at the School of Professional Studies. Elachi began volunteering for the organization while a student at New York University. A few years after graduating in 2008, he returned to the organization and eventually became its executive director in March 2019. Bergman serves on the advisory boards of NYU’s Africa House, NYU’s Tisch Hospitality Center, and the Gallatin School of Personalized Learning.

The organization offers vocational training and social activities for children at its centers in Rwanda and Zambia. Zambia also has programs that help people improve their reading skills. At its center in Tanzania, MCW runs an oral care program that aims to fill the shortage of oral health professionals in the country.

In an interview with WSN, Bergman and Elachi spoke about MCW’s programs, the organization’s impact on communities around the world, and what they see for the future of the nonprofit.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

BSS: What impact has MCW had on the communities it works with?

Elahi: When it comes to the work we do in eastern and southern Africa, the impact is exponential. We have a young donor who was eight years old who raised funds on his own to buy books for children in Zambia who had never had a book before. The simple fact that a young child can now read a book for free in one of our community centers is of exponential significance. The impact ranges from checking someone’s teeth and fixing and cavities so they can eat, talk and smile without feeling sad about themselves, to someone basically starting their own non-profit organization to support survivors of the Rwandan genocide.

BSS: How did the MCW Oral Care program start?

Bergman: My assistant, who was also my roommate at the time, was Reuben Cohen – he went to dental school – we were very good friends for two decades and he was involved in these dental education programs. Reuben saw me go to Africa to work on the community development programs we ran there. He asked if he could join the dental assistance program at the community center we built in Tanzania 20 years ago. He did just that and at that time got a group of dental students and a dental professor. Fast forward 20 years: we have transformed the oral care system in the country.

For the past 15 years, MCW has hosted an annual fundraising gala at the Kimmel Center for University Life, allowing Bergman to raise money for various projects within the organization. In 2002, MCW also sponsored their first Young Leaders Retreat—now the Young Leaders Community—at NYU to enable young people to learn leadership skills that they can use to benefit their communities.

BSS: Has MCW’s vision changed since its inception?

Elahi: In fact, the goal was to show that no matter where you come from, in the end, everyone – every young person – goes through similar difficulties at different levels. In this way, by bringing together everyone from different walks of life, you kind of create common ground between young people. And I think to this day that vision still remains. It has been refined and we have refined it a bit, but the concept of leadership pervades and pervades all of our programs.

Elachi met Bergman at an event for Seeds of Peace, a peace organization that trains young people to tackle global equality issues. Bergman encouraged Elachi to apply for the MCW Young Leaders Program, which helps people aged 18 to 26 implement education, health and economic development plans for their communities. Elachi participated in the program and continued to volunteer for MCW for four years at NYU before becoming more active after graduation.

BSS: How do you see the future of MCW?

Elahi: One of the things we’re trying to do over the next five years is to take a step forward in everything we do and help the most vulnerable. For example, we reach many young people who can access our programs, but what about those people who do not have the Internet? Or what about those people who cannot get to the dental clinic to check their teeth?

I learned that in Rwanda they make a book library on a bicycle. So they take packs of books, drive around, and build little mobile libraries for communities that don’t have access to libraries. So the next big thing for us is to go out and touch the lives of people that we couldn’t touch before.

BSS: How does life in New York give students the opportunity to participate in work that is in line with the mission of MCW?

Bergman: We have always tried to get people out of their bubbles and interact, work and volunteer with people who are different. We’ve always tried to get people to travel to places that are outside of their homes and their comfort zones – you can even do that in New York, we’re such a diverse city. Being at NYU is such a great opportunity that students should be part of such a vibrant and diverse community, but they should take advantage of this opportunity, otherwise it’s very easy to just stay in Washington Square or in classrooms.

Contact Adrianne Nehme at [email protected]