Introducing myself

About me

Hello! I am Esraa Hassan, a third-year student registered in the Honors Specialization in Nutrition and Dietetics program at Brescia University College. I enjoy exploring different cultures and learning about them for the end goal to be shape myself into a culturally competent and culturally sensitive professional. I have the black-belt degree in Karate, and I use it to teach Martial Art Therapy to the very sick kids at Kids Kicking Cancer organization in London. My top areas of interest are Gut Health, Diabetes management, Food Justice, Intuitive Eating, Community Development, Ethical Approaches in Health.

Internship Placement and Partners

I will be mainly working on innovating and introducing a high protein probiotic based non-dairy food product in the community probiotic yogurt kitchens in Rwanda, and on advancing the current work done on probiotics yogurt in the same community probiotic yogurt kitchens. I am doing this work in partnership with University of Rwanda, and two Rwandan Non-Governmental Organizations: Living with Happiness-Icyemezo (LWHI), and Rwandan Mothers-TEAM (RMT), with the former two founded and run by Western PhD student, Aimee Utuza and her sister, Clarisse Cechetto Mukashumbusho . Also, another important aspect of the project will be building on what the past interns accomplished and established in East Africa in Tanzania regarding non-dairy based probiotics food products, such as the non-dairy based legumes and pulses project. Also, much work will be done to seek grants to financially support the newly established campus kitchen in University of Rwanda that acts as the focal point that supports the community kitchens in Rwanda.

Note: I am doing this work remotely from London, Ontario, CA.

Internship Goals

New Product development- high protein probiotic-based non-dairy food product.

• Innovate high protein probiotic based non-dairy food product that is compatible with the Rwandan context. The newly developed food product should align with the past intern’s work in probiotic based non-dairy food product and to specifically build on what the past interns accomplished and established in East Africa in Tanzania regarding probiotic based non-dairy food products , such as the non-dairy based legumes and pulses project.
• Develop the business plan for the prospective non-dairy probiotic-based food product.

Public health and community development.

• Collaborate with the community volunteers and the students from University of Rwanda to organize training sessions about the benefits of the probiotics.
• Communicate the research findings and the production process of my prospective probiotic based non-dairy food product  with the Foods and Nutrition Students at University of Rwanda and the Kitchen Mamas (the women who work in the kitchen to support themselves economically) in order to make sure they can skillfully replicate my work in Rwanda.
• Modify the current health promotional materials about the benefits of probiotics, the general food safety guidelines, and ideas for combining the probiotic yogurt with other nutritious foods to make well-balanced meals. Also, create promotional materials about the health benefits of my prospective probiotic based non-dairy food product .
• Do a nutritional analysis and develop the Nutrition Facts table of the probiotic yogurt on ESHA software and share it with the Rwandan partners.
• Introduce different flavors to my prospective probiotic based non-dairy food product .

Cultural Competence.

• Work on relationship-building with the African Partners in Rwanda to help make long-lasting sustainable changes to the community.
• Explore the Rwandan culture competently as the good understanding of the culture and the Rwandan context will immensely support the Research and development, the scientific, and the business aspects of the project.

Comparative analysis and building on the current probiotic yogurt research.

• Collaborate with the community volunteers into developing research in how the yogurt is consumed in the Rwanda context and how it could be included on their market.

Should you have any questions about the internship and my work, feel free to send me an email to enaguib@uwo.ca