While Saint Anselm College student Emerald Russell '07 prepared her senior thesis this past fall and pondered options for grad school, about 7,000 miles from campus a special building was under construction.Russell helped design and coordinate the construction of the structure, which -- like much else she has done over the last two years -- has greatly improved life for 35 students at Mwereni Primary School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Moshi, Tanzania.The psychology major from Winterport, Maine, was introduced to the school as a volunteer teacher during her sophomore year. The children's joy despite hunger, illness, and poor living conditions won her heart. She returned to Saint Anselm determined to help.With assistance from the Meelia Center for Community Service, the former basketball forward raised nearly $10,000 to help two students suffering from Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a severe skin cancer that causes blindness.She brought Ally Amiri, 9; Emmanuel Tenga, 11, and guardian Dastan Anthony to a New York camp for XP children. She also drove them to the National Institutes of Health, where doctors examined the boys, removed a cancerous tumor from Ally's lip and made a strict recommendation: no exposure to sunlight. This instruction is now being carried out in the $60,000, sun-safe building that provides a play area for all the students. Dan Meehan, a Milwaukee philanthropist Russell discovered while at NIH, paid for the structure, and the two met for the first time in Moshi when they attended the Jan. 6 dedication. Damas Urenge, principal of Mwereni, credits Russell with making incredible changes in his school. A live-in teacher tends to the children on a salary paid by Russell's high school, Hampden Academy. Food stays fresh in a refrigerator bought with Meelia Center-raised donations, which also paid for school supplies and uniforms. Classrooms are amply stocked with books in Braille, and all 35 students have received basic medical care.But Emerald, who plans a career in global health, says the children of Mwereni have given her much more. It is an incredible privilege to be able to do something to help these children, she says. I know this is what I want to do with my life. Less