By Esnatt Gondwe
In the last two blog posts that I have written, the reoccurring theme has been: the importance of cohesion, collaboration, and oneness- in the process of development. When I read Paulo Coelho’s book, “The Alchemist”, the theme of oneness and mankind’s ability to share knowledge that transcends race, orientation, species, sex, nationality or religious beliefs reaffirmed the importance of understanding that we are all connected- and that this understanding is the key towards achieving development.
As I work with my co-fellow, who is American, and the civil servants in the Malawi Ministry of Health, I have found that even though we understand different dialects of the health equity struggle, we all work to try and improve the health sector by finding middle ground. We find the one language that we all speak, a language that is built upon us all wanting to save lives and make a difference.
We have recently been working on several multi-stakeholder meetings. In each of these meetings, each development partner has specific objectives and deliverables that they want to see realized. But as a group, there is the collective objective of improving the health sector. Over the course of the last quarter, however, I have found that even if people have different strategies for fixing the issues, and disagree on the correct course to follow, the fact that everyone is willing to come up with strategies to fix the problem in the first place is the important part.
One of the reasons I love this fellowship program is because it depicts the very essence of a shared language and identity that transcends all parameters, and shows the strength that comes from diversity that has been reigned in to embody unity.