“Give” and Take
It’s so easy to fall into the habit of interacting with only expats and missing the real life that is happening around you when you live as a minority in a country. About a month into the fellowship, I had the privilege of being invited to a Malawian wedding reception. One of my coworkers was […]
Lesson I learned from the community!
So, I always thought of my fellowship with MASS Design Group as a means for me to fulfill my desire to contribute to Global Health, because… well, we build hospitals! And who doesn’t see how hospitals contribute to the well being of communities, especially in countries like Rwanda? However, this one morning, while I was […]
Good Morning, Sir
My daily walk to work always feels like a grand event. Within minutes of emerging from my home, the neighborhood children announce my arrival with joyful shouts of “Muzungu! Muzungu!,” a term used to describe foreigners. My procession up the hill is usually accompanied by two or three of the children brazen enough to follow […]
Hiking to keep kids in school
On many occasions since my GHC fellowship began, I’ve thought: my job is awesome. The chance to work with an organization that truly engages the community is a privilege, and I’m learning so much from my GHC and Burundian colleagues as well as the children, teachers and parents with whom I work to improve primary […]
All Work and No Play?
Reading through this blog you might be starting to wonder whether the only thing GHC Fellows ever do, think about, or talk about is work. Well, mostly yes. The jobs that we do and the places where work demand that 90% of our time is dedicated to getting stuff done. No one who accepts a […]
How many times can you say Maternal and Infant Health in one blog post … and is it ever too many?
Wednesday started off a 3-day nationwide Maternal and Infant Health campaign in Rwanda. This campaign is repeated twice annually and provides free vaccinations, de-worming medications, vitamin supplements, health lessons and more, specifically targeting pregnant women and children through the end of secondary education. Every Health Center in the country prepares and hosts multiple sites in […]
America, the land of plenty! Did I just say that?
As much as I want to tell a story about how my first three months of the fellowship year has been exciting, enlightening and rewarding with inspiring experiences, I will defer that and tell a startling tale. Coming to America, as a physician trained in Africa, I would literally assume the healthcare system is void […]
We All Scream for Ice Cream
Post by: Emily Jane Sullivan When living outside of one’s home country, it is easy to notice the things that are different. However, I have found that it is often more interesting and remarkable to note what is similar. People’s desires tend to mirror each other all across the world when it comes to basics; […]
Saved by the Community
The anticipation of the GHC Burundi Quarter 1 retreat found me very excited. After the first three months, it was time to stop a little bit and take some time for evaluation and take a look back and forward, just to make sure that we are all still working on the same path of health […]
In the Second Sense of the Word
I had a moment of clarity during the quarter one workshop regarding my GHC fellowship. To share this insight, I’ll share two short stories. First, when I was in seventh grade I had an English project where I chose a word and then researched a variety of facts about this word. I chose the word […]