A Day in the Land of “Milk and Honey”.
Having grown up in Kampala, I didn’t know what to expect when I set foot in Mbarara. Being a GHC fellow gave me an opportunity to have a fellowship placement with the organization Millenium Villages Project in Ruhiira. The village Ruhiira is located in western Uganda near the town Mbarara, famously known as “the land […]
Serving the Community
Born and raised in the urban part of my home country, Malawi, somehow meant living in the dark. I was exposed to urban ways of living, which I would describe as something at least good and fair. Never did I know that a number of people in some settings within Malawi are being deprived of […]
Find Your Drive.
Since my childhood, I have lost people due to health negligence, and even heard stories of how some doctors have left hospitals for greener pastures. I have seen and heard the doctor patient ratio in our main hospital, not to mention the smaller hospitals. I have seen and heard enough what is happening not only […]
The Power of LOVE in the Global Health Fight
Love is to show affection to someone or something. If only we can show Love to each other, several human lives can be saved. Consider the following examples: In 2000, the Ebola hemorrhagic virus struck the Gulu district in Northern Uganda, killing over 250 out of the 425 infected persons. Most of the medical workers […]
Growing a difference.
Rwanda is described as the land of a thousand hills. When I walk in the villages of Southern province of Rwanda, I discover that this is indeed true. As you walk through the villages you see coffee and tea plantations, forests with evergreen trees and fields with different types of crops. In this land of […]
Numbers, numbers, numbers
At our recent GHC Quarter 1 retreat, all current GHC fellows, alumni, and staff in Uganda got together for a panel discussion on Uganda’s health system. Mr. Obed Kabanda, the Executive Director of ACODEV, one of GHC’s partner organizations, gave an incredible speech on the status of the health system, how we are failing it, […]
New York City’s passions
New York is a city of strong passions. At least, this is what I always thought as an Italian, fed by the pieces of American culture that reaches every Italian from the day he or she is born. I have felt surprised, though, when I have experienced that passion in unexpected ways since being in […]
Sensitive photography 101
I’m no professional with a camera. Yet a few weeks ago I found myself adjusting the shutter speed of a Nikon D200 as I took a portrait of a girl smiling in front of a well for a professional photography assignment. The setting was Cankuzo, a jaw-droppingly scenic province of Burundi six hours from my […]
A lesson in everyday leadership
Returning from a field visit one day with my co-fellow Adeline, our car was stopped to help with an unexpected situation. A boy had jumped into a nearby lake and could not be found. When we arrived, I asked Adeline why no one was in the water looking and she told me that no one […]
Launch into it
Three months ago, when I started my fellowship, I was surprised that the main language spoken at the IDB is Spanish. It’s as if a little piece of Latin America has been transplanted right into the middle of DC. This was a welcome surprise, since I hadn’t worked in a Spanish-speaking setting since high school […]