Willie Williams and The Path Out of Poverty
I had just attended my organization’s annual ‘day of service’, one day during the year when everyone from the Single Stop USA New York office volunteers at a partner site to offer their time and service in whichever way is most productive. I was placed in a food pantry about 10 blocks from where I […]
Building community: One Air Mattress at a Time
In our orientation training for Global Health Corps, many speakers presented us with analogies or metaphors for how to view the fellowship year. For some, it was a ladder: a series of rungs to climb up, each step taking you further than the one before it. For others, it was a web: a constantly-expanding network […]
Adjusting to Eating for Two
Never, would I have pictured myself eating for two after 3 months of living in Rwanda. Currently, I am writing this post from the twin-sized bed nestled in an average dorm-sized room. With the onset of rainy season, we have seen rain approximately half the week; today is one of those rainy days. I am […]
Ebola and Fear
On the way back home from the GHC quarterly retreat in Virginia, a stranger on the subway tried to strike a conversation with the Boston fellows. He was curious about where we were from, what we did, etc. When he learned that we work with organizations at the frontlines of Global/Public Health, he immediately commented […]
Chikungunya: An Emerging Disease in The Americas
Given the major Ebola outbreak in West Africa, some governments throughout the world seem to be teetering on hysteria. In some cities of the United States, for example, schools have put teachers on leave and barred children from West Africa to enroll unless they show a health certificate, and parents have pulled their children from […]
How to Choose the Fellowship That is Right for You
Of the important decisions we have to make in life, career development calls for critical thinking. One thing that all fellowship applicants or job seekers must remember is that getting a job offer is one thing. Deciding if the job is right for you is another. Choosing the wrong job or wrong company will certainly […]
Social Innovation for Global Change – ‘The Next Mile Project’
Throughout my education and previous work experience I had limited exposure to the concept of social innovation or social entrepreneurship. The Centre for Social Innovation defines social innovation as “the creation, development, adoption, and integration of new concepts and practices that put people and the planet first”. The Next Mile Project (NMP) is a shining […]
Bursting Bubbles: Musings of a Sector Switcher
“It’s rare, you know, to have people like you! Sector Switchers!” I nodded appreciatively at my smiling coworker, despite that being the first time I had heard the phrase. Sector switcher? It sounds kind of fun, I thought. Like a name for a spy. “Agent Sector Switcher.” Sadly, I am not a spy (though I do […]
Power, Privilege, and HIV/AIDS: A Call for Renewed Activism on World AIDS Day 2014
Last week, after a screening of David France’s “How to Survive a Plague” for 200 Harvard College students followed by a panel of AIDS activists — I found myself among the angriest I’ve been since starting my doctorate. I was angry that in this session for “Case Studies in Global Health: Biosocial Perspectives,” a course that […]