What a name means to me
Ellen, Lupiya, Sarah, Kimena, Ben, Mangesha. We all have names and usually we don’t have just one but 2 or 3 or 4 or more. Names give us a sense of identity. We associate them with who we are. We are given names or nicknames out of affection. This is why when a teacher with […]
Encounters with the faces of social determinants of health
2014 was quite a year for me. I left a job in advertising to purse a role that put in me touch with my passion for social justice and opened me up to a whole other world – the world of global health. The training at Yale gave me knowledge that I would not have […]
Elder Women as Agents of Change
Photograph by Eric Miller When you picture a traditional African grandmother, you probably see a woman who is caring but feeble, ever present to provide her guidance and unconditional love. But it is not often that elder women are viewed as vital agents of social change. In 2010, while on a study abroad in South […]
From working in the field to becoming a GHC fellow
I joined Partners in Health’s (PIH) Rwandan sister organization, Inshuti Mu Buzima (IMB), in September 2013. My short term contract was for 9 months working in the field as a Research Interviewer. I was working on the Verbal and Social Autopsy (VSA) project where the objective was to find out the probable causes of mortality […]
Creating Sustainability in the Rwandan Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
My Master’s program taught me about health systems strengthening. The concept is simple, clear, and ideal: you want to strengthen health systems. The harder part for me was the how. How do I do this? A health system is a large evolving enterprise comprised of many moving parts. What can I do to strengthen this […]
I am a Feminist, Sorry I Mean a Humanist
Women have exaggeratedly been undermined and still are in some parts of the world. Inequality created by some people who pretend to act according to faith-based holy scriptures has gone beyond measure that some people, the feminists, chose to stand up to fight for women’s rights. This work is not really in vain because in […]
The confusing maze of influences and influencers in advocacy
During the Article 25 Global Day of Action, a group of Ugandan-based Global Health Corps (GHC) fellows joined Uganda Development and Health Associates (UDHA) on the islands of Kaaza and Serinyabi in Mayuge District. These islands are located in Lake Victoria, and have no health facilities. The series of events started the night of October […]
Enhancing self-confidence
Usually we are let down by our own thoughts and feelings along with how the environment perceives us. If we want to be change makers, building our self-confidence will help improve those thoughts and feelings. Here we go! My own experience during the first quarter of my Global Health Corps fellowship year. Professionally, I am […]
This Year.
…This year will be transformational. I know, it’s a buzz-word that I was skeptical of in the beginning, but now I have no other word for it. This year will be heart and passion. This year will look like finally living the life I always wanted to live. This is the year for trying. Of […]
Increasing passion for global health through health promotion in rural Burundi
Being born in a country where public health is an everyday challenge and growing up in a country where women and children die because we lack skilled health care professionals, drugs, and health infrastructure is enough to make anyone pessimistic. Talking about change can be seen as just a distraction, especially for the mother sitting […]