I remember that day in Yale when all fellows that were to be based in Uganda working on health systems quality improvement held a discussion on how to go about their kind of work, what it takes, and how to support each other. What immediately came to my mind was the question of what kind of work I would be taking over from the GHC fellow I was replacing. She spent most of her time looking through health facilities’ registers and feeding numbers into excel spreadsheets as she worked on setting up a system that would help the organisation track HIV positive mothers and their babies, and then use the information gathered to generate reports. What I thought then was how boring looking at health facilities’ registers for the whole year would be. It seemed I could use my time in more rewarding and exciting activities and at that moment I felt like the unlucky one considering the strength and enthusiasm the other members had as they described their positions. The more I thought about my work, the more impossible it appeared to be and I remember attracting a number of empathisers during the discussion. I was indeed not alone.
Now that I am halfway though with my fellowship, health facilities’ registers, tally sheets, and excel spread sheets are how I spend my day. I can see that you are about to tell me to find something more exciting if I am bored there but you had better wait to suggest that. The lenses I had on were showing me a “small picture” which could not help me see how exciting this assignment is. It is time to post my blog and remind myself I have story to tell.
After switching the lenses to the “huge picture”, I’ve been provided simple refection. These new lenses have enabled me to appreciate the process that goes into the “huge picture” and has also helped me realise that the numbers, tallies, the spread sheets, the registers are much more than what they appear to be. The realisation of the new picture is the reason I love what I am doing and that is what it means to be a Global Health Corps fellow.