Rehema Aanyu | Global Health Corps

Rehema Aanyu

Rehema

Co-fellow

Jourdan Schiffer

Jourdan Schiffer McGinn

Placement Country: Uganda
Title: Documentation and Communication Fellow
Every day I aim at being a better human being in everything I do. Every day I strive to learn something new, talk to a stranger and be of help to anyone. These are investments in life.

Rehema graduated from Makerere University with a Bachelor's in Communication Skills and Literature. She was a journalist with New Vision Uganda's national newspaper, mostly reporting on politics and education. In 2008, she focused her reporting on issues of health after witnessing the dilapidated state of government hospitals and the agony patients go through while seeking basic healthcare. She has since used her journalistic skills to translate otherwise "ordinary ideas"on health into human-interest stories that inspire positive action from policy makers and ordinary individuals. In 2011, she volunteered in Kenya, under the Fredskorpset Exchange program, working in Western Kenya with communities greatly affected by the 2008 post-election violence and in Turkana, Northern Kenya, with communities affected by the drought. This inspired her love, devotion and willingness to volunteer, learn, share and use her skills to make a difference in the lives of individuals and communities in need. Away from work, Rehema is a children's short-story writer and founded Real Kids Uganda, an initiative that promotes creative reading, writing and child-health in schools in rural Uganda.