this time in Uganda

Who am I:

I am currently a Master's student at Tulane's school of Public Health and Tropical medicine in New Orleans, where I will earn my MPH degree in International Health and Development. I graduated from Beloit College in 2010, where I was first introduced to public health as an academic discipline and career choice. As an undergraduate I traveled to South Africa and Nicaragua to enhance my education in the liberal arts and global public health. Somewhere along the way public health became way more than just what I was studying... it is something I could talk about literally alldayeveryday. It became the lens through which I see the world.

Beginning tomorrow I will officially be enrolled in my public health practicum at Tulane as well as a member of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) Volunteer Corps in Uganda.

To orient you:

Uganda is a country in East Africa that borders Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and (Southern) Sudan. Although Uganda has a tumultuous past, it has been relatively stable and secure in recent years. In public health it is best known for its (almost miraculous) ability to lower its HIV rate from around 15% in the 1990s to around 6% currently. Although HIV is still a major public health problem in Uganda, it is generally seen as a success story in sub-Saharan Africa.

(http://research.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact/Uganda.htm)

Uganda is a developing country with a Human Development Index (HDI) ranked 143 out of 169 countries scored. Uganda is a PEPFAR country, meaning that it receives monetary aid from the US state department for HIV prevention and treatment. The current president of Uganda is Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

During my time in Uganda I will be living in Pader district, which is located in Northern Uganda, east of Gulu (Uganda), south of Sudan, and north of Lira (Uganda). Pader has been deeply impacted by the conflict in Northern Uganda, but has enjoyed relative stability for the past few years. Northern Uganda is currently considered a post-conflict region, which has many complex implications for public health and development in the region.

My dual role:

As an MPH student at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, my goal is to further my public health education and skill-set through immersing myself in public health and development abroad. I hope to gain a better practical understanding of what it means to live and work in a developing country as a citizen of the United States with a bilateral NGO. I will engage myself in a local community based organization so that I can better understand the contexts of poverty, culture, and politics that produce health outcomes of populations. More specifically, I will hone my skills in programatic research and application, as well as practice my monitoring and evaluation (M&E) skills within a limited resource context. Full disclosure: I will be earning credit for this experience towards the Practicum requirement that the MPH in International Health and Development at Tulane requires.

As an AJWS volunteer my goal is to help alleviate some of the burdens of limited resources in a developing country NGO by offering technical skills and assistance where I am able. Secondarily, but equally as important, I hope to engage the Jewish communities that I am a part of in what it means to promote social justice as a Jew. This blog will help fulfill that goal. It is my intention to bring my experience in Uganda back to the Jewish community in the United States through outreach and mentoring. Certainly one does not have to be a Jew to be involved in social justice and Tikun Olam (repairing the world), but my Jewish identity is deeply intertwined with service and my passion for public health and development.

The American Jewish World Service mission statement:

"American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community."

Well, there you have it. Tomorrow I will embark on a seriously long journey through LA and London to Entebbe, Uganda. Upon arrival, I will spend about a week in Kampala getting oriented and preparing for my departure up north to Pader, Uganda, where I will live and work for the next six months.

I plan to update this blog when I can. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

mjb