I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult. -E.B. White I received a card from my friend Casey with that quote on it. I couldn't think of something better to summarize how I've felt the past 4 years. I'm particularly excited because while it's usually hard, as the quote implies, to change the world and have a lot of fun at the same time, I think these next few months will be as close to both of those as I'll get, at least for now. So what will I be doing? I'll have a better sense of what my day-to-day will look like over the next few weeks, but at a high level, here's what I understand. I'll be working for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) as a volunteer analyst. CHAI started in 2002 as an initiative of the Clinton Foundation with the primary goal of treating those living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world. Now, it's a separate 501(c)(3) and has broadened its reach to address malaria, TB, and more. CHAI works closely with local governments in order to ensure that programs are sustainable and scalable. In a way, they act as a consulting firm for Ministries of Health - from what I understand, CHAI's biggest resource is its people, and funding for projects comes as grants from external groups / organizations. President Clinton is the Chairman of the Board and Chelsea Clinton and Dr. Paul Farmer both sit on the BoD as well (I guess I won't hold his commencement speech against him). Fun fact: Julie Leder, CHAI's CFO worked at Deloitte for 17 years! **teams of businessmen and businesswomen** I’ll be based in Kampala, Uganda working with CHAI’s Ugandan and Zambian Pediatric HIV teams. The project these teams are working on (alongside teams in Malawi and Zimbabwe) is in year two of three. So, it sounds like a lot of the project planning and high level strategy has been completed. The work I’ll be doing will be to support the following goals:
More details to come. I officially do have a flight booked and take off tomorrow afternoon! Have any good book recommendations I should download for my loooooong journey to East Africa? Let me know!
Pam
11/19/2015 10:03:03 pm
Have a safe flight Justine!!!
Jake Schmidt
11/20/2015 05:07:15 am
So excited for you, Justine! What an awesome thing to do, and I'm sure it will be an incredible experience for you, too.
Tiffany
11/20/2015 07:09:47 am
You are always inspired to do social impact work and travel the world. So this is it. Have a great experience, make friends and stay safe. Look forward to seeing and hugging you on December 18 SFO.
Suzanne
11/20/2015 08:41:04 am
Thanks Justine for showing the young kids how to be a mover and a shaker. Good luck, stay safe, and continue to do good work. My boys want to know if you will contract Ebola or any diseases out there, already told them about AIDS. Bennett is gathering shoe box gifts instead of birthday present for kids in Africa for his birthday. Maybe one box may end up in your village area.
Shannon
11/20/2015 09:38:51 pm
You are such an inspiration. Have an amazing adventure!! Can't wait to read and hear about it.
Kaima
11/21/2015 07:22:39 am
What a cool journey. I am glad the wifi will let you keep us up to date. Now let's do something about that Patagonia bag. Your Kaima needs to get the north face to sponsor all your gears!
Mia
12/2/2015 12:44:43 pm
This is amazing! So proud of you for picking up and going ahead with this dream of yours. It's going to be an incredible journey. Also, what exactly do you need a motorcycle helmet for?!?! Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm eager to learn about the world around me and find that travel (and food) is one of my favorite ways in which to do so. Archives
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