So I have some majorly exciting news that has been brewing for about a month. And actually it's been official for two weeks or so, but I've just been too swamped with school and work to write about it (and the other 4 blog posts that are on my to-do list every.single.day), but I don't want to keep the news to myself any longer, so I thought I'd spare a few minutes from my paper writing to update everyone.
So the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) does some really good work with it's partners both locally and globally with issues of hunger, refugee resettlement, disaster response, reducing malaria incidence rates, and generally working with communities globally to see what their needs are and how best they can be met while empowering the community. Turns out the UN (yes, as in the United Nations) noticed. So they have partnered together with the ELCA to have a young adult cohort for the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) to address issues that the CSW targets globally. Larger goals for the collaboration surround ideas of young adult leadership development and faith formation within a social justice framework while encouraging reflection and diversity of vocation. Within the ELCA the groups involved are ELCA World Hunger, Young Adults in Global Mission, ELCA Justice for Women, and ELCA Young Adults.
I have been involved with ELCA World Hunger for over 2 years now and so I was invited to a meeting in October in Eagle Pass, TX...a sort of check in with a group of people that are doing hunger and global mission work in the region. And while I was there an opportunity came up! The good people at ELCA World Hunger found out about my new Maternal and Child Health focus with public health and they thought I would be a good candidate for the young adult group....!
Sooo....
In March, I will head to the 59th session of the UN CSW in New York City and be part of this young adult cohort! I will bring my background in hunger work, but also the public health information I know about health outcomes for women and children worldwide (and how hunger affects lives).
And now my new life goal is to meet Emma Watson (with her UN work on the #heforshe campaign) and become best friends with her and frolic through fields of wildflowers together. I 100% don't believe that this life goal will ever happen, BUT it's still fun to dream!
And it's so, so, so, so exciting to be part of this! I'm still overwhelmed and shocked that anyone even thought to invite me. I feel fortunate that we found the funding for it. And that I made the transition to public health in the first place. Thanks for everyone who has been along for the ride! :) It's been a little bumpy, but things seem to be great. And I promise to keep everyone updated on all the things that will be happening (hopefully I'll even write about my experiences closer to when I have them...instead of waiting a whole month...oops ;) ).
Monday, November 24, 2014
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
what a difference a year makes
One year ago today, I began my medical leave. One year ago, I was, for lack of a better term, a hot mess.
But here I am today. I'm still kind of a mess, I suppose, but it has nothing to do with my health! I'm back in school and am in drastically better health. I can't believe the transformation that has happened over the past 365 days! Thank you all for that.
But here I am today. I'm still kind of a mess, I suppose, but it has nothing to do with my health! I'm back in school and am in drastically better health. I can't believe the transformation that has happened over the past 365 days! Thank you all for that.
Thank you for the UNMC faculty, deans and support staff who made it possible for me to take the time I needed. Thank you also for continually checking in on me this year to see how I'm doing.
Thank you to my doctors and their teams for dealing with my calls, emails, and my laundry list of questions. And thank you for reminding me what is best for me when I'm being stubborn.
Thank you to my parents for supporting me in every way. Thanks for letting me live at home. Thanks for cooking me food and doing my laundry on occasion. Thanks for putting up with me when I'm under anesthesia and not very nice :) (and the times when I'm not under anesthesia and am still not very nice!). Thanks Mama for the, sometimes harsh, texts reminding me to get my lazy bum out of bed when I'm tired!
Thank you to my incredibly wonderful roommate Megan who has had to listen to me whine about not feeling well ad nauseum. And for not making me feel guilty about leaving the apartment in shambles on occasion when I'm too tired to clean! I promise to clean the kitchen and mop the floors this weekend!
Thank you to my M2 friends for keeping me in the loop and for periodically checking in with me. A special thank you to Sydney, Brent, Meredith, Megan, Evin, Sally and Nathan.
Thank you to my new classmates for accepting me! A VERY special thank you to Hugh, Cason and Emily for not hating me after I was a know-it-all on the first day of orientation PBL :)
Thank you to my SMDEP students for encouraging me to head back to school!
Thank you to Dr. Edwards for letting me temporarily infiltrate your practice and do some research in my time off. Thanks also for encouraging me to send abstracts into conferences (even though we both know it completely stresses me out!).
Thank you to Mr. Justin for reminding me to smile and laugh through the bad days. Thanks for understanding when I need to be selfish and go to bed at 8:30 pm, like an old lady, even though it's ridiculously inconvenient for everyone around me. And thank you mostly for understanding that I need to study approximately one billion hours a week (give or take a few hours!).It's been a crazy ride. I haven't loved every minute of it, but I'm glad to be back. I have a test next week, so I'll leave y'all and go back to studying. Thanks to everyone who has had a part in my recovery!
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Listening to community...innovative or centuries-old?
I have been going to conferences like it's my job lately. I will, I will, I will (I promise) write about them very soon. I went to a global mission and world hunger consult meeting in October on the border in Texas. This week I attended/presented a poster at a conference about the scientific study of sex. Simultaneously, I attended a conference about hunger and charity at my church (the end of the week was certainly busy...I'm ready for a nap!). Eventually I'll write about all of that, but first I wanted to just put my thoughts out there on a theme that I've noticed between all of those conferences and my classwork this semester.
For my Health Behavior class, I've been doing lots of reading on health behavior theories and frameworks for interventions for particular behaviors (ex: smoking cessation programs, nutrition classes, frameworks for increasing vaccination rates or condom use or whatever the behavior is). The more recent research in any of the theories we've explored is about how people will respond better to an intervention if they have a little "buy-in" into it. Something like...people are more likely to make more positive health behavior choices if they think they are capable of it and they think it's important/want to.
Okay, that makes complete intuitive sense. Absolutely. The trouble is, too often researchers, public health peeps and doctors (or whomever else is involved) spend their energies simply telling people/communities what they need instead of asking what the person/community thinks they need. Turns out, this doesn't produce as favorable results. That also makes complete intuitive sense to me...I mean, who really likes getting told what to do? Not me!
So then I thought about the service learning work I did in college. It was completely focused around finding out what the community you were going to help actually wanted or needed. It doesn't work to serve others by just showing up and doing something that doesn't help them. You can see lots of well-meaning work like this in the mission trip phenomenon. Often youth/young adult groups go to impoverished areas domestically and abroad to "go and help the poor." Okay, awesome. I'm with you on that. But then the youth group comes in and paints a wall that has been painted a million other times by other youth groups. Or they slap a house together that wasn't built well and didn't really need to be built where it now stands. Or something else like that. That does nothing to further the community and doesn't really fill a need.
The best way to serve others is to have an open, honest and authentic conversation around what their needs actually are and how to work together to get to the end goal. It shouldn't be about the group of people "with the stuff" helping the people "without the stuff"--one group with the power and the other, powerless.
This idea is not new within the service learning community.
And then I've been going to these conferences and studying the things I study and each of the respective places mentions this concept (in their own terms, common to the language they use), like it's the newest, most amazing concept in the whole world. Do I think it's an amazing concept? Yes. Definitely. But I don't really think it's all that novel. Whether it's called "accompaniment," "community engagement" or whatever, it's the same sort of thing. I think in some areas of work/study, the concept probably is pretty new.
Maybe, just maybe, it makes sense to stop working in silos and have a free-exchange of ideas between business, service learning, health, church work or whatever it is you do. I am willing to bet that this idea of" listening to the people that surround you" is not the only truly groundbreaking concept that we can learn from each other.
Just some food for thought, I guess...
For my Health Behavior class, I've been doing lots of reading on health behavior theories and frameworks for interventions for particular behaviors (ex: smoking cessation programs, nutrition classes, frameworks for increasing vaccination rates or condom use or whatever the behavior is). The more recent research in any of the theories we've explored is about how people will respond better to an intervention if they have a little "buy-in" into it. Something like...people are more likely to make more positive health behavior choices if they think they are capable of it and they think it's important/want to.
Okay, that makes complete intuitive sense. Absolutely. The trouble is, too often researchers, public health peeps and doctors (or whomever else is involved) spend their energies simply telling people/communities what they need instead of asking what the person/community thinks they need. Turns out, this doesn't produce as favorable results. That also makes complete intuitive sense to me...I mean, who really likes getting told what to do? Not me!
So then I thought about the service learning work I did in college. It was completely focused around finding out what the community you were going to help actually wanted or needed. It doesn't work to serve others by just showing up and doing something that doesn't help them. You can see lots of well-meaning work like this in the mission trip phenomenon. Often youth/young adult groups go to impoverished areas domestically and abroad to "go and help the poor." Okay, awesome. I'm with you on that. But then the youth group comes in and paints a wall that has been painted a million other times by other youth groups. Or they slap a house together that wasn't built well and didn't really need to be built where it now stands. Or something else like that. That does nothing to further the community and doesn't really fill a need.
The best way to serve others is to have an open, honest and authentic conversation around what their needs actually are and how to work together to get to the end goal. It shouldn't be about the group of people "with the stuff" helping the people "without the stuff"--one group with the power and the other, powerless.
This idea is not new within the service learning community.
And then I've been going to these conferences and studying the things I study and each of the respective places mentions this concept (in their own terms, common to the language they use), like it's the newest, most amazing concept in the whole world. Do I think it's an amazing concept? Yes. Definitely. But I don't really think it's all that novel. Whether it's called "accompaniment," "community engagement" or whatever, it's the same sort of thing. I think in some areas of work/study, the concept probably is pretty new.
Maybe, just maybe, it makes sense to stop working in silos and have a free-exchange of ideas between business, service learning, health, church work or whatever it is you do. I am willing to bet that this idea of" listening to the people that surround you" is not the only truly groundbreaking concept that we can learn from each other.
Just some food for thought, I guess...
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Where has the time gone?
I am, in fact, still blogging. I know my recent history of not posting blogs sort of contradicts that fact, but at least in my head I'm still a blogger. I even have a list of blogposts to write. I just... I just... haven't written anything lately because I'm a lazy brains. And because I've been working lots lately (2-5 year olds dressed up on Halloween is absolutely adorable. For the first hour. And then after that they stop listening and make really poor decisions and everyone is in trouble).
BUT I will, at the very least, make this post. Hopefully this week I will also get around to posting about my trip to Eagle Pass, TX a few weeks ago!
For now... This incredibly done PSA about cyberbullying (and bullying in general). Look at this amazing performance! And then do your part to combat cyberbullying. So powerful.
BUT I will, at the very least, make this post. Hopefully this week I will also get around to posting about my trip to Eagle Pass, TX a few weeks ago!
For now... This incredibly done PSA about cyberbullying (and bullying in general). Look at this amazing performance! And then do your part to combat cyberbullying. So powerful.
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