#UNCSW60

Last year I went to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women with the ELCA Young Adult Cohort (you can read about my experiences here, here, here and here). If you want to learn even more, you can also read the ELCA Young Adult Cohort blog, which is a lot of people's reflections on their experiences at various years of CSWs. <---there's some powerful writing and observations in there. I highly suggest it as top notch blog reading material! 

I didn't go back for this year's CSW, but I have several friends who did (I also may possibly be Twitter stalking a few people that went that I didn't previously know, but I now have a bit of a cyber crush on...definitely a few people I want to be real-life friends with someday!). 

This year they made these incredible videos about their experiences as people of faith at CSW and in the world. They were edited/produced by Pastor Jason Chesnut out of Baltimore (The Slate Project...which works to re-imagine "church" in the 21st century by meeting online and in person). 

There's some good stuff in there. Altogether the videos are only 6.5 minutes, so you should definitely take the time to watch. I know for me it was a treat to watch the people I look up to make a difference in the world in their short time at CSW! I will admit to you all that I am incredibly proud to know these folks and be working alongside them in the world. 

the long lost photos of UN CSW

Lookie, lookie what I found! Long lost photos from my time at UN Commission on the Status of Women. Thought I would share them with you all now.

hard at work planning the World Hunger donors event

I promise I was stuffing my face just a few seconds before this.
I purposely staked out by the food (dessert) table because I have priorities in life. 

The whole group! ELCA YA cohort, international women and staff. 

This is me giving my testimony/personal story during Chapel about
cycles of poverty, violence and low educational attainment being intergenerational.
Health is certainly affected by many things, but it's also affected by the health of your parents and grandparents. 

the group post-Chapel 

Apparently the first time of finally getting to talk to Kaleb
right before I left at the end of the week, was somehow disconcerting to me. 

so thankful for these women and men.
ELCA YA cohort 

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women: Part 2

Got my UN flag to add to the collection! :) 

Welcome to part 2 of my UN Commission on the Status of Women experience last March! This post actually has the bulk of the sessions I went to, but for my reader's sake (and to prevent your poor eyeballs from tiring out on my ramblings) I wanted to split it into two posts. There was an incredible amount that happened in that short week--and sleep was not really one of those things. A special shout out to my roommate, Erin, for putting up with me for the week in our teeny tiny Ikea hotel with all of the stuff I over packed :) 








Maternal Health (Tuesday)

UN member state flags lining the stairwell the ambassadors take
while going into the GA chambers 

Truthfully, the only thing I remember about this session was that it was underwhelming. I didn't even take notes in it. I vaguely remember being upset that the conversation was around older ideas of maternal health and wasn't really talking about anything that has come out of the Maternal and Child Health field in the last 20 years. Granted, this is my concentration and focus in school. I've had several classes specifically devoted to maternal and child health (5 classes last year alone...and all of my other classes mention it also). I understand that I have a pretty deep understanding of the field, but I also would have appreciated if they didn't present concepts to improve maternal health (and reduce maternal mortality) that have been around since the Beijing Platform for Action was written 20 years ago. 

I was lucky enough to go visit my friend Em and see the view
from the top of the Bloomberg Tower!
(I totally wasn't supposed to take photos...)

Sacred and Safe: Building Capacity of Faith Communities to Address Gender-Based Violence (Tuesday)

life goal to have a tapestry portrait...?
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General 

This one was a hard one for me. We know that gender-based violence (sexual assault, domestic violence, child marriage, garden variety sexism, etc) is happening in our world and in our communities. How do we, as people of faith, respond to that? There was a panel of speakers that are doing things in their own context (all US based) and some shared stories of incarcerated women who were victims of gender-based violence and ultimately of the justice system too.

"I know there's no violence in heaven and I'm grateful for that. But we need Heaven to touch down here on Earth."-survivor of sexual assault 

"Out of fear, after several instances of reporting the abuse, I killed him. But the jury didn't hear anything about the domestic violence. My situation could have been prevented if the law would have done their job." -survivor of sexual assault/life without parole server

"You can deny domestic violence, but it will come into your sanctuaries. Don't make victims choose between faith and their safety."- Rev. Dr. Whitehead 

"Religion has been part of what has sustained violence against women and children. It's so darn useful. That's why it's hard to eradicate. It controls women." -Rev. Dr. Fortune  

my view for worship one morning

Morning worship (Wednesday)
We hosted worship this morning for the Ecumenical Women. I presented a testimony on the lifecourse approach to healthcare and women's health (my health is affected by my Mom's health from before the time she was born--so my Grandmother's health--and the environment in which I grew up...this is what leads to intergenerational habits and cycles of violence and poverty for many people). There was song, more testimonies and an overall great time worshiping together!

Women and Men partnering in the Elimination of Sexism (Wednesday)
So this wasn't my favorite session, but I do know that it was powerful for many people in the group. The organization that put it on, is a sort of decentralized counseling group that has partnered talk therapy sessions about how patriarchy/sexism/reverse sexism has affected their lives. I spoke with a wonderful woman from Maine, but other than microaggressions, I didn't have much to talk about how sexism personally affected my life. Many others had much more extreme things to talk about. The idea of having partnered talk therapy is really powerful and one that I think should be used elsewhere (you have 2 people partnered together...you set a timer for say 5 mins and one person talks and the other listens. The listening partner cannot verbalize anything for that 5 mins and should just listen. Once the timer has gone off, you switch roles). The act of just listening...and not hearing to respond... is so powerful.


Silent No More: How Can Faith Communities Address Sexism and GBV? (Wednesday)

UN member state flags lining the UN campus

This was the other meet up that we hosted and it was quite successful. I actually spent most of the event waiting for the caterer to bring something, so I wasn't part of it, but the participants had small group conversations, reflection, artistic expression, prayer, and saw examples of the ELCA's work on gender based violence and gender justice. It was so successful that we actually got kicked out of the building because we were taking so long!

Creative Interventions Addressing Critical Health Issues in the Post 2015 Agenda (Thursday)
This was hands-down my favorite session of the whole week. This was also the presentation most rooted in public health core concepts. They pointed out that 25% of our health is determined by the healthcare system and the other 75% is other determinants of health (most notably socioeconomic status and other social status indicators. One presenter worked in Uganda and was explaining that Uganda had the perfect storm of bad health outcomes for women. They had soldiers standing outside of hospitals preventing women and children from getting healthcare. 80% of women give birth with a traditional birth attendant (TBA), despite the fact that they are illegal. So an organization tried a novel approach--they gave the traditional birth attendants some "heart strings." They are simple a string of red, green, and white beads used for illiterate TBAs to measure the pulse of fetuses to detect distress. Rather than perpetuating poor health outcomes and criminalizing women who use TBAs, they decided to do something to improve health. These TBAs often provide holistic prenatal and postpartum care to women and are already within their communities, so health outcomes have improved drastically. This presentation also talked about a really great lifecourse study of post-menopausal women. All around, this was just the best one! 

Three Lives of Women 20 Years After Beijing (Thursday)

Ms. Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate 

The last of the events that we sponsored, this portrayed three women from Palestine, Kenya, and the US about how women's lives have evolved since Beijing and what the role of faith-based organizations have been in the evolution.

“What has really sustained sexual violence is the silence. Once the silence is broken, you have to face the consequences--poverty, more violence, hunger, etc.”-Dr. Fulata Moyo of the World Council of Churches

“I consider education to be a sacred mission.” –Suad Younan on involving male allies in conversations about women's rights and empowerment on the road to gender equality

"Because when a woman flees [from violence], she does so responsibly." -Jen Engquist on her mother wrapping up loose ties when her family had to flee from an abusive father/husband 

"It's hypocritical to speak outside the Church about gender based violence, when we still have it inside. Society is modeled after the Church." -Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate (and a Lutheran!)

Best Practices in Policing and Mental Health Care: Efforts to Promote Gender Equality, Empower Women and Girls, and Reduce Violence Against Women, Children, Minorities and Victims of Human Trafficking (Thursday)

I utterly love this globe sculpture and the flags behind

Often times the justice system does it wrong. They don't end up protecting the victims of violence. However, that's not to say that there aren't police officers, prosecutors, lawyers, victims advocates and others that aren't doing it right. This presentation was put on by them. It was really interesting to be part of considering my relationship with the Douglas County Jail correctional officers (I see them as colleagues when I'm there and testing/educating inmates about STDs and the Hastings Police Department (my Grandma is the chief's secretary))--I know many of these officers personally and know they have best interests at heart. Sometimes the system fails though. 

"I call "violence against women and human trafficking" slavery because it dials up the seriousness, even if some people are uncomfortable with that."-police officer

Human trafficking is a shadow situation. It's not like the slavery before. Everyone is underground now. 17-20 million people are projected to be living as modern day slaves. Even here, at UNCSW, when we think about "international," we don't often think about violence here in the US.

You may think people are being trafficked by strangers, but it might actually be their brothers, fathers and other family members. Most people that are trafficked in the US are from the US.

If we tell women to report domestic violence or sexual assault and they get beaten or have to pay money to press charges, what are we teaching about speaking up?

We also have to be fair to male victims. Most perpetrators are men, but some are women. And those male domestic violence victims are often forgotten.  

My experience in New York was amazing and powerful. And truthfully it has taken me 6 months to be able to write about it. The conversations I continue having around these topics and with the people I was with are so amazing. Just last night we held a conversation/book club about Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Jon Krakauer). It was a hard read, for sure, but I am very thankful for the community to support me while I read. Even more, I'm thankful for conversation partners about these issues since UN-CSW ended.

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women: Part 1

Looking out on the UN campus from the Church Center

So it’s been 6 months since I’ve been to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW). Let’s pretend like I did that on purpose and not that I got too busy to write about it before now…

I learned so much while at CSW and it has informed how I have approached homework (and even living in the world), work, and other conversations I've had since then.

A little background on the event: the CSW is held each year for two 2 weeks in NYC at the UN campus. This year's CSW theme was "Beijing +20," a sort of evaluation of how far we've come on issues of equality for women globally since the Beijing Platform of Action was drafted at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995--and conversely how far we have yet to go. Beijing was the place where Hillary Clinton first said "...human rights are women's right and women's rights are human rights." (If you don't remember the video of her wearing her pink jacket and addressing the crowd, her campaign has re-released the video several times recently). The critical areas of concern then (and now) are:

more UN campus

• women and poverty
• education and training of women
• women and health
• violence against women
• women and armed conflict
• women and the economy
• women in power and decision making
• institutional mechanism for the advancement of women
• human rights of women
• women and the media
• women and the environment
• the girl-child

Our group was going to be there only for the first week of the CSW. Unfortunately we had a rough start to getting there due to weather, but eventually we all arrived and got our UN grounds passes. 

Ecumenical Women (Saturday)

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women

Our first full day was spent with the Ecumenical Women. Getting an orientation to the CSW, but also the CSW and issues of inequality, inequity, and justice from a faith (Christian) perspective. It was a great introduction of what to expect for the week and also a great networking opportunity. 

"When people are busy, it does not mean they are making progress." -Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of UN Women on the busyness of the past 20 years & the work towards equality

NGO Orientation (Sunday)

standing in line to get into the Apollo Theater

This was a really cool event. It was held in the historic Apollo theater in the Bronx. It was the orientation day to the event with all of the other non-profit/NGO organizations that were represented at UNCSW. They had many speakers and a few panel discussions, too. Conveniently, the orientation was held on the International Day of the Woman (March 8th), so there were many celebrations to be had for that also. I was bummed that I didn't get to make it to the big Int'l Day of the Woman march in Times Square, but nonetheless the UN CSW events were powerful.

"Although we've made changes, we have not been dismantling patriarchy. We need to discuss how to change the paradigm to achieve gender equality. The world must change, not the women" -Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of UN Women

Imagine the last girl: the 13 year old uneducated child in India who is raped nightly by 8-10 customers in the brothel. How do we help her? She does not have access to a phone to report abuse to a helpline. She cannot read laws in English or Hindi. She can't walk to the police to report. They won't let her escape. She is no one. <-- This is who we are working for.

"We need to define equality. Who are we going to be equal to? I look around the community and see men that are miserable. Do I really want to be equal to them?" -Dr. Gertrude Mangella, former Under Secretary General, UN Fourth World Conference on Women 

Sexuality Education: The Way Forward for Equality and Empowerment (Monday) 

view from my seat in the ECOSOC chamber

Oh goodness gracious was I excited to be at this session. Comprehensive sexuality education has been a passion of mine for many years and it seemed like it was finally coming full circle. I actually was seated in the row behind many people from Advocates for Youth, an organization I had trained with in college. As a generalization, most industrialized European countries are fairing far better than the United States when it comes to teen pregnancy rates, STI infection rates, general sexual health knowledge and reported sexual assault rates. I've already written about what comprehensive sexuality education is, so if you're curious, check it out! This was a report-out of what went well, what needs improvement, and ideas for other countries. It was especially an honor to see the European regional director of Planned Parenthood. She was held up in traffic and arrived late, but didn't even take one minute to compose herself before answering a question. She really is impressive and does amazing work.  

"We asked our students what did you learn from your [comprehensive sexuality education] classes. One said "I didn't know girls could be equal to boys. Today I learned this.""

Abstinence-only programs do not address child marriage, sexual violence and non-consented sex. The problem with these programs is that there is no talk about the transition of not having sex to having sex. There's nothing about partner negotiation. And the human development journey is far from the binary idea of having sex to not having sex. Can you change your mind later? 

Empower Rural Women to Achieve  Food and Nutrition Security (Monday)

I was also really excited about this session because of my research focus on rural food insecurity in the United States. Unfortunately, for me, this session didn't cover anything in the United States. It was interesting, and important, for me to learn about rural women in the rest of the work and the struggles they go through in order to be able to farm.  There are many laws, policies, and other structural inequalities that prevent women from being able to grow food--although time and time again they have been shown to have better yields with fewer resources. A quick list of a few things women are working against--must have a man's (her husband) permission to work--where does this leave widows and unmarried women, must be a man to have land owning rights, many businesses will not sell seed or equipment to women, etc. It wasn't what I expected, but it certainly was informative.  

Faith + Justice + Culture Meet Up (Monday) 

This is a meet up that our group held at a bar for young adults to come talk about the intersections of faith, justice and culture. I, honestly, was over exhausted from a donor event we held the night before and the excitement of the day, but still had a good time. I met some young adults working in STEM fields and continued learning more about people in our own group. The conversations were rich though.

Lego UN

Lego UN

Plenty more coming on my experiences at UN CSW, but for your sake it's coming in parts. Come back later this week to read more!

State Board of Education

If you know me at all, chances are you know that I'm a big supporter of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). What exactly is CSE, you ask? From some supporting materials I got at the UN from the CSE programs in Germany and France…

"CSE should be based on a holistic concept of well-being, that includes sexual health. It should address all aspects of sexuality, including pleasure, as well as social norms and gender roles. It should be firmly rooted in self-determination, gender equality and the acceptance of diversity, free from judgement and stigmatization. It should be mandatory, starting in early childhood, and be provided in accordance with the evolving capacities of young people. Finally, CSE should deliver scientifically-accurate information on sexual health and rights, including on contraception, abortion and STIs. 

CSE should aim at empowering young people so that they acquire the means and skills to fulfill and advocate for their rights, to live and express the sexuality freely, to develop critical-thinking and to exercise full citizenship and autonomy in all aspects of their life. It should be understood as a way to create a safe and respectful environment, preventing discrimination and violence based on gender and/or sexual orientation." (emphasis my own)

So I pretty much think it's the bees knees. It goes so much further than just talking about sex or about how abstinence is the only way until marriage and goes into relationship negation and many other things (more on that later).

Well anyway, the Nebraska Board of Education had a work session meeting today discussing a grant that the Department of Education received that is doing some CSE work (nothing has actually been done about teaching students about sex at all…it's been about LGTB inclusiveness, bullying, learning about your own school's policies about sex ed or creating one, involving community partners, etc).

And I went to go give public comment in support of CSE. Here's what I said (minus a few things that I ad-libbed that I don't remember…) :

Hello my name is Jenny Sharrick and I am a public health student at UNMC. Thank you to the board for this time to speak.

Just last month I attended the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. This year's commission was a 20 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action. We have made a lot of progress in the past 20 years to achieve gender equality and gender equity globally. But there are still many things to be achieved for the improvement of women and girls' lives; specifically the U.S. struggles with sexual assault and gender based violence. This fact was emphasized and re-emphasized at the meeting.

Returning to my life in Nebraska, I have done CSE for almost a decade now. In that time, it has taken many forms but for now I spend lots of time in the Douglas County Youth Correctional Facility and Omaha Home for the Boys transitional living home doing CSE. At the Youth Facility, too many of the detainees are there because of sexual assault or gender-based violence. Over 90% of them are sexually active; many even have children. These are not adults, these detainees are aged 8-18. The youth at OHB are very similar in their experiences moving through the foster care system in Nebraska. Just this week I had a conversation with a 19 year old at Omaha Home for the Boys who was worried about taking a paternity test for a child with his ex-girlfriend. He's not ready to be a father because he understands the weight of that, but no one talked to him before they were sexually active about what the possible ramifications of unprotected sex could be. These youth are eager to learn about their own health and how CSE affects their lives. These youth are no different than any of the other youth in Nebraska.

CSE is so much more than talking about dichotomous ideas of being sexually active or not, using contraception/protection or not, being abstinent or not. CSE IS about partner negotiation, what is and what isn't consent, what qualifies as good touch and what is bad touch, goal setting for your own life, and knowing your own body and your limits. Most of these things don't even have to apply to sexual health, but rather are important in overall health and well-being. But ALL of these things need to be discussed in a safe space to heave healthy relationships before the real life situation arises.

These topics are essential to youth growth and development. They are also in line with the Millennium Development Goals, the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals & the Beijing Platform for Action, which are frameworks that guide us globally. Nebraska is working to be in-line with these aforementioned goals because of the WISE method and the funding from the Grove Foundation. Continuing these programs is imperative for the youth of the state. And hopefully, as a secondary benefit, we can also affect the state's teen pregnancy and STD transmission rates and reduce sexual violence in Nebraska. But first and foremost, we empower our students and youth to make the best health behavior decisions they can.  

I just thought I would share. In the 5 minutes I spoke, I couldn't touch on all of the points about CSE that I think are so beneficial, but those were some that people often don't think about. It was an awesome experience and fun to network with some of the organizations in Omaha that are also doing amazing work in this area.

Hooray, I'm a guest blogger!

I guest blogged today. Well actually I guest blogged last week, but I finally got the courage to post it today. Or did I really guest blog when it was a requirement of being part of the cohort that went to the UN Status on the Commission of Women? I don't know. Point is, I have blogged! You can find it here. Or you can just read it below. [Side note: it was really weird for me blogging under a different domain...I felt like I had to watch what I wrote more than I do here because it was for a different audience or something. Definitely a good experience though.]

Breaking the silence. Dismantling the stigma. Erasing the shame.

(Trigger Warning: This post discusses sexual assault)

When preparing to come to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), I thought I knew what I’d hear about. I’m currently a public health student in the area of maternal and child health so I spend my days considering social determinants of health such as poverty, access to food and healthcare, educational attainment, local laws pertaining to women and their enforcement (or lack thereof), gender-based violence such as sexual assault and domestic violence, and the unique health disparities of women in conflict zones.

In all of these areas, and more, women and girls face inequalities when it comes to health. They do not have the rights or access to make decisions about their own bodies in many cultures. They are disproportionately affected by hunger and poverty. In some places they still cannot own land or make financial decisions. In far more places than I care to think about, women and girls are used in war situations as objects for gaining power.

I knew I would hear reiterations of the same ideas while at CSW. What I did not realize was how focused this year’s events would be on the violence and sexual assault that women and girls face all over the world on a daily basis.

In my other life at home, I do a lot of work in my community with sexuality education and sexual reproductive health. That has taken different forms over the past decade, but right now it’s predominantly concerned with the epidemic rates of both chlamydia and gonorrhea in Douglas County, Nebraska, where I currently live. Along with many other community partners, our primary focus is within the incarcerated population because they experience many forms of health disparities before, during, and after incarceration. 

That means that I spend my time in and out of the youth correctional facility (ages 8-18) and the adult jail (age 18+) doing age-appropriate, evidence-based, medically-accurate presentations about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), sexual assault and consent, and STD transmission and prevention methods.

We already have conversations with the youth detainees about consent, but as I was very poignantly reminded at CSW that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted by the age 18 and 1 in 3 in her lifetime. This is not including the 1 in 6 males (or likely more due to underreporting) who experience sexual violence before the age of 18 in the United States.

The conversations I’m having are clearly not enough.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I definitely do no think that all persons detained are rapists or have sexually assaulted someone. Similarly, I know for a fact that every person who has sexually assaulted a person is not detained.

But I do know that I can do something to further the conversation surrounding consent. Even if within my own tiny sphere. I don’t know explicitly how to alter the curriculum we are using, but I now head back to the literature to figure out what has worked in other communities. And I will also expand these conversations to the adult inmate population–we know that we are never too old to learn something new.

While the work that I do is not directly linked to a church or congregation, it is linked to my faith and concern for justice. That does not mean that the Church cannot be a leader in impacting the problem. In fact, I wish there were more congregations that were explicitly addressing these concerns. There are greater conversations about what is “good” touch and what is “bad” touch, good/bad relationships, partner negotiation, and what qualifies as consent (and also what doesn’t qualify as consent) that the people in your pews are aching to hear…they just may not express it for fear of the silence, stigma, and shame surrounding the topic.

I challenge you now, Church, to be the voice for good. Preach and teach on those texts in the Bible dealing with violence (yes, they are in there). Discuss those feelings, insecurities, and fears…be sure to get at the root causes. But most of all, I challenge you to be a safe space and provide healing for those who are victims of violence of any kind.

Let’s break the silence, dismantle the stigma, and erase the shame.

Jenny Sharrick, Omaha, Nebraska

UN Commission on the Status of Women

[Once I kick this sinus infection (it's going to happen...even if I have to sleep for the next gazillion hours and bathe in antibiotics...it WILL happen), I will post summaries of all of the sessions I went to. For now, I leave you this...]

The group that headed to NYC last week to the UN has their own blog. YOU can read it. The people that I spent my week with are amazing. They truly are. I am humbled to be in their presence and to learn from and reflect with them. Our reflections from while we were there and some from after the experience are/will be posted there. If you're interested in what millennials have to say about being part of the Church and being involved with justice work, you WANT to read this stuff. It's so rich and awesome!

If you want to see a pictorial and social media update of the things that happened, look at our Storify. You'll get quotations from sessions we were in and pictures of the things we were involved with. Plus a more spread out point of view than if you just read my blog!

But more to come...so much left to process though. And naps to be had first :)

life goal: Emma Watson and I will frolic in fields of sunflowers together

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 ;) ).