Acute renal failure anaemia.  That was my official diagnosis when I was being medically evacuated from Ethiopia to South Africa.  All I could think was, 'What did I get myself into?'

I landed in Ethiopia in 2007, right before the upcoming drought and subsequent famine.  My US Peace Corps post was in Welenchiti, Ethiopia located along the High Risk Corridor in the Rift Valley.  I was the first white person to have ever lived in my town.  It was a glorified truck stop full of transient populations who brought with them disease, mistrust and a market for commercial sex work.  I worked with 20 reformed commercial sex workers.  I helped them start a farm to provide food and income for their families.  I had never planted a seed in my life.     

Those women were my joy.  Some were sold into prostitution at the age of ten by their parents.  They were courageous, strong and fearfully beautiful.  Their stories crippled my heart.  I taught them about health, family planning, business and nutrition.  They taught me about living.

In 2008 the short rainy season never came.  We lost 30% of our food and had no water.  Like everyone else, I began rationing.  I had to ask myself what was more important - drinking water, bathing or cooking?  Severe dehydration took hold and kidney failure soon followed.  In the midst of my greatest pain, I accepted my own death. 
I was evacuated to a hospital in South Africa with only a backpack. 

There was a deep change in me when I returned to the United States.  The difference in worlds was so stark; something needed to be done.   Thus began my search for a degree I could invest in. In one year I had experienced severe gender inequality, climate change, drought, famine, health inadequacies and infrastructure failure.  I was not going to settle for an education that didn't equip me to respond in all those fields.  Surprisingly, this was a much harder request than I had anticipated.

As fate would have it, I found the announcement of the Trinity College Dublin & University College Dublin program on an online press release one year later announcing the MacArthur Foundation had funded a new programme.  I credited the discovery as a gift from God.  It was as if someone had searched my soul and created a Masters just for me.  I was drawn to Ireland because I love the country.  Much of my family lives here and I found this a perfect opportunity to experience education within a different system with fresh ideas and new perspectives.  It felt like coming home.

I am interested to see where this Masters will take me and everyone in my class.  Never before have I been surrounded by such diverse people who crave the same change I do.  This programme brought these great minds together to study a wide range of interrelated topics.  The result is magnetic and thrilling. 

My mind often travels back to those 20 women in Ethiopia.  I wish I could thank them... because now I know exactly what I got myself into.

 

The London International Development Centre (www.lidc.org.uk) will host an International Workshop looking at the role of distance learning in the training of health workers in low- and middle-income countries. The Workshop will be divided into two days.

Day 1 will feature chaired presentation and discussion sessions, with presentations from international Distance Learning for Health (DL4H) providers and practitioners. Among the major themes to be covered during Day 1 include:

For more information about the DL4H International Workshop, please contact Chris Joynes:

chris.joynes@lidc.bloomsbury.ac.uk

For more information, please contact:

The Global Master's in Development Practice Secretariat
The Earth Institute
Columbia University

Email: mdp-info@ei.columbia.edu
Website: www.mdp.ei.columbia.edu