Pill Bottle Tick Tock

Malarone.

That daily dose of malaria protecting goodness. If you have a prescription for it in your name, you know you’re traveling far, most likely somewhere hot, most likely somewhere remote, most likely somewhere poor.

96 tablets. Enough for my entire stay in Malawi. Two days before. Seven days after. Every single day in between.

When I took the first pill in Seattle, my container was nearly full. Looking at it was daunting. Each pill meant another bucket bath, another night under a dusty insecticide treated mosquito net that will produce unprecedented sleep inhibiting allergic reactions, another conversation that will take twice as long because of language barriers, another look at an iPhone that will never ring. Each pill represented another 24 hours that will be at least 6 hours ahead of everyone who loves me. Twenty-four hours of having to adjust, negotiate, learn, relearn, unlearn and compromise. Time, needless to say, moved slowly. Each day, each pill, just never seemed to make a dent in the pile.

But as my workmate says when I present a new idea about changes to the organizational structure and work processes (my main internship task), “change is hard, but we can get used to”.

It wasn’t until a few days ago when I tossed my second can of Deet in the trash that I realized that time had escaped me. I grabbed my pill bottle to find less than half remaining.

Where did the time go?

Looking at the container now, I find myself a bit saddened. There seems to be a different script narrating my nightly pill-taking ritual. Each pill flushed down the back of my throat means one less picture I’ll take, one less walk through the market, one less conversation with the ladies in the kitchen who greet me so excitedly and make fun of my American cooking, one less fruit I’ll discover, one less moment in “the bush” that recalls stories my mother told me about her childhood growing up in Jamaica.

This was Tuesday's dinner. I'm not a fussy eater and the kitchen ladies at the lodge feel strongly that I'll never get married by just boiling veggies and putting salt on it. But hey, it was filling, yummy and cost about 10 cents. You can't beat that!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited to go back home. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends, reuniting with family at a cousin’s wedding that will take place just 3 days after I land, falling back into my normal routines, enjoying fast and reliable internet powerful enough to stream the new season of Orange is the New Black, cutting these darn braids out of my hair to free my afro, preparing for my half marathon and most importantly, getting a serious pedicure (these dirt roads are not kind).

But something happened between seven weeks ago and now. Now the thought of leaving tugs at me a bit and I wonder about the futures of the people I’ve met like Mercy. She’s the lodge cook who has a severe burn on left leg that left her with only three toes and whose knives in the kitchen are so dull, I struggle to cut a cucumber when I use it. How she’s able to prepare ANY food is far beyond my understanding. She told me today that she has a fiancé who lives in Blantyre, a commercial district almost three hours away. Quickly after telling me this, she advised that I should pray to God to send me a nice husband. I wonder if she’ll leave Balaka and her post at the lodge after they get married. I wonder how many children she’ll have.

Me and Mercy, the lodge cook

I’m curious about the lodge guard whose name I do not know. Turns out he’s actually a trained high school biology teacher who just wasn’t selected for the limited open positions in the government schools. He has a 5-month-old baby and just works here to make ends meet until he finds a better job.  Balaka is very rural and the lodge is a 15-minute walk from the main road. As you can imagine, there’s not much to do as a guard here so he passes the time reading a small worn down Bible. He told me one Sunday that sometimes he doesn’t go to church and prefers to read the Bible to know God.

Guard cooking his lunch at his post

I think a lot about Nunga, my new best friend in Lilongwe, a recovering alcoholic (2 years sober now) who currently runs a support group called “Overcomers” at her church every Saturday and dreams to build clinics in Malawi that will help adolescents with mental illnesses and drug additions.  I wonder what will happen to her kids, who I met one night when we had dinner together at her house, and whether their interests in bugs and animals will sway them in a different career path than she hopes for them. I wonder if she’ll tell them her story.

Me and Nunga after church.

I wonder about one of the driver’s daughters, who despite his disapproval, continues to pursue a career in journalism and was recently accepted into a university for a journalism degree. I wonder how he’ll manage to pay the school fees, since saving money is extremely difficult and not commonly practiced here.

This is not a reflection to portray how little people have and how much I have in comparison. This is not about guilt. This is not a reflection to sort out what I could do to impact these people’s lives. This is not about charity. This is not a reflection that ends saying that these people who have so little, somehow find a way to be so happy. This is not a fairytale.

This reflection is about realizing that everyone has a story that began before I met them and will continue long after I leave. My interactions with them and the relationship we develop will more than likely become a distant emotionless memory with the passing of time. They may forget me and I them. I am confident, however, that we’re learning from each other, even if it’s just in this moment. I hope that creates powerful ripples in each of our lives that push us to be more understanding, patient and open to differences. This reflection is about possibility.

I’m not sure how one makes the transition from counting pills each night to this; how does one go from worrying about their future to worrying about others’? I’ve never stayed abroad this long before to cycle through these stages. There’s something to be said about it, though. Maybe one day I’ll figure out what that is.

After Africa

 After three months in Dar, I have now made my way back to Ann Arbor.  The timing feels odd as many next steps were just beginning; many of my recommendations revolved around an integrated strategy for the mRDT market, which involved building consensus with other NGOs and the government.  My last afternoon was spent in a government conference room with all the key organizations gaining alignment on the next steps.  It will be exciting to see what occurs next, although most gains are not likely to really be seen for years and maybe even decades.  Motivating individuals to change behavior when the individual benefit is much smaller than the public benefit challenges and requires regulatory change is a goal that will not be solved with a summer’s worth of work.  My appreciation of the complexity around health issues has increased dramatically.  In addition to requiring coordination of many different stakeholders, technology can change much faster than implementation.  Achieving the best health outcomes requires the difficult balancing act of coordinating current products while planning for future changes.  I learned a lot about CHAI’s approach of working with governments and supporting private market and how that contrasts with other NGOs focused on the same outcomes.  My favorite aspect of the CHAI approach is the focus on achieving scale as part of the solution.  By taking a broad approach including governments and other stakeholders, many projects take longer, require more compromise, and change more frequently, but the end result can have a far wider impact.  The policy aspect of the work was the most challenging, but also the area with the most potential for improved outcomes.

So now as I get back to Michigan and gear up for the school year ahead, I am working on processing my summer experience and preparing for the future.  Business school really is incredibly fast-paced with new decisions arriving before everything can be totally processed.  I was able to achieve some of my primary aims in coming to business school in that I was able to stretch my boundaries, experience work life in an emerging market, and work within new business structures-- AND I was able to all of this with my family!  We were able to see many of the positive and negative aspects of living as an expatriate.  My experience this summer has prepared me immensely for the decisions that await me as I make decisions on the next step in my career.  The WDI internship has been a critical step in my step toward becoming a global leader.

1-yr olds can't go on safaris, but a stop at the Amsterdam zoo on the way home meant seeing giraffes up close

Watching the tide go out while in Zanzibar

Maraming salamat for the best summer!

My last month in Bohol, Philippines is not only about wrapping up my final report and presentation, but also traveling. It was very kind of my supervisor and his wife to invite me over their house in Cebu city. It took about two-hours riding on a ferry from Tagbilaran to Cebu. Cebu is the hub of the Visayas region. It is the most densely populated island in the Philippines and is second only to Luzon in its strategic and economic importance to the country. There, Cebu & Mactan City Tour took us to many highlights such as Santo Nino Basilica, Magellan’s Cross, Taoist Temple, Lapu-Lapu Shrine, a local Guitar Factory and Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House. We did some shopping at Ayala shopping mall, the biggest mall in Cebu and had a nice lunch at a Japanese BBQ restaurant, ending the day with delicious pizzas at Yellow Cab.  The next day they also took me to the Tops, looking out from a hilltop view over the city and had such a nice dinner at Busay Lantaw on the top of the hill.  I would say this last weekend making me relaxed from all the work over these last three months.

 

Hilltop view of Cebu City

Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House

Mactan Shrine

Lapu-Lapu Shrine

Taoist Temple

Magellan’s Cross



Besides, I could not close my blog without saying a big thanks to CEVI. They surprised me with a farewell party or what they called ‘despedida.’ They gave me a customized shirt, saying CEVI <3 Saranya, and some cute souvenirs. I forgot to mention that I already got a CEVI staff shirt as becoming one of their family too. They prepared plenty of food and desserts, and two giant cakes with my name on it!  I am very thankful for all of these.  Unfortunately, I only had time about ten minutes at the party since I had to leave to Cebu. I did not miss taking a last shot photo with all CEVI family.

 

My lovely shirt

CEVI Family

On my last day in Tagbilaran, I must say I felt very excited to go home after completing my internship. On the other hand, I felt really strange that I would not see my work partner, my team and my friends in the office everyday anymore. I am afraid that on the first morning in Bangkok I might be sleep-walking, trying to get a tricycle going to the office in the morning ..... hahaha.  Lastly, I never expected that my participation in the Global Impact Internship program with WDI will give me so much experience and knowledge. It also encourages me to be involved more in development area, not only micro-finance but also other potential tools or products that could help alleviate poverty.  

Thanks to Phnom Penh & WDI!

Hi guys! Today, I want to wrap up my internship by writing my final blog!  The things I want to talk in general are my personal opinions on Cambodia and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Since I am from Republic of Korea, I was very confident in living in Cambodia when I was selected as a WDI fellow.  My confidence, I guess, came from my nationality, my frequent trips to Southeast Asian countries, and my previous employment experiences in the navy!  However, as you may predict, there were many new challenges I faced such as weather, language, public order, sanitary facilities, etc. Even though those challenges sometimes gave way to me, I really enjoyed staying in Cambodia. I got to know how to respect Cambodian long culture and tradition, and how they live together.  Maybe, these positive impressions on Cambodia were the main motivation for me to work hard to improve the labour quality of Cambodians.

Ah! I have a special picture for you guys. The landlord of the apartment I stayed was a lawyer as well.  His home was on the first floor, and sometimes I visited his home because his family is so big with 13 members. Wow… I have never seen any family more than 10 members!

Doesn’t this home look so cozy and traditional?  If you read my third blog, you may remember the discussion on Buddhism in Cambodia. My landlord’s home also has a small Buddha statue at his home. I wanted to share this picture with you!  Of course, most Cambodian people are not affluent enough to have a big and clean house as my landlord's.  But, I wanted to just emphasize on the Cambodian’s love for Buddhism.

Thanks to Cambodia’s amazing potentials to grow, many foreign companies and UN agencies, such as Asian Development Bank, UNHCR, or UNDES, are located in Phnom Penh. If you want to work in an international organization, or to employ your skills and knowledge  meaningfully, you may find out that Southeast Asian countries are the best places for you. That’s why the ILO also regard Cambodia as a promising country with tremendous growth potential. Some people may think Cambodian people are not as happy as people in other countries due to poverty and less developed civilization. However, this is totally wrong. Cambodian people know how to be satisfied with what they possess, although the life style is not luxury or splendid, and the value of life in a spiritual aspect.
 

From this picture below, you can see the street foods that Cambodian usually eat out with friends or families. 

Personally, I feel so thankful for all staff in the ILO who were eager to support me whenever I needed help. They were very interested in my studies in the University of Michigan, and WDI as well, which makes me feel proud of being a WDI fellow during my internship. With even broader view toward the world, I am looking forward to sharing my 2014 summer in Cambodia with you soon. 

 

Thanks to Mumbai, Wello and WDI!

After spending ~7 weeks in the field, Mumbai  was my home for next 5 weeks. Crazy rain and high tide of Mumbai welcomed me.  Small tea stall near Wello Mumbai office was my morning destination for every day. It was a completely different experience at Wello Mumbai office compared to field experience. We celebrated various occasions with team members. One of such occasions was ice cream week.  On this occasion, entire office celebrated with natural ice cream. This brand is very famous in India. Fig-1 shows combination of yummy coconut tender and chocolate ice-cream.   

Fig-1: Celebrating icecream week at Wello, Mumbai office.

  In Mumbai office, I had to compile all my findings from field and use them to devise pricing strategy. In two weeks time, I was able to complete work on pricing strategy. CEO, Cynthia Koenig, mentored my work personally and guided me as when needed. She also accommodated my request to work on due diligence. Due diligence was an area where I wanted to work. Apart of due diligence, I further worked on financial models developed by previous WDI intern. Overall It was a great learning experience at Mumbai office. 

Logistics experience was also awesome. My residential place was hardly 15 minutes away from the office. Seashore was hardly at 5 minutes walking distance from my residence. Every evening I used to spend near seashore and experience cool sea bridges. However, I couldn’t go to any location within Mumbai or around as I used to return to Delhi on weekend. We also found a good restaurant for a great lunch every day. I was surprised to know the price of lunch that was just USD $0.83 per person. Fig 2 shows my lunch place and a full lunch plate.

On the final day, couple of surprises were awaiting me. A surprise team dinner at awesome place gave me a feeling that I should never leave such a caring and supporting team. Furthermore, a customized t-shirt with Wello logo made me emotional. Fig-3 depicts me before and after joining Wello.

With this, I would like to thank everyone at Wello specially Cynthia, Shradha, and Richard for their awesome support. Additionally, WDI team for their continuous support and reminding me for blogs and deliverables at regular interval of time. My special thanks goes to Sinia for her support from application process to till the end of the internship.

This is not the end of the journey with WDI and Wello but starting of a relationship that will remain for the life. 

Fig-2: My lunch and restaurant in Mumbai

Fig-3: Before and after joining  Wello 

 

A Farewell to Arms

 

The work family. I miss them so.

Why is the USA so messed up? I’ve come back to Black men being dead in the streets, assaults in elevators and retaliatory assaults for those same Black men lying dead in the streets. At the same time, there are beheadings of American citizens at the hands of fundamentalist terrorists because of the political stance and interventional actions of the US government. Again, why is America so messed up? Why am I intrigued enough to view the leaked nudes of celebrities who apparently had no complicit behavior in their release? Why is this so sensationalized? When did TMZ become the official trusted source for our news? Why is it that Chicago had 16 murders and 72 shootings during the fourth of July weekend  (“Independence Weekend”)? Where have we lost ourselves as a country? Where has the moral aptitude gone and when was it replace by despondency, complacency and general apathy? We’d rather be entertained by the latest reality craze…”The Real Something of Something or Other”.  I remember my first introduction to “reality” television when ABC came out with the show “The Bachelor”, featuring 25 women lining up to get a chance to be with what I imagine was one of America’s most eligible bachelors. Since then, there have been numerous spinoffs or ideations on how to capture an audience so hungry for contrived reality.  I fondly recollect the days when reality television was the news and it accurately portrayed what has happening in my community.

 

Why am I here ranting you ask? Good question. This summer, for eleven weeks, I was fortunate enough to spend my time in a country that maintained a fine appreciation for reality in the particular forms or morality and civility. From the beginning of my stay, I noticed the incredible impact religion/spirituality has on the country’s residents. Every district I visited had a visible commonality- almost all taxis/buses had religious sayings on their back windows. These sayings were not limited to the Christian majorities’ beliefs, but also included Islam and Judaism. This was not some one-off where a religious zealot was publicizing his ideology, but a consciousness that exemplified existence. While in Ghana, I did hear of the Chicago shootings and decided to compare them with Ghana’s violent crime- particularly homicide. During a three week period of interest, I managed to find they had 1 murder in the news and the reporting was continuously about the efforts of the police to solve it. Wrap our head around that nugget for a second. The reporting was not only to provide awareness of a homicide, but successive follow-ups on efforts to find the perpetrator. That absolutely floored me, particularly being a NYC resident who reads about /views reports on substantial numbers of murders.
 

With respect to the highly sensationalized leaked celebrity nudes, I will say this….Ghana had some leaked nudes and when I looked on the site (yes I looked, like a true American), nearly all of the comments were critiquing the individuals for their initial acts of photography/filming. That is a stark contrast to the lustful commentary seen in comments sections for our own leaks. I mean, people are making money off of leaked content in the states, so I personally hold myself at fault for being incredulous at this difference. People have made bona-fide livings off the catapult of monetized sexual imagery. We have to look no further than one Ms. Kim Kardashian-West, whose celebrity was built off of gratuitous exposure of her assets. As a disclaimer, I am not solely limiting this issue to women, as men have a significant hand in this as well, albeit consumer or subject.

So, what is the significance of this post? In a few words…GHANA WAS AMAZING! There are a few moments in life where you can view the sum of occurrences as inflection points. I previously viewed my time in South Africa, a time spent experiencing culture, history and brilliant minds, as one of those life changers that provided me with a paradigm shift and now I have experienced another. The totality of the experience left me wanting more and needing to do more, not only when I returned home but for my duration as a global citizen. I cannot express myself in these limited words, as this would become an extremely long blog post, so I will attempt to relate my experience through visual imagery….ENJOY!

On the plane headed to Ghana

Roommate in Ghana. Also a U of M student.

Housemate who stayed up watching the NBA Finals at 2AM with me.

Hurt my arm falling off a motorcycle my 4th day out there. Still one of the best days I spent there.

Guys I stopped on the street on their way to their daily soccer match. Everyday at 4pm, they were at the field (on the pitch) religiously- rain or shine.

My guy from the Chinese-Ghanaian fusion restaurant around the corner from my residence. Cool guy who, when I told him I would put him on my American blog immediately agreed to the picture.

Movie night with the neighbors down the hall and from the church group.

Ruth. My coworker, mentor and friend.

Mr. Rahman, my unofficial guardian at the hostel/dormitory where I stayed. He made sure to call me when I arrived in the States to ensure my safe return. He holds a place in my heart. Can never forget good people.

Period piece at Ghana Institute of Art. 

Saw this little guy playing ball outside the hostel. Couldn't resist taking a picture and then playing kickball with him.

 

On the way to church.

Korle-Bu Community Chapel. Mostly medical personnel/families and med students.

 

On the way to the beach. We had to take a boat there!

 

In the boat headed to Bojo Beach. This is one of the nicest beaches in Ghana as you can see, hopefully.

Father and newborn at the beach. I thought she was the cutest thing, so it was only right to capture the moment.

Beautiful family spending time at the beach. I must have taken 50 photos of them after having conversation with the matriarch on the far right and playing football (soccer) with the kids and some other folks,

 

People lining up for gasoline during a government imposed gasoline shortage. All those yellow containers are peoples' gas cans. This was the scene whenever a station announced they were releasing gasoline. Reminds me of NYC a couple summers back.
                                                                                                                               

Pics from the Kente weaving village. Top- Master weaver hard at work. Bottom- Unofficial Boss.

Elephant in the background you say?

The Ga festival in Accra. Celebration of the harvest. The gentleman in the middle is the Ga chief in this district.

 

Had the opportunity to meet up with the Ghana M-Trek. Go Ross!

Hundreds of feet up in the rain forest walking through the canopy.

This is cocoa in its natural form. This is one of Ghana's primary exports and it tastes wonderful in this natural state. MMMMM....cocoa!

Playing with crocodiles up close and personal in the crocodile sanctuary. 

 

At the entrance to the male slave quarters at Cape Coast Castle- home of the "Door of No Return". Take note of the plaque on the left commemorating President and First Lady Obama's visit.

 

Staring out over the Atlantic at the inception of the Middle Passage and the potential grave-site for many who were either thrown overboard or willingly jumped ship to avoid the horrors awaiting them.


THANK YOU WDI FOR THE OPPORTUNITY AND TO MY 2014 WDI FELLOW CLASS FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES.