eMagazine February 2023

OUR PEOPLE,
OUR MISSION
Global Health
eMagazine
February 2023
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Written by Mitra Sadigh
Commentary
Writer/Editor/Researcher at the NVH/UVMLCOM Global Health Program
A Sense of Togetherness
The demands of our own everyday lives can
make it almost impossible to be aware of,
let alone understand, the weight that others
carry. We are often caught in the storm of
questions sounding in our own minds. Yet we
can imagine, to some extent, the scope of
internal experiences within our global health
family over the last few years in response to
the pandemic, international conflict, and
climate change.
We have felt terror. What happens when the world is on lockdown and hospitals
are overrun? We have felt indignation. How can we justify privileged nations
declaring the end of a pandemic while others are still losing lives? We have
felt shame. Who are we if we continue “business as usual” after witnessing how
money, power, and privilege dictate the extent of devastation? We have felt
anger. The loud trope of the world banding together to fight the COVID-19
pandemic juxtaposes distastefully against the realities of inequity. We have felt
helpless. What can we do to help ease the suffering in situations over which we
have so little control?
How can we as a global health community stay true to our mission and fortify
our connections in the face of so many forces that could tear us apart?
Despite these complex circumstances, our global health family has done
something remarkable: we have created a sense of togetherness. The same
chaos rippling through varying layers of human life could have rippled through
our program. Who is to say that we are immune to the divisions we are so
pained to see around us? Our differences in color, culture, experience, ideas,
and perspectives could be viewed as justification to divide and subdivide.
We instead choose to form a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and ideas tied
together by a thread of love, respect, and volition. We choose to set ego aside
and create space for understanding others and even for questioning our own
ideas. Each year of partnership teaches us that our differences make us better.
The fact that we truly know and celebrate that is what makes our program
what it is.
As global citizens, we are banded together with a force that cannot be
separated by land or ocean or government. We stand by one another fighting
for the world that we all hope is possible.
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