Tuesday, March 23, 2010

First Blog Ever! Kenya on my mind...

Wow, it is so easy to blog. Hello world!

I am starting this blog to document my summer internship for my Masters program. I am in the Maternal and Child Health department at UNC Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. What a mouthful, huh!

So, it isn't summer and I'm already blogging. The thing is, I have been thinking about this opportunity and planning it (in my head) for a long time! Starting in late May I will be working in Nairobi, Kenya on a project with my current employer, IntraHealth International. For the nearly five years that I have worked at IntraHealth, I have been supporting programs in East and Southern Africa and traveled to the continent quite frequently but this experience will be different. Aside from the 8-week stay in Kenya, a notably longer time than my usual 2-week field trips, this will be my first trip supporting technical work in the field of public health. This is important for me because as I grow and learn in the field of public health, I want to expand into technical areas. My past trips have been for Operations support. I can't say enough how much I have learned working in Operations but it's time to use this knowledge and spread my wings.

Details are still being worked out, no ticket is booked and I have no idea how I am going to pay for all the costs associated with moving to Kenya for the summer but I am excited. Months of anticipation are culminating and I will be back in my beloved Africa before I know it!