Workin' 9 to 5, or Something Like That

Most people know that I didn't move to Vietnam just to hang out for a year, mostly. I had been planning a move abroad for a while, discussing it with friends and family until one day I decided to stop talking about it and just do it. Up until now, I haven't really talked about work, so I thought I'd fill you guys in a little on what goes on in my life from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm every week day, and probably get up on my soap box just a little too. I've got an audience--I can't help it!

For the past few years, I've been working for PATH, a nonprofit global health organization, in Washington, DC. Now, I work for PATH's Vietnam Country Program in Hanoi as a team associate, basically a communications and advocacy and business development lady. In addition to creating a communications and advocacy strategy for the country program, I also get to work directly with the projects on their communications and advocacy needs. In DC, I mostly worked on vaccine development projects, but here, I get to work on projects ranging from family planning to TB/HIV and diarrheal disease to cervical cancer. While overwhelming at times, it has so far been amazing to learn about all of the cool work that PATH and others are doing in Vietnam. I feel like I'm learning so much about different topics in global health that I didn't get to learn about in school or DC.

I'm finding new topics that get me excited and I want to know more about them. For example, did you know that women are an increased risk of becoming infected with HIV and that women in places like Jakarta are increasingly at risk of contracting HIV from their injecting drug user husbands? How about that the US's Mexico City Policy, better known as the Global Gag Rule, cut off donations of contraceptives to 20 countries from 2001 to 2009 because the clinics provided or simply talked about abortion? Many health clinics shut down due to the loss of funding, which not only meant women couldn't access family planning services, but children weren't receiving lifesaving vaccines and pregnant women couldn't get essential prenatal care. Did you know that the World Health Organization recommends women exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months of a baby's life because it is off the charts better for them and the mother, but here, some doctors allow formula companies to speak to women after giving birth to encourage them to use formula? Their babies are more susceptible to life-threatening infections when given anything other than breast milk in their first 6 months. Did you know that 51 countries around the world impose travel restrictions on  HIV-infected people? Of those, 22 will actually deport you if they find out you're HIV-positive.

I'm in love with learning--the good and the bad. I love learning about new people and places, experiencing new cultures, and of course eating new foods. I am amazed by the beauty of some of the places I've seen, and I'm even more amazed by the people I've met who have welcomed an American with open arms and invited her into their homes and lives. I'm also saddened by the state of things around the world. The fighting, the hatred, and the lack of compassion for your fellow man (and woman). But, every day, the resilience of people astonishes me and gives me hope that things aren't as bad as they seem. Yeah, we've got problems, but there are people out there who are trying to make it better and I hope to help them communicate all the wonder things they are doing to the world. I'm happy to say that I love my job.