Orientation Week!

 The countdown is on – less than two weeks to departure, and I just returned from a 5-day orientation session in New York/New Jersey. It was really fun to meet the other volunteers and create some support networks. About half of the other volunteers were also new graduates in their respective fields, which made me feel a little better! There are a number of nurses, one PA, one other PT, one psychologist, one speech pathologist, and one attorney that will be departing soon. Locations include different parts of Africa, Central America and South America. I met a nurse who will be working in a town about 2 hours away from mine, so I’m excited to have someone to travel with on vacation days! J

The highlight of the week involved spending a day in NYC at the headquarters. It just so happened that the board of directors were meeting that day, so we were able to have lunch with them which was a great experience. I got to meet a number of influential leaders, and we also had a guest lecture by Dr. Cahill who is a specialist in infectious diseases. They were filming a TV-based special on the CMMB while we were there, so we even went to the “make-up” room and then had on-screen interviews.

The most memorable part of the day was the tour of the United Nations building. I don’t normally get that excited about tours, but this one was exceptional if you ever get the chance to go. At the end we were able to sit in the room where the UN meets for part of the year – as shown in the photograph (we missed seeing a live meeting by only about 30 minutes!)

The display portion of the tour discussed the roles of the UN, but also included a large presentation on the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) which I thought was fantastic. If you are not familiar with the MDG’s, definitely check them out- this website is a good resource: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

The MDG’s still have a long way to go, and the UN is sometimes criticized about it’s slow progress. As a volunteer at the grassroots level, it’s important to educate oneself about the big picture, to see some of the ideas for solutions to the identified problems, and to understand how we as volunteers can move from simply working in the field to becoming activists and advocates for the root of the problems.