What are you doing Fitz?

What am I doing?

This seems to be a very common question and so I’ve decided to add a brief overview of what I am doing here in Namibia. Let's consider it an FAQ and it will be short and sweet.

I am spending the year serving as a consultant under the Peace Corps Response division. Our missions are considered “short term-high impact” and they focus on systematic and programmatic problems facing nations where the Peace Corps is active. I am an RCCE officer (risk communication and community engagement) which was developed by WHO, rolling out a pilot program under the Namibian Ministry of Health. When people ask me why I’m here, the shortest answer is to make myself obsolete. If I do my job correctly we as a team (the Namibian Ministry of Health and myself) will have developed and implemented a community based preventive healthcare system which is not based on bringing in outside western educators and healthcare professionals.

Instead my goal is a program by Namibia, for Namibia. I am expected to be challenged and have an opportunity to learn before offering a single word of advice. Approaching these problems with solutions in mind is in my opinion one of the worst mistakes I could make. Instead I am here to collaborate with the Namibian people and identify their needs and goals and hopefully be of some assistance in creating a safer, healthier tomorrow. In short, I don’t know what my work will look like, I don't know the best path forward, I do know however my strengths and weaknesses and hope to be able to use them in this posting and at the end of the day to have grown and deepened my understanding of the world.