About a week and a half ago I finished the first part of what has turned out to be a simply amazing summer internship. I am a teaching associate for the Johnson and Johnson/UCLA Anderson Executive Management programs. During the first six weeks of my internship I worked at UCLA Anderson with executives and managers from Community Health and Head Start organizations around the United States. My job was to teach and assist these professionals as they progressed through two-week intensive management programs but in the end, I feel that the participants gave much more to me than I did to them. I have been inspired by their incredible passion for what they do and the populations they serve.
The second part of my internship has the potential to be even more incredible than the first. Next Friday, I will be traveling to Africa to assist as a teaching associate in the Management Development Institute, also an intensive management program sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, focusing on executives and mangers from HIV/AIDS organizations throughout Africa. We will be spending one week each, in Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana.
In the United States we have become somewhat blind to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as prevention improves and those infected are living longer. Despite great progress in the U.S., the threat of this disease is all but over. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide continues to rise steadily each and every year. In sub-Saharan Africa there are over 22 million people living with HIV/AIDS, accounting for more than 5% of the total population. Every second, 3 people die in Africa due to HIV/AIDS which as left over 11 million HIV/AIDS orphans. Africa is “ground-zero” for the pandemic and I am both proud and excited to have the opportunity to assist the people and organizations that are working to fight both the disease its social and economic impacts. Providing that there is time (and a reliable internet connection) I hope to document some of the insights from my trip here – get excited (I know I am).
No comments:
Post a Comment