Farewell, Blogosphere

I remember when I created this blog; t’was one late, insomia-filled night up in The Chronicle’s office with my friends Sarah and Saidi. It was on a whim, designed to reduce the number of e-mails I would have to write to family and friends detailing my summer whereabouts and activities. It’s come a long way since that night. I’ve avoided making the blog a travel diary, as so many blogs these days are. Instead, I’ve tried to take a step back from my experiences, think about them, and dive back into them with a renewed understanding and write, offering more in-depth, thoughtful pieces (I hope), rather than simple summaries of my daily schedule.

I’ve received feedback from friends about the blog that warms me to the core. Most are grateful for relaying back important information about a sometimes invisible-to-us pandemic and poverty trap. Comments have come from friends, family and way more people than you might think from random corners of my past. A handful of you have pledged to go abroad and get involved in similar work next summer, citing the blog as inspiration. This, to me, is the measure of the blog’s success, and the reason why I am glad I spent so much time maintaining it. I never planned on it having that kind of impact.

But now, as I sit in my corner office with less than two hours before my last day of work ends, I am retiring from the blog. It’s be fun; I’ve learned more about myself and experience as a result of forcing myself to sit down and rassle with this stuff, to construct thoughts and arguments about my time here, and I am the better for it. But when I leave Sunday, I will no longer be in the same mindset that I am here, now. I will be, like it or not, influenced by my culture and surroundings in the U.S.

Perspectives of global health change. When I’m sitting comfortably with two of my best friends discussing Chronicle politics, final exams and facebook profiles, my point of view is inherently different from when I am walking through a rural village in Dowa or spending my birthday holding orphaned and abandoned babies in Lilongwe. There’s just no comparison.

So I hope this blog can serve as a snapshot of my perspective while I was here in Malawi, right in the thick of things. Let it remind me, and you, of what responsibilities we all share in fighting this fight, in winning it.



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I hope the partnership between FHI and the Hubert-Yeargan Center continues. If it does, and you’re a Dukie (grad student or undergrad), I encourage you to apply for next year’s fellowship. If this program isn’t for you, I’ve got lots of connections in Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda that I can give to you. I’m more than happy to help.

Thanks, guys. It’s been a wild ride.

Dan
dbe@duke.edu
602.320.5629