Jun 12th, 2008
Saving the World
Yesterday, my sister Dost graduated from the University of Washington with an MPH in Global Health (GH). She had just come back from a consulting job in Panama the day before, where she spent 10 days doing health assessments in indigenous communities for a Canadian copper mining company.
I’m not usually one to look forward to graduation speeches, but the keynote speaker at Dost’s commencement ceremony was superb. Dr. Tadataka Yamada, executive director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health program talked about these graduating students who were all in GH trying to save the world. He said that their advanced degrees are not about going out and getting published, they are about saving the babies who are dying from diseases like malaria or HIV/Aids.
After the ceremony, I talked to some of the international graduates about their work. Some of them are returning to their home countries to work on the health problems. One doctor from Kenya got her degree as part of the work she is doing with women and HIV. She is going to continue to get her PhD. Another doctor is returning to Haiti to continue her work on making sure that everyone can get basic health care.
These people, my sister included, are very noble in their work and they are really concerned about the world’s health issues. The entire day made me give pause about what part I could take in saving the world as a filmmaker. It is an overwhelming endeavor, but I think it is something that I must do on some level. I need to think about what action I can take.
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