What direction to go?

I see where i want to be and i know now i can get there. I think there was a time when I wanted to be like Paul Farmer traveling all over doing all these things to build health systems in so many ways. But I don't want to be Paul Farmer. I want to be Merrian. I want to live and work in Africa. Be a doctor, teach at a medical school, help advocate for public health infrastructure improvements. Be a person that goes and lives because I care. I'm just one person but I can be one more person that goes in instead of going out. I have the privilege of having a blue passport. I have the privilege of knowing English. I have the privilege to have access to dollars, or pounds, or Euros. Because of that I can do anything anywhere. I have the privilege of being on that path to becoming a doctor! One day I will be wanted in all health systems in the world. I don't have to worry about not being ok, financially. I will always be ok. And with that my dream is to live and work in Africa. Using my privileges and advantages and blessings and hard work to be that doctor in Africa.

I am inspired by women like Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who were physicians, who were brave in the face of injustice, who fought and struggled and made it through all the training, who have families, listen to their children, take stock in the future of the country. I look at women like her and smile knowing that she has paved a way for me to be a women, that doctor, in Africa.