With a spare hour before our first meeting, Dr. Nanda offered to treat us to some Belgian waffles from a local food truck making a special appearance only a block from FHI. Thrilled to receive the invitation, we all excitedly followed her to the truck and waited in line for five minutes, and to our dismay, the waffles ran out! Despite this tragedy, the rest of the day proved to be better. We first met with Ms. Wigley and Ms. Gianone and discussed humanitarian crises- ranging from the blocking of ports in Yemen by Saudia Arabia causing a food shortage to religious attacks across the world. This presentation really moved me seeing this video of an underfed baby crying, just regaining the ability to eat again, with each bone and ligament visible under her paper-thin skin. It really put my world into perspective comparing my 10-month-old brother with sizable rolls to this poor, helpless girl. On a more exciting note, we made huge progress on our group project; an instagram page devoted to educating about water access and filtration while also gaining feedback from the public. Next, we talked to Ms. Tenorio about the protection of human subjects in research and polling, with countless regulations and questions of ethics. Finally, we met with Mr. Healy to talk about his gap year in Senegal. We all thought he had went to Cameroon based on our schedules and many of the employees! His presentation was also moving and made me really consider volunteering more for my community after seeing his amazing work.
The disappointing waffle food truck.
Working on our project!