Letter to Shelby Davis

Dear Shelby,

It is the day after thanksgiving in the US. I am not in the US. However, the boss I am working for at the Ministry of Health is a short term consultant from the Maryland and she reminded it was thanksgiving. It is only right to write you then, to once again, say thank you!

The name of my boss is Jeanne Cushing and she is an amazing near seventy year old lady. I have the privilege to work with her on a census of all the health facilities in Namibia. She is employed by an agency called MEASURE, which is funded by USAID. MEASURE does surveys all over the world to evaluate health services and collect demographic and health information. I am now working on the evaluation of health services part – I was the data editor for our census. From Jeanne, I am learning the software language, the programming language, which allows for data to be collected, entered and analyzed. Challenging. But then again, I am glad for it.

When I first came back from the US, I had trepidations. I was not ready to just live outside of school. Now my fears are gone. The Lord is helping me day by day. As I wrote earlier, about one year ago, I want to enter the field of public health. I cam back here a molecular biology bachelor’s degree holder. I was psyched by the messages at graduation, by general Patreus who said that a career in the public service is worth it. Katie Kurik, our class day speaker, said for once Princeton students have to work for the government and so that is what I am doing. I had my CV and I had my interest. So I went to the directorate of special programs (HIV, Malaria and TB) of the Ministry of Health. I spoke to one of the public health workers there – Mr Dumeni – who works for monitoring response and evaluation. I told him I was interested in prevalence and incidence of HIV and TB as well as learning how it was collected. I spoke about high risk groups. Basically, I was throwing whatever I was interested in at him. I told him I was a molecular biology graduate who wants to transition into public health. I sent my CV and the next day (a Saturday), he calls and says “We are doing a census on health facilities, would like to be considered as a reserve interviewer?” I accepted and I went for the training. There I learnt a great deal about health and how information is collected and even more from actually doing interviewing for the first week of the census.

It has been five months of work, but it has been worth it. In the process, I have discovered my love for medical anthropology, through the ethnography “Will to Live” by Joao Biehl (he is at Princeton, but I never took his class).

I have created my own “Princeton in Africa” fellowship. My work in the census has really taught me a lot and now the funds from it will be used to pay for my public health masters here in Namibia. I am lucky. Just this year, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) gave $500 000 to the University of Namibia to improve the public health program. So I will benefit from that grant and the co-operation with Washington University. I plan to do an awesome thesis. The challenge for me is to learn as much as I can. This is what I wanted and boy did I get it.

I feel really powerful. I am working and I know I can make a great contribution to our public health improvement through research.

In addition, I am volunteering at my Catholic Church. I organized the youth members and so far we have gone on two volunteer trips at non-profits that provide care to orphans and vulnerable children. I wrote a letter advocating for more condom access to the youth and it was published. Now, after Princeton, I discover I can write! Reading my thesis again, I see that I really can.

I still dance, but I started hip hop now. I am enjoying it, it is a challenge, especially the break dance. I will come back to contemporary (what I did at Princeton), but now I need to at least perform once as a hip hopper. I have met extraordinary dancers, instructors and artists. By knowing them and myself through dance, I realize again how I would never be content as a professional dancer/choreographer. I need to research. But I need to dance too. It is a healthy tension between the two that I aim to live. I accept that dance is my cherished pastime.

Princeton is far physically, but in my mind it is near. You too are near, because I think of you often. So now you know, I am doing something different from what I majored in. Princeton was a learning experience, where I found myself. As you know, in Namibia, young people are pressured to enter fields of study that are most urgent: medicine, law, pharmacy and engineering. There are no liberal arts colleges here or South Africa, where most of Namibians study. Now, how many of them are unhappy with it? I have a friend who studied biotechnology in India, but now she is a full time Evangelist. Another one of my friends from high school is leaving pharmacy, because he feels it is a “dead end job”.
I pray the Lord will guide them and everyone in the right direction. Thank you for this opportunity!

I am also a valuable resource for Namibian students who want to do undergrad studies in the US. I have volunteered at the American Cultural Center and plan to do so again. In addition, I want to take part in the United World College selections.
However, my thesis work comes first.
I am tired now. I will go to bed before I lose more coherence in this letter.
It is Friday the Shabbat – Shabbat Shalom. There is no Center for Jewish Life here, but I still remember the songs I sang there on many a Sabbath with my friends.

Shelby, I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health!

Yours faithfully

Pancho Mulongeni, ’09, Namibia