This really isn’t about me but about the experience that I have working as a RTC Fellow in the MSD Fellowship for Global Health.

 The MSD Fellowship for Global Health is a three-month, field-based corporate pro bono program designed to leverage the skills and talents of our employees worldwide. It pairs the best minds from the company with nonprofit partner organizations around the world to provide meaningful and systematic improvements in health service delivery for people in the greatest need.

Together with two other employees from MSD, Helen (from Australia) and Gökhan (from Turkey but living in Switzerland) we are a team that are working in Tanzania for three months with Sightsavers International–an organization dedicated to erasing preventable blindness.

Our team of three is based in Singida, Tanzania, which is the second poorest region in one of the poorest countries in Sub Saharan Africa. This blog is meant for me to share my personal experiences and provide you a window into what it is like to leave your home for three months, work with a completely new team with different perspectives, in a very different environment–but dedicated to making a small difference in the limited time we have for an important problem that is often overlooked.

Note: I am a Merck & Co., Inc. Kenilworth, NJ, USA employee.