How Do You Feel?

Epidemiologist.  What do you do? I get this question daily.  And sometimes I haven’t got a clue.  My work is not who I am, but it exists as a very important portion of my pursuit to heal, to feel, and to give answers to questions that have been asked for decades but have gone unanswered at the expense of precious lives. For me the responsibility of this pursuit lies deeply female and in a spiritual plane… All a revelation that I’ve never feared.

They call me “Small Auntie”.  These women.. these mothers… have given a portion of their lives to prevent other babies from dying in Zambia.. babies they will likely never know.  Our laughs can be heard rooms away as we move in harmony between English and my broken Nyanja.  In order to get the best results of our studies, I often disrobe myself as the Epidemiologist and step into the future mother of me.

Being around them, I’ve grown to become less accepting of states not native to myself.. poverty, patriarchal systems, hopelessness, health inequalities. I owned none of these upon my spiritual entrance on Earth. At the end of a days work I find myself smiling because they think I’ve come to save them when in reality they’ve come to save me.

Again, it is not a question of what we do, it is a question of how deeply and fully we feel while doing it.  I’m just out here feeling.
 

KENYA
Ubuntu – I am because you are.