Almost Two Decades Down
Solo trip to East Africa, Health Infrastructure Career and Intentions for my 20s.
A few days ago in Bujumbura, I met a few American foreign service officers. I heard stories unfathomable to my brain.
Afterwards I reached out to some of the people I met on whatsapp and one person’s response had me laughing out loud. “Isabella —Izzy, Bella, Issa—an international woman of wonder, it was nice to meet you”
Nicknames have been a predicament of a lifetime for me. The Serbians like Bella, the North Americans like Izzy, the Burundians like Issa, some of my closest friends like Iz. I like the variety. I like opening myself up to people, stories and places that are different. Unfathomable.
It’s been an honour traversing the world this last year, adopting new nicknames and sharing new worldwide perspectives. What an apt way to end my teenage years!!
Exactly 1 month from now I’ll turn 20.
There’s a lot I could write this newsletter on. My favourite foods in London, why Singapore feels the most like home, the sparks I felt in Nairobi, American university politics, 4 years later in Lisbon, backpacking Thailand, my investment property in Ontario and more.
But I’m going to focus on two things: my Health Quality Improvement work in Burundi and my sentiments around dipping into my new decade!
Burundi: The Hidden Gem of Africa
I’ve had the pleasure of maxing out my visa in Burundi this year!! It was part of my first solo east Africa trip… which with all the people who kindly helped me out A LOT, it didn’t feel so solo.
I worked with Madiro’s grantee, Ubuntu Village of Life, to establish a quality improvement project at their health clinic. I spent most of my time living in Mugamba commune, a village in rural Burundi. I applied WHO’s policies and assessments to the clinic and then worked with local staff to start implementing solutions.
It was such a joy to get my hands dirty and work with a passionate, ambitious team.
If you want to learn more, I put together loads of content on this experience (and I have more upcoming):
Op-Ed: What I would do if I ran the World Health Organization
Video: How I’m using WHO policies for Quality Improvement in Healthcare
Video: Four Lessons from Quality Improvement Work in Burundi
Video: Frameworks for Deep Dives
Video: Lessons Solo Travelling
<60 sec: About my Internship
<60 sec: Clinic Tour
<60 sec: Remote Healthcare Tour
<60 sec: Solo Trip to East Africa
<60 sec: Cultural Insights in Burundi
While in Burundi I connected with/learned about some incredible organizations including Village Health Works, USAID and Kibuye Hope Hospital. The exposure to these health institutions has been SO VALUABLE in thinking about how I want to spend my career and what unique skill sets I could develop.
The things that especially piqued my interest were infrastructure related. The electrical grid, door width, logistics systems, clinic layout, ventilation, machinery, cleanliness etc. This infrastructure enables doctors and nurses. In healthcare I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about facility and logistics design.
This is not just limited to the developing world. Even in the west there are many improvements we could take on, especially in maternal health. After completing my doula training I have become VERY PASSIONATE about redoing our pregnancy to childbirth pipeline but that is a conversation for another time.
Currently my hunch for my life’s work is: architecture x health x food. The fact that nutrition is seldom a conversation in medicine is absolutely ridiculous to me…
I’ll leave you with some pictures 😜
Hello 20s
I heard a mom say something striking recently: “I want to raise my kids so that they don’t have to find themselves in their 20s, because they’ll never have lost themselves in the first place”
I turned inward and thought about all the things I have within myself so that I enter my 20s with a compass rather than with desperation to find direction.
Looking inward gave me confidence in my own self-awareness. I know when I feel happiest and most fulfilled; I know the types of conversations or people that fill me with joy; I know how love and emptiness feel like; I know what I enjoy creating in this world. I know there’s a lot I don’t know.
My life is complicated (geographically and ambitiously) and it’s easy for me to get overwhelmed with the amount of ambiguity towards my future. Just because there are a lot of options in my life does not mean that I am lost. It means that I am lucky. I can do a lot in this world and it’s my responsibility to choose wisely.
It’s amazing to me how in our modern world we’ve miss-labelled optionality for lostness. The girls whose sole purpose in life is to get married and bare children have no options. The children who can either work in the Congo mines or starve have no options. The people living in regions with high levels of air pollution, who must either breathe toxic air or move away from their homes and livelihoods, have no options.
My life can go many ways in the next 5 years: a master’s degree, a doctorate, a tech company, writing a novel, living in Europe, living in Asia, etc. I will not let my immense opportunities drown me in self-doubt. I am lucky.
I am committed to my 20s being about creating myself rather than finding myself.
I have 4 lists related to creating myself in my 20s that I’ll share below. If you want to read more of my growing up thoughts, I wrote about some of my professional cross roads here! I would love to hear some more perspectives.
TEN INTENTIONS FOR THIS NEW DECADE!
Gratitude > Complaints
Learn something everyday
Books > dopamine hits
Be a prolific but quirky hoster
Write many thoughtful letters
Embrace cleanliness
Embrace healthiness
6am, 6 times a week whenever possible!
Don’t give into popular ideas of fun when I know they’re not for me
Never let my effort or reliability be the limiting factor in making things happen
WHAT ARE 5 LESSONS I LEARNED?
Anyone who takes away or doesn’t reciprocate my enthusiasm, lust for life or thoughtfulness should not be within my radius of close people.
I was right. Most popular culture is not for me. Everyone will have an opinion on my bedtime, drink of choice or the movies I watch. The people who are worth sticking around for will respect me for me. Most others will call me lame or uncultured (because apparently popular culture is the only way to ‘get cultured’?).
Mean people will never go away.
People’s actions speak way before their words.
Share. Selfish people won’t make the world better.
WHO AM I IN THREE BULLETS?
I am happiest when I can bring out deepness and passion in others. Often I do this through my own enthusiasm. I love how uncontrollably excited I get with even the smallest of things in life.
I am most satisfied when I’m connecting people or ideas. There is something about making the world a smaller place and tying things together that brings me so much purpose. Also, connection is the key to unlocking new experiences, relationships and opportunities.
I am most authentic when I display profound appreciation about the world around me. This is why I love fun facts, memoirs and history: it colours my understanding of the world and gives me something to go to bed in awe about. This is especially true of my love for IKEA, as it was my first fortune 500 crush!! Since then I’ve grown to love how businesses and economies shape human development.
Lastly: the great Danish restaurant menu model
During a trip to Denmark in 2019 I went to an incredible restaurant in Copenhagen. It was one of my first times eating somewhere fancier than Nandos or IKEA.
The menu had 5 items on it and you had to choose 3 of them.
I adored the confidence. Try 60% of our menu. Don’t spend much time choosing. Just eat and enjoy.
Years later I’m still inspired by this culinary experience. So I want to adopt it into a framework for my 20s.
First, I want to give the biggest thank you to
for writing a profound set of reflections on his 20s for me. The personal anecdotes gave me a sobering sense of clarity for this new decade. Thank you for setting such a great, intentional tone for me Michael!Many of his stories directly inspired the ingredients of my 20s menu. It’s just 5 things, and I want to do ⅗ of them each month. Here we go:
Cooking up something great
I want to host the most thoughtful, intimate and vulnerable dinners. They will be bold and experimental. Things like a Nobel Prize appreciation night, Paul Graham’s great work essay over tacos and anonymous vulnerability confessions over tea. More than just food and people, I want to bring out the deepness of us humans within a world that is increasingly valuing our shallowness.
Creative home design
I get a lot of joy crafting interior spaces. I like making wallpapers out of IKEA’s innovation reports, bookshelves out of ladders, cups from jars and so forth. There is something really creative about 3D space that has always fascinated me. Some of my happiest moments have been when I challenged my brain to transform a space with the things I already have. I’m lucky enough to have some canvases to play with (starting with my empty room in Chapel Hill!) and I’m excited to invest in some new space-design skills.
Concentrated Reading
I enjoy books so much. I can just escape, learn, and connect new neural networks in my brain. Whenever I am ‘too busy for reading’ I am usually just prioritizing poorly. It’s important to invest in my intellectual vigour. The reason I say concentrated reading is because there are two types of books for me: enjoyment books and mind-blowing books. I like enjoyable books, but in this item, I am really talking about the stories and crafts that will morph my brain into a new shape. This type of reading requires digestion, thoughtfulness and concentration.
Distinct Adventures
Every few weeks I like taking on experiences that stretch my mind and colour in my life. Mountain climbing. Skydiving. Reaching new levels of vulnerability. Exploring an abandoned Island. Crazy last minute plane tickets. So many things to pursue in this world. I want to savour every experience.
Pour my heart into words
My blog is perhaps the closest thing I have to a child right now and I am deeply happy when I can nurture it. It feels especially meaningful to write story collections that come from a place of vulnerability. A blog that takes months to write is my favourite type. I enjoy the craft and it will be a great time capsule for many more years.
After almost 5 years, it’s an honour to have written my last newsletter as a teenager. See you on the other side and keep dreaming !!
Isabella
PS. Bonus points at the bottom here. I made a powerpoint with my philosophy for my life’s work. Here’s a peak at 2 of the slides
Absolutely loved reading this! Your writing always fuels me with so much inspiration and excitement for living:)!
You are such an inspiration! I wish I knew you six decades ago when I was your age.