Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Wednesday afternoon I will be on an airplane flying to Libya. I fly from PDX to Amsterdam, from Amsterdam to Tripoli (Libya) and then will fly from Tripoli to Benghazi, Libya...my new residence for the next 7 or 8 months. I started to feel a little anxious about the trip last week because I realized I didn't really have any finalized plans, everything is kind of up in the air until I arrive. I know I am doing something at the British School, but I don't know what. I am told I will have a tutor for Arabic, but I don't know who. Just this week I found out where I am living (I wasn't worried about this because I had many options). My dad was trying to explain to me that no one plans ahead for anything, "you wake up in the morning and don't think about making plans for that evening...it's just not how it works over there". I kind of laughed and admitted that I had just gone out to buy a new planner to take to Libya with me...so is every day going to be blank? My dad began laughing really hard and thought it was hilarious that I had bought a planner for Libya. It's interesting because this won't be my first time living in a culture where plans fall through all the time, it was exactly the same when I lived in Ecuador (I never used a planner in Ecuador...)

If you've ever heard me talk about living in Ecuador you know that I describe it as one of the hardest experiences in my life and not the most positive experience. With Libya, I know it is going to be difficult in ways that Ecuador was not (i.e., language barrier, lack of independence), but I think the fact that I am going to a place that is familiar to me and where I have family is helpful. It also helps that my dad is going with me for the first month to get me settled.

I am excited for this next adventure and hope to post updates regularly :)

Please keep me updated on your lives as well! :)

Peace,
Nadia

Another ending

This is a picture of the mental health program staff (along with the 3 interns). For the past few weeks interns have started leaving the Carter Center. Most of the people I spend a lot of time with hadn't left, so I didn't really notice a huge difference. However, this week marked the end for my two fellow mental health interns and that was kind of weird. Next week is my last week and it will feel pretty quiet and lonely. I still have a few other friends around so that will be nice.

The past couple of weeks have been really busy for me at work. I am glad I have next week to begin wrapping-up my work and preparing it for the next intern or staff member to take over.

It is a tradition that the interns present President and Mrs. Carter with a gift from the interns. I really wanted to do a service project because I felt like that was more meaningful than donating money, but there was some drama surrounding what our project should be. The intern in charge decided we would send care packages through USO to soldiers overseas, but this was not well-received by some interns so we ended up having to meet over lunch to resolve the issue. After various people voiced their opinions, it was decided we would do 3 different projects to make people happy. One of the projects we did was a service project and was with the Global Soap Project. The man who started it used to work for the Carter Center and now works for CARE. He receives gently-used bars of soap from hotels in the area, cleans them up, chops them up and puts them through a soap machine to make new bars of soap that he sends to refugees in Kenya. It was very interesting hearing him speak (I can tell you a lot more if you ask me) and he was very excited to have us helping him because he had just started making soap a couple weeks earlier.



I am sad that my internship is coming to an end and can't believe the summer is almost over, but I am also feeling ready to go home. The heat and humidity here is not what I am used to and there are bugs here that I have never heard of in my life. For example, a few days ago I brushed by a bush and felt like I had been stabbed or stung. I thought it was just a really thorny tree, but when I took a closer look there was something on the leaf I brushed by. It looked like a caterpillar...but not. I looked it up later that night and found out that it was indeed a caterpillar, a stinging caterpillar. It was the weirdest looking thing...as you can see. It hurt a lot and it stung me through the sweater I was wearing. Anyway, I have had an amazing summer, learned a lot, met wonderful people, and learned that I still want to live in the Pacific Northwest.

Plains, GA

Last weekend the interns had a planned trip to visit the Carters in their hometown, Plains, Georgia. The population of Plains is about 600, downtown Plains is about 4 stores long and the ENTIRE town is dedicated to President and Mrs. Carter.

It was a really cool trip. Mrs. Carter gave us a tour of an inn that the Carters started in Plains, each room is decorated in a different decade that President Carter has lived in. After that we went to President Carter's boyhood home and he talked with us about his recent trip to Spain, his time on the farm and let us ask him questions.



Plains was so small there was no hotel that would hold 40 interns, so we stayed the night in the next town over, Americus. On Sunday morning we got to go hear President Carter teach an adult Sunday school class. He teaches it whenever he is in town.

This past week the Carters were at The Carter Center and on Friday we had a question and answer session with them and had individual pictures taken with them. I asked Mrs. Carter a question (and was the only one who did so), most people ask President Carter questions. I think President Carter was glad I asked her a question because when I was taking my picture with them he told me he really liked my question.

This week was the last week for some of the interns, so over the next couple of weeks it is going to get a lot quieter at the center as more leave. As most people know, I don't really like change, so it's going to be weird to say goodbye to some people I have gotten to know fairly well this summer.

Birthday Weekend

On Friday afternoon I got a flower delivery at work from my parents for my birthday! Last weekend I went to Birmingham, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee with a few other interns. We left for Birmingham (about 2 1/2 hr drive) after work. When we arrived we had such a hard time finding a place to eat dinner because almost everything was closed down. The next morning we went to the Civil Rights Institute and that was really cool. It was really sad (for obvious reasons) and I think afterwards all of our moods were pretty low, but we were all glad we went. It was very powerful. This is a picture of all of us in front of the 16th Street Baptist Church (where the bombing that killed four children was).


We went out to lunch after that and the interns I was with had made a birthday card for me and had a bunch of other interns sign it and write little notes, it was really sweet. After lunch we split up and a couple interns stayed in Alabama to explore other sites and four of us went on to Nashville. There was quite a bit of traffic, so it took us almost 5 hours to get there (when it should've been a 3 hour drive). We were going about 5 mph for 30 miles, we saw a sofa chair on the side of the road and decided that since we weren't moving we would take a picture on it :)


We went out to dinner for my birthday and went out to listen to some live music. Nashville was a really cool city. In the morning we walked around a lot and went in some shops, there wasn't a ton open because it was Sunday. We ended our time in Nashville by watching the final world cup game and then we headed back to Atlanta. On our drive back we stopped by a really pretty rest stop on a lake, so we took one last picture :)


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This weekend we are going to Plains, GA to spend the weekend with the Carters, so that should be fun, we leave early tomorrow morning.

Things at work have been going well, I have a few different projects I am working on, so that has been keeping me busy. :) Although it is tiring, I really do work better when I am really busy...and I think I like being busy...at least most of the time :)

I think I have said this before, but I really like my supervisors :) I am working on a presentation for the Director of the program and he called me to his office a couple days ago and I thought maybe there was something wrong with what I had done. When I sat down in his office he asked me how I was doing, how I was adjusting, were things going well, was I getting what I wanted out of my experience, what did I want to do in the future, etc. It was really nice to just talk with him and he was really interested in what I had to say. He is really busy, but always takes the time to check in with the interns.

Anyway, things are still going well and I will be starting my 7th week...time is flying by!

meeting the Carters :)

This is a picture of the house I live in, it is a beautiful, large old house. My favorite part is the porch, I would spend all my time out there, but the bugs eat me when I sit out too long. :)

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The past couple of weeks have been great. Things have been picking up at work, so I am pretty busy working on a few different projects. I am working on an event where we are hosting a screening of the film "The Soloist" along with a few other organizations that includes the Nathaniel Ayers Foundation, a group of neuroscientists, and an organization led by Dr. Satcher (former U.S. surgeon general). Unfortunately I won't be here for the event (it's about a week after I leave), but I am looking forward to working on the planning of it. My other projects include working on the Journalism Fellowship September meeting prep and working on an outline for a textbook chapter on media and mental health that the program is being asked to write for a global health textbook. All the projects are very different, but interesting.

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Last Friday was the Board of Councilors meeting and President Carter spoke at it. I really enjoyed hearing him speak and was impressed by how articulate and sharp he still is at 85 years old :) There was a center-wide potluck that afternoon and as we were standing in line to get food, I looked up the stairs and saw President Carter walking down shaking all the interns hands, it was quite exciting! A few minutes later I shook Mrs. Carter's hand and told her that Caroline (who was right next to me) and I were interns in the mental health program, that made her happy and she started talking to us for a few minutes before continuing on. After Caroline and I got our food she asked where I wanted to sit, I looked around and saw a couple seats open next to Mrs. Carter, so we headed that direction and had lunch with Mrs. Carter. She was very nice and introduced us to all the people at her table as the interns in her mental health program. After chatting for a while, President Carter came by to say hi and then they both left to drive back to Plains, GA. That was probably the highlight of my internship thus far. :)

A Humbling Experience

This weekend was the intern retreat. It started Friday at 1pm and ended Saturday at 1pm. All activities took place in a hotel about 20 minutes away, The Carter Center covered all of our expenses and we stayed the night in the hotel. We started out with some ice breakers and then had a couple of speakers. One speaker works in the Health Programs division, and has spent a long time working to eradicate Guinea Worm. The Carter Center began the initiative in 1986 and there were 3.5 million reported cases of Guinea Worm, as of this year there are about 3,000 and by the end of the year there should be zero. It is an amazing feat. I learned a lot about other tropical diseases that The Carter Center is working on. We (those who live in the developed world) don't have to worry about these diseases (e.g., River Blindness, Trachoma, Schistosomiasis). Seeing pictures and videos of what these diseases do was horrifying, but the fact that The Carter Center Health Programs are so committed to controling/eliminating/eradicating these diseases is wonderful. If you are interested in learning more about any of these diseases just let me know :)

The next speaker is the one that inspired me the most and led me to reflect a little on life. His name is Dr. Stremlau and he is the Vice President of the Peace Programs. His background is amazing to me and his commitment to social justice is inspiring. He commented that he was reading our biographies and that we are the most cosmopolitan intern class he can remember. An intern asked him a question that I found really interesting. He asked Dr. Stremlau whether we need to keep re-potting ourselves to be able to help the "bottom billion" of the world or do we need to do what President Carter did and find our Plains, GA where we are rooted and work from there? Can we work on social justice issues from here or do we need to go across the world? I found this very interesting because it is widely known that the Carters are deeply rooted in Plains and is where their home is, but they have worked so hard and have successfully worked towards peace and fighting disease. Dr. Stremlau responded by saying he doesn't have a Plains and went on to talk about the difficutly in answering the question. I guess it really depends on the person, but it is something that I am still thinking about.
Dr. Stremlau addressed an issue that I and other interns had been thinking about. How will The Carter Center fare when President Carter is no longer alive? I was talking with someone in development last week who said that there are so many donors who give to The Carter Center because of their connection to President Carter and President Carter does a lot of the calling for big donors. That personal connection is very important for donors. A "young" donor to The Carter Center is someone under the age of 60. Many donors are individuals who have supported Carter since his presidency (or even before when he was governor). Dr. Stremlau said President Carter is working very hard to make sure The Carter Center will be in good hands when he passes on. Dr. Stremlau also expressed his own concern about whether the mission of The Carter Center will continue on in the same form that President Carter leads it. The Board for The Carter Center meets quarterly and hears the latest update from President Carter on what he is doing. President Carter does what he wants and no one would ever stand up to the former President and tell him he couldn't do something. That will probably change when President Carter is no longer there and is something that makes me wonder whether or not The Carter Center will be the same. I feel so grateful to have this opportunity to intern at The Carter Center right now and it's such a privilege that I will get to spend a weekend with President and Mrs. Carter in their hometown and really get to talk with them. It wasn't until thinking about the day the Carters are no longer living that I think I really appreciated this opportunity. The Carters are so involved at The Carter Center and since the staff is so small, they really know who works there and the staff all consider themselves as part of a family. I couldn't help but think how devastating the death of the Carters will be to everyone who works there (and really all over the world)...not to be too morbid or anything, but it has been a topic of conversation lately. One thing that Dr. Stremlau mentioned that I found interesting was that there was talk of asking different prominent figures to take a leading role at The Carter Center for a year or something like that once President Carter is gone. This would be someone like Nelson Mandela taking charge of the center for a year or so and then someone else. I don't know that they will actually do that, but it would be interesting.

This weekend really opened my eyes to everything President and Mrs. Carter have created at The Carter Center. It really is an amazing place to work and such a collegial work environment. I already know I am going to miss it here and I have only just completed my second week :)

The other interns at The Carter Center have amazing backgrounds and have literally traveled all over the world. There are a few Fulbright scholars, peace corps volunteers, multi-lingual individuals, internationals, and they are all highly accomplished in all their areas of study...it's just fascinating to talk with all these people.

This last week I was working on research for the Liberia initiative and am really enjoying working on the project. The mental health team is simply amazing and I love working with all of them. They are so dedicated to creating the best experience possible for their interns and I really appreciate it.

Hope ya'll are doing well :)

The Carter Center

The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter. The Carter Center aims to wage peace, fight disease and build hope. I work in the health programs, specifically in the mental health program which was started by Mrs. Carter.

I just finished my first week and it felt like a really long week. Two of the days I was out at a different site for a Mental Health First Aid training. I think that is why the week felt so long because the trainings seemed to last forever (unfortunately the trainers didn't seem very competent in what they were talking about). The Mental Health team is really nice and I am excited to work with them. There is another intern in the program and a graduate assistant. This week they didn't really give me any tasks because they wanted me to do some background reading and read Mrs. Carter's new book. Out of any of the other interns I think the mental health group spends the most time in meetings. They really want us to have a taste of everything, so we are constantly being invited to meetings which I think is really cool because I enjoy meetings! The Carter Center Mental Health Program judges Voices Awards nominations and I got to participate in that this week. Voices Awards are given out to movies, t.v. shows, documentaries, etc that portray mental illnesses accurately in the media. One of our supervisors had the three of us (myself, other intern and grad assistant) watch episodes of "Private Practice" that had been nominated. I am pretty sure no one thought we were working so it was kind of funny.

On Friday we had an "assignment meeting" and they divided up short-term projects for all of us and said they will give us long-term projects soon. My projects include working on the journalism fellowship program and preparing for the big meeting they have in september. The Carter Center awards $10,000 each to 10 fellows every year who propose a project that will allow them to use their journalism skills to accurately portray mental illnesses in the media.
The Mental Health Program is teaming up with the Conflict Resolution Program to implement a mental health training initiative in Liberia, so I will be doing some work on that but am not sure what exactly...most likely research.
My third task that I was given was working on writing a speech with the Director of the program that he will give at a conference in Austria.

There are 45 interns at The Carter Center this summer. I guess the most they have ever had is 34, so this is a big increase. Because schools get out at different times, interns have been starting sporadically throughout the last month, which I think has made it hard for the newest interns to really get to know everyone because most people have been around for nearly a month (plus there are so many to meet!). We had an intern social after work on Wednesday, so that was nice and I got to talk to quite a few interns. All the interns have had such amazing experiences so it is really cool talking with them.

So....The World Cup is going on this month. The grad assistant and I have offices next to the finance office and they were all watching the soccer games yesterday. I overheard multiple employees saying that they would be at their desk watching the games if anyone needed them. It was so funny. I predict that productivity at The Carter Center will be very low this month :)

Last thing...the humidity is getting worse...it is really gross. The air is so thick you can feel it. It poured a couple days ago and that made it so much worse :(