Pan American Health Organisation

I have only been at my internship for a week and a half but already I have seen a lot, a lot of what it is to be in a big organisation and how things are achieved. They say that a minimum of 2 years of experience is required for almost all jobs in the field, but I guess they have a reason for that. I came into this organisation hoping to be in the thick of situation, a place where decisions are taken in split seconds and lives changed continuously- a panglossian view of the world is what every colleague of mine walks out of the school with. It takes time to come to realise and then some more to accept that significant advances in the field of providing health to all are only achieved by constant and committed efforts, most of the time moving at a snail's pace. The optimism and belief in our abilities when we leave the school ready to enter the world soon gives away and for a brief moment you are left in a lull- bereft of sense and direction. This is what internships are all about, a grasp on the practical view of the world. I have been in thick of things over here in PAHO, have been dealing with numbers and policy recommendations not made at a local or community or state level but at a regional level. The reach of my work is immense and that in itself is satisfying. No doubt that when I see the speed at which work is done, not because work is not being done but because of the layers of authority and official decorum of getting work done.,I feel that the whole idea of a world organisation is a sham and needless. I feel all the work is being done at the ground level and my work sitting right at the top is of not much use, I could do much more working there in the field. Nonetheless, the field worker would not be able to function were we not here in the larger organisation which ensures funds exist and reach the person in the field. We ensure that those working at the grassroots work in a fashion that ensures maximum utility of their effort, that they do not end up achieving the same results but in a much less efficient manner. The machinery works, works slow, slower than we expect it to, but changes of the sort that we imagine have not happened overnight and will not happen.

More of my ramblings later.