Hello again!
As promised, I’m going to explain what the Albright Institute is now that I’ve experienced a full week. The basics: there are three incredible speakers a day, with opportunities to ask questions and have small group lunches or teas with them, and there is a research project/presentation.
Let’s start with the speakers. They have ranged from professors at Wellesley and the Harvard Kennedy School to those working in government, business, and for NGOs. Every one of them has given a compelling presentation that has sparked the fellows’ debates around the lunch table. Some of my favorites include: Professor Lindauer, Ophelia Dahl, and Martha Goldberg-Peterson. Professor Lindauer, a Wellesley Econ professor, spoke about the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. Ophelia Dahl, Executive director of Partners in Health (and daughter of Roald Dahl!), spoke about the roles of NGOs in development. She specifically brought up her own experience of working with governments in order to influence policy, which she described as challenging, but extremely rewarding, work. Martha Goldberg-Peterson, president of Global Healthcare at Ecolab and a Wellesley alum, talked about the role that “big business” can play in sustainable development. This was especially exciting to hear about, for me, because I think business is the professional arena I would like to enter. I was excited to hear about the ways big problems can be tackled from this angle.
Every speaker has opened my eyes a little more to the world that we live in and all of the challenges we face in it. This sounds negative but, on the contrary, they have inspired me. This work, solving global problems and working towards sustainable development, is the work that I want to do for the rest of my life. I am so excited to have this opportunity to begin this work right now, here at Wellesley!
Next there’s the group work/research project. First of all, I want to say that I am so lucky to have met every one of the four other girls in my group. They are so smart, driven, personable, and thoughtful. I hope that we will be friends for life because they’re just so cool! Our presentation is focusing on education, specifically on education in conflict affected countries, why this education is extremely important, and how to make sure children receive it. So far, we have had some very productive, respectful, and intellectually engaging discussions. I enjoy working with my team very much.
But what’s so awesome is that we don’t just worked on our project together, all the time. On Friday night, we went into Boston and had dinner at a hip little vegan restaurant called Live Life. We bonded and learned more about each other which was so much fun. And then we got ice cream and talked some more. But what was so fun about our discussion over ice cream is that it organically returned to The Institute and the speakers we had heard earlier that day. We ended up getting into a heated discussion about NGOs and the ways in which they often overstep their boundaries in other countries. For example, some NGOs will build branches in a country where the government has not asked for their help. This creates tensions and often brings into play discussions of “imperialistic” western culture. Our discussion was fascinating. It was so interesting to see our conversation unfold in a little ice cream shop in the middle of Boston. It clicked for me then that this is what I want to be doing with my life: working with others to solve small pieces of convoluted world problems.
I’m so excited to begin the rest of my life! Thank you Wellesley, thank you Albright Institute! World, here I come!