On Saturday January 9, respected community members came to speak with our Healers of Tomorrow about their career paths. Our youth have been learning about health and healing in a broad sense over the past few months, and are interested in fields as diverse as neurosurgery, fashion, law, and engineering. Many of our students are undecided about what they would like to do "when they grow up" and have seen this program as a step in towards figuring that out. We were fortunate to hear from a diverse array of health professionals including
Great wisdom was shared during this time! We got to share the nuts and bolts of what work life balance is like for these different careers, advice on how to pick what college to go to, and what a typical day in the life is for our different careers. My favorite moment was when everyone was able to share an example of how they have helped someone. In dentistry, there is the instant gratification of being able to repair someone's teeth and see a beautiful smile or to resolve pain. Medical assistants and nurses shared the joy of getting to know patients over time and being able to relate to them using our diverse backgrounds in order to offer culturally competent support. And our pharmacist shared the importance of being a last line of interaction between the patient and the medical home, an important bridge to health literacy and education for patients. Most of the health professionals agreed that often the most gratifying part of their job was lending a listening ear to their patients.
And our most important lesson was -- don't give up! The struggle towards your professional goals can be really challenging, and at times you may doubt yourself. Ask for help, take care of yourself and keep doing your best and you'll get there! Thank you so much to our wonderful guests and to our students as always. In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik We all know that a photo is worth a thousand words. Photovoice is an awesome tool that helps us harness the power of an image to create a message about our lives. It is a great way to spread awareness about the health and well being of your community, and also to better cultivate your understanding of yourself and where you are going. For our fifth meeting of this year's Healers of Tomorrow (halfway point, yay!) our Healers completed a Photovoice project. This assignment asked three questions:
Hillal decided that she could put her assets and interests together by becoming more involved in tutoring with the eventual goal to "help people in my community with not just school work but with everything and anything they want to talk about or work on." Zeinab would like to combine the issues she cares about with her strengths by starting a book club at EMAS. Amina plans to expand her tutor role to mentoring as well. She'd like to be known as a resource in her community, someone that younger students can look up to and receive guidance from. She also wants to recruit her other friends in her neighborhood to do the same. Has this activity inspired you to think about your strengths, passions, and what you can do in your community? I hope so! We are so proud of our youth leaders and know they are going to keep doing great things, and so can you.
In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik On November 14 our Healers of Tomorrow explored concepts in tech and medicine. We first flexed our brains by building functioning cranes out of nothing but a cardboard box, string, and tape. This was a real challenge but as a team, we were successful! Then we learned about how technology impacts many aspects of medicine, including cutting edge developments in creating prosthetic limbs and artificial hearts. For each of these technologies we asked ourselves-- what materials would you need? What do you care about in creating this tool? And once you make it, how do you know it's working? Next time you read about a new device in health, ask yourself these questions and you may be surprised by the answers :)
Thank you to Mr. and Dr. Barnes for leading our awesome class this week! We loved having you. In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik On November 7 our Healers of Tomorrow visited the Columbia City PCC for a Cook's Class! As one of our Healers mentioned today, food isn't just important for our health because of nutrition but because of the way cooking brings us together. It's a special experience to be together with friends or family to make and share a meal. Scroll through our photos and you'll feel like you were there with us :) Feeling inspired? Make a goal this week to have color on your plate and to learn a new skill in the kitchen. If you're feeling nervous, try a cooking class! It's empowering to feed yourself and to know what is going on your plate. As we say in my family "home grown is best."
Thank you so much to Chef Ami, her volunteers, and PCC for hosting us. In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik On October 24 our Healers of Tomorrow met to discuss Advocacy. Advocacy is something we talk about alot, but what exactly is it? We had some awesome guest speakers help us discuss the finer points of this topic. My favorite way to think about advocacy is the term "indirect service." To better understand the steps it takes to achieve indirect service, Brother Samir Junejo from Seattle University School of Law helped us walk through the example of how NYC public schools approved Eid as a school holiday. The folks who made this happen had a strategy, built a coalition of partners, did the work and planning needed to design their proposed change, and didn't give up! Of course, advocacy does not only exist through creating laws. Art is a form of advocacy too! Poetry, music, films, and photography are powerful ways to convey messages and influence change. Brother Jamil Suleman shared how he does this everyday in his life as an artist. One of the best examples of this is his piece "Jay's Last Words" which tells a powerful story about children affected by HIV/AIDs that he worked with in South Africa. This piece was a great reminder to me of why, even in the face of seemingly impossible situations and despair, we have to keep working for what's right and what's beautiful. Here's an excerpt: "imagine how it is to be somebody like me, that’s why I fight for the Movement, so other people can be free, Now I know what you’re thinking, why should I waste my time, when there’s very little left in my physical life, but the way that I see it, I have a reason to fight, cuz I know what it is to be in the dark without the light" Thank you to all our volunteers and our Healers! I'm so excited for our next meeting-- we have an awesome field trip coming up next!
In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik Hooray! This year's Healers of Tomorrow (H.O.T) program kicked off to a great start last week. We were so excited to meet our new team this year. We have a group of 10 superstars aged 13-17 who come to us from several different schools in the area. They've had diverse experiences with health including helping family members manage chronic diseases like diabetes and asthma, experiencing operations of their own, or witnessing complex challenges such as mental health care in their community. All of them share a desire to become a better person and learn together through this opportunity. They also have fortified funny bones -- our favorite joke from an applicant: "Why did the banana go to the hospital? Because it wasn't peeling well!" We got the conversation going with a big question-- what IS health? We all have a different answer! What do you think? Who are healers? Are you a healer? Our Healers were ready to work together on an asset mapping exercise. We learned together that the key to empowerment is amplifying assets, and that often problems or challenges are our resources in disguise! It was great to start getting to know each other and to lay the ground work for everything will be doing this year. Stay tuned... we have so many cool activities coming up!
In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik Our Deadline for Healers of Tomorrow has been extended by one week. Please apply today and don't miss this exciting opportunity! Scroll down to reach the application. Please apply by October 3.
Update: Applications closed for fall 2015. Please return in the spring for next year's Healers of Tomorrow application form, scroll below for our youth grant applications, our contact us for more opportunities. This week we celebrated the successful completion of our first Healers of Tomorrow program! I am so blessed to have learned from these youth this spring. We had ten exciting sessions. Based on the feedback survey from our students we learned:
I appreciated these student's participation and curiosity and I hope that this experience will help them grow as youth leaders. We are planning on using the summer months to plan the program for the next school year, so I hope you don't miss my blog posts too much in the meantime! Peace, Dr. Malik One of the major learning goals of our Healers of Tomorrow program is to grow our definition of health and healing. On May 13 our youth visited Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium to learn about wildlife and veterinary medicine. The animals were active when we arrived right at zoo opening time! We especially got up close and personal with a polar bear and a peacock. We were able to see how animal's lives affect human lives through the ecosystem we share and the many gifts that animals give to us. Keep scrolling to see more from our adventure! On April 29 our Healers of Tomorrow visited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This visitor's center is a beautiful homage to giving and also an interactive learning experience. Education, Poverty, and Global Health are the three focus areas of the foundation. Our students were able to understand and relate to the importance of these these principles through their faith which also emphasizes seeking knowledge and addressing poverty and inequity with continuous charity. We saw real examples of innovations that save lives, and learned about what it really takes to build trust and work together to get success in problem solving and building a healthier future. The Healers loved the tour but their favorite part was at the end when they got to build some of their own designs and ideas for the future. Please scroll through the pictures to see what they did :) In Peace and Health, Dr. Malik |
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