Fringe Benefits – iCats Program
One of the great things working as an iCat in new countries, cities, and continents are the endless options for exploration. This last week I jumped on a plane and in two hours I landed…
The final destination – history, myth, magic & faith
A couple of days ago Alex Proimos, iCat fellow for Ciudad Saludable, and me set out to visit the old lima cemetery called “Presbitero Matías Maestro” which was a great and eye-opening experience. We took…
A day of humility
It’s a lazy Sunday here in Peru. For me it’s a chance to just catch up on things that I didn’t get around to finishing during the past week. Living away from home there is…
Let’s start with trust…
It was Bruce Schneier’s book Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs Thrive that had me thinking how important trust is in making our lives just that little bit easier. For instance, when…
A Test of Commitment
Signing up to an iCats fellowship is much more than an incredible experience that changes hearts and minds – it’s a true test of commitment. For all 24 iCats, this year, we made a compromise.…
Site Visit Reality – Khayelitsha
Last week I went on my first “site visit” (sites are the clinics where the women from m2m work) with mothers2mothers after hearing so much about it. One thing is to work in an office…
Watch a 3 minute video, help Operation ASHA treat 300 people with tuberculosis
Namaste from New Delhi! My name is Avani Parekh-Bhatt, I’m a 2012 iCats fellow from the United States, placed in New Delhi India in a wonderful organization called Operation ASHA. Operation ASHA (OpASHA) brings tuberculosis…
The Real Struggle…
Walking through the trendy and bohemian Barranco district in Lima this past weekend I caught an image of a mother sitting in an alleyway keeping her young children occupied while attempting to sell candy and cigarettes to…
What made me say YES! to social enterprise
“It all started while getting my MBA…” This is not something that I said but the person who said is the one that inspired me to say “YES” to social enterprise. I mean think of this,…
mothers2mothers wins Kravis Prize
mothers2mothers has won the prestigious 7th annual Kravis Prize for outstanding leadership. From my experience on the ground, this organization is made up of a strong and motivated group of people looking to create innovative…
The existence of Society’s Chinese Wall.
A couple of days ago, as I was walking to my apartment, I found myself with the scene above. A protest was underway about some new developments hip-trendy apartment developments in Barranco’s neighborhood, which seems…
Time to Reflect…
It’s hard to imagine that it’s coming up on 3 years since my 1st time in South America, visiting Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, in September 2009. Reflecting on my two months here in Peru,…