hard day's night

I finally have a break from papers and presentations...I LOVE not reading piles of academic journal articles from the library. I think I killed an entire forest in printing this last semester - yikes. Don't worry, I'll reuse the paper before recycling;) I had two exciting trips to the library this week - to RETURN two big stacks of books - VICTORY!

This past semester has been a challenge. However, I am not exactly sure why. At times I am disappointed in myself and start to think that perhaps I 'dropped the ball' by not being organized enough, or by trying to do too many things or whatever. If I am really honest with myself though, the challenge had nothing to do with many of those excuses; this semester was just hard. Period. The courses that I took were third year level, even though I have only completed 2 second year classes, but they weren't offered, so....I did what I had to do. I have probably said to Matthew 50 times this semester, in utter dismay that, "University is so hard!" I have been honestly surprised by the challenge.
I have learned that it was good for me though. I have definitely become a better student. Actually, now that the worst is behind me, I can say that the biggest challenges were the best experiences because they have made me more confident in my academic-ability. For example, I had to do 3 research projects this semester and I got to chose my own contexts....can you guess what this little international-developer chose?! If you guessed sub-Saharan Africa, then you're right!
I am spending this weekend relaxing and doing as little homework as possible, but of course my brain is still digesting all the things that I've been so intently focused on over the past weeks. So, in a therapeutic attempt to help organize my thoughts, I'll tell you a little bit about where my studies have taken me this semester:

- In Economics of Developing Countries I did a really cool paper about Fair trade and its potential to lift communities from the cycle of poverty onto growth and development. Of course, my paper included fancy terms like: prebisch-singer hypothesis of diminishing terms of trade, the lewis model, opportunity for schumpterian waves of innovation, price elasticity of demand, etc, etc. All very fancy sounding, but when it comes down to it, the title of Fair Trade, is pretty self-explanatory. Make the terms of trade fair and, overall, communities (and ultimately nations and the world) will improve because of increased balance between the rich and the poor.

- Another paper that I wrote was for my Globalization class, and it was about the Migration of Healthcare Professionals from sub-Saharan Africa to the developed world. SO INTERESTING... and sad. It was great for me to do some reading about health care systems because Matthew is in first year his first year nursing and so I got to bounce some ideas off of him, and it was really helpful. I learned about different structures of health care systems, and a little bit more how the World Health Organization works. (It was more encouraging than when I learned about the World Trade Organization which was quite depressing and perhaps good material for a future blog.) Overall, the statistics in my research floored me. If you get a chance you should go onto the World Health Organization website and check out the 2006 World Health Report and they show a handy little graph that shows the # of physicians per 1000 people, # of nurses, etc. for each country. It is quite appalling. There is much to do to improve the health care systems of Africa and much of the developing world. I understand that there is no perfect system, but there is MUCH more sustainable options that are currently being utilized. The BIGGEST improvement that is most urgently needed is debt reduction, and conditions which will enable sovereign governments to set their own health budgets and have their hands tied by the established protocol of international organizations such as the WB and IMF- who blatantly restrict government expenditure. Sovereign governments MUST be allowed to invest in health care programs so that they can offer adequate salaries to their staff and provide primary care to all of their citizens...at the very least.

- The third topic that I researched was about the availability of Pharmaceuticals for Developing Countries, of course in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. Shocking, and frustrating realities. I have decided that I disagree with the current use of Intellectual Property Rights, in terms of Pharmaceuticals. I realize that they are supposed to provide the incentive to invest in research and development for new drugs, and perhaps they do that to a certain extent....but there has got to be a better way. Look at the pharmaceutical industry in India for example, I think that is awesome. The biggest question to answer in this regard is in terms of how one views health care and access to necessary drugs. Is it a Basic Human Right or a Commodity? I don't think I need to explain my views on this, if you know me you'll know where I stand. However, the more I read, the more I am convinced that the 'systems of the world' view health care in the opposite light, and I shutter to think where such systems will lead in the future.

Okay, enough of my rambling about school. I am still thinking through all of these things and trying to unwind a little bit before I begin studying for my two finals. Probably I won't do that until tomorrow though because my house seriously needs some attention. And I am pretty sure that I need to go play with Makena at some point today too, because I have not seen Melissa and her for way too long!

I wish that I had more interesting, enlightening or wise words to share. But I don't. I will post more soon....when my brain has had a few more days to recover.

In the meantime, enjoy your days and don't be too upset with challenges because, as I am learning, they often turn out to be a blessing in the end.