Shortly after graduating college, I participated in a six-month internship in India to learn about NGO (non-government grassroots development organizations)with a group called the Overseas Development Network. As part of our orientation we were assigned to read Ivan Illich’s speech “To Hell With Good Intentions” https://www.southwestern.edu/live/files/1158 in which he challenges that the Peace Corps, and its band of eager, middle class, fresh college grad volunteers, were actually doing good for others. This is really worth a read. One of the main things I learned from this essay was that when goes some place to help, especially a place one isn’t planning to stay long, once has to consider that the outcomes of what one is doing may not be positive and that one won’t be there to discern that. There are many global health organizations that do excellent work. Partners in Health is one. I just love that their tag line reflects that they get that making change often involves a commitment for the long haul:

“we go. we make house calls.
we build health systems. we stay.”

For a commitment to global health for the long haul, today Aglow Dermatology shows gratitude to Partners In Health. Join us! www.pih.org