Branden N.

Volunteer — Vanuatu, Peace Corps

I was considering medical school following my undergraduate degrees, but as time progressed, I realized that I wanted to do a gap year before medical school. A professor in college who had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho was passionate about the organization and felt it could be a potential path for me to take after graduation. I realized that Peace Corps was an amazing opportunity with a strong mission and goals that aligned with my personal convictions and orientation toward global service. I continued to research more about the Peace Corps and became increasingly interested in the health sector positions, ultimately leading me to choose Vanuatu as my preferred post.

One of my main projects is co-facilitating a protein and micronutrient awareness session at a local clinic alongside my nurse counterpart Nako. Education about micronutrients and protein is important as they can be difficult to incorporate consistently into local people’s diets.

I am partnering with local leaders and clinic staff on this project as well as a grant proposal to renovate a health clinic. There is only one admission room for patients, which can cause crowding that can be dangerous for newborn babies and mothers who sometimes are forced to share a room with sick patients.

Lastly, I am working closely with my counterpart and the health center midwife to create tracking tools with Excel and am partnering with the local health ministry to ensure that the most effective data collecting tools are being used appropriately and consistently.

Integration is very important to me. From the start I was very intentional about being active within my large host family and by participating in different cultural events, excursions, and village traditions. I also learned the local dialect spoken in the area so that I can connect better with my host family and community members. This strategy has been most helpful and interesting. Through my language learning I also learned more about local culture and history. I also dined with as many local families as I could. Bringing food or contributing in some fashion to the dinners helped me feel welcome and integrated in my community.