List ten things that make you feel human:

• A big hug from someone I love 
• The grief I’ve been feeling ever since my dad passed from cancer
• A piece of chocolate after a bad day
• The magic at Disney World
• Helping others 
• When a little kid hugs me, holds my hand, or tells me they love me (literally my favorite thing in the world)
• Sadness. Without sadness, you won’t appreciate the happy times as much. I try to have this mindset when I’m missing my dad a lot and think back to all the good times we had.
• The joy I get when I’m with my family 
• Traveling the world and seeing what else is out there
• Anxiety. Something I can’t control but is a part of me I have to learn how to live with.

Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF. 

When developing your own philosophy of engagement, it’s important to be aware of how your engagement in something is going to affect a community. Being sensitive to different cultures and lifestyles is extremely important because if you aren’t, your hard work might not reach its ultimate goal because the people there won’t accept your proposed solution.

In terms of my project in Sierra Leone, the malnutrition group, the reason I should engage is because these kids are unfortunately not receiving the proper nutrients to grow properly. They need something to help them with this, and hopefully, the foods that my team and I bring to Sierra Leone will help in fixing this problem. We have developed recipes with ingredients we know are easily accessible and cost effective, and last year’s team did a great job of testing some of them out in the market, so we know things are heading in the right direction. We are going to engage by continuing this same process, making our recipes in country and getting people’s opinions of how they taste and if they would buy it if it became a permanent staple in their market. 

While there, we are going to be working with bakers, vendors, and our target market – mothers and their children. We need to be mindful of how our products fit into their day to day life, and we have to make sure they are easily accessible and affordable. If we make nutrient dense foods that do not fit their tastes, there is no point in introducing them into the market. Their personal tastes are different than ours, so that could be a challenge. This does give us an opportunity, though, to practice being mindful of their cultures. We need to have a thoughtful approach and make sure we are sensitive to them. I would hope my epitaph reads that I was a caring person who worked on giving back to her community as much as she could.