Ten things that make me feel human include:

1. the ability to empathize with others
2. my personal emotional feelings
3. my inner moral compass
4. working with a purpose
5. laughing
6. making mistakes
7. learning from mistakes
8. self-reflection
9. grinding through life
10. listening

I should engage the world in an ethical manner because I am a firm believer that the only purpose of anyone’s life should be to move themselves and humanity forward in the right direction. Engagement with a purpose is central to living a fulfilling life, and, as an Ukweli team member, this means engaging with my teammates, my surrounding community, the residents of Sierra Leone and their CHWs and UHWs, etc.

The challenges I should care about are those with practical applications, such as challenges that have a place for us to change/impact. For example, we should not spend too much time worrying about changing the infrastructure of Sierra Leone’s healthcare system itself, as that is beyond our control. If we spend too much time distracted with this, we will lose valuable time we could use to make progress in ways that involve working with what we are given. This means expanding our reach across more parts of Siera Leone outside of Bombali and working with the strict standards set by the government of Sierra Leone to ensure that we also protect our University. The approach I should care about is doing all of this in an ethical manner. Our goal is not to exploit the vulnerable populations of Sierra Leone, but rather to help them without expecting anything from them in return other than asking them to live their lives as healthily as possible.

When I die, I would like my epitaph to read that Noah cared deeply about serving others in need, and that he was able to hone his personal struggles and challenges in order to create a plethora of positives out of them for not just himself, but the rest of the world, too.