Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

This is the way I would like to dream, with a team as tall as evergreen palm trees. A community as deep as any stream of water. I’d like to dream while the day is young, the skies are clear and our feet are planted as we dance near streams of water. They say gratitude is a heavy burden, say it weighs deeply within the depths of one’s soul, say words may express it, but those who feel it, carry it deep within them, like an everlasting blaze, that traces love, traces joy, traces a rhythm more deeper that any warm embrace. Such is a heart steeped in gratitude. A heart like mine today, totally full.

A communities health isn’t one thing or the other. It is also a community’s health, one where they have a right to voice and lead the health they want, their way. For the past week we have been engaged in a megadesignathon in Lagos, Nigeria, listening as teams upon teams define the health they want for their communities. Our megadesignathon ended today and our hearts are simply full. The dreams were audacious when we began. So many people doubted us. But we stand here today content and grateful to those who came along for the journey with us. You all are the real MVP and our hearts are full of thanks to you all.