A Multicultural Odyssey with Venchele Saint Dic

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And welcome back to another episode of Life Changing Challengers.

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As always, I'm your host, rad Minus, and today I'm extremely lucky and we're going to take a little departure from our normally regularly scheduled program because we're getting deep into an intellectual side of Life Changing Challengers with my guest and honored to have her on the show.

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Venshele Sainththe is a master of public health, she's an author and she's a writing brand strategist and coach, and she is in the middle of pursuing her doctorate in public health right now, and we need a lot more people like her.

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So, vanchelle, welcome.

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And how are you doing today?

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I'm doing good today, Brad.

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I'm just so thrilled to be here and just looking forward to our conversation.

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You did a brilliant job introducing me.

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That's like one of the best intros, but thank you so much.

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Oh, you're so welcome.

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As always, I start out the same question with everybody.

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Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, the environment you grew up in, where the complement of your family, and what was Venshell like as a kid?

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Oh, my goodness, I think, like right now, like as soon as you said, like well, who was I as a kid?

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I'm thinking to myself well, the best person we can tell you is my father.

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I was born in the States, I was born in Florida, and then my family my mother, my father decided that they wanted me to have a trilingual education, and so I went back to Haiti right after I was born and I've pretty much lived there for probably 10 or 12 years, like all my childhood I spent it there, and so my family is from Haiti, martinique and France, and so I grew up in a household that was pretty diverse, a household where I felt seen and I felt heard and, I think, most importantly, as a woman, I was given an opportunity to speak truth to power, to own my voice or at least to develop it at the time, and it also gave me a strong sense of confidence in like, where I come from, because that's pretty much how they start you off, like when you go to school in Haiti, they start you with your history Right, and at the time, like when I was in like, I was in preschool, middle school I didn't really quite understand that because I went to a private Catholic school.

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I didn't.

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I just thought it was laborious, like because again they had all of these tomes, these books, which would hurt my back because I would have to bring these books to school every day.

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Then, seeing where I am now, I'm so glad and grateful that I was in a situation where I had to learn about my history Because, as you probably have noticed, nowadays you have to be skeptical of the news and the information that you're ingesting every day, and so that definitely provided this level of foundation In terms of how I was as a kid.

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I was very highly confident, somewhat of an introverted, introvert.

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Extroversion has always been a learned trait for me and practice makes perfect.

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So at a certain point people wouldn't notice that they talked to me.

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They think like, oh my goodness, like she's.

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She's very friendly, very sociable, but the introversion is still very much there.

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Like I definitely take the time to communicate and have fellowship with everyone, but in terms of renewing my energy, like I have to sometimes take a step back and just just be in my own zone to do some self-reflection, I was, I'm trying to think, like in terms of how I interacted with the world.

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I live pretty much in my head.

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But again, having been in a school where I was surrounded by people, by children who came from different countries, it opened my eyes and made sure that I kept an open mind, and so I was very sociable, and then yet I was somewhat of a quiet child.

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I love to read, love to travel.

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I think, if nothing else, that's where I found my love in books.

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Books gave me, it was a sort of escapism where I just it brought me to a new place.

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It gave me an escape to know more about the world outside of my inner city because that's what I call it my inner city in my head, where I'm the only resident.

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But yes, in a nutshell, that's a little bit about me and my journey, at least.

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Brothers and sisters.

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I do have one younger brother and one younger sister.

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I do have one younger brother and one younger sister.

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So my brother is currently pursuing well, he has an associate's degree in business management and he's currently pursuing a bachelor's.

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And then my sister is living with my stepmother and my father and she's well.

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She's in high school.

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So there's an age gap, yeah a little bit.

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So were you still living at home when your parents decided to split?

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That's a very good question.

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I didn't even know that they were split until like, maybe late teens, because they remained great friends.

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Like I never felt like this lack of presence from both my father and my mother.

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And then also, too, I forgot to mention because I know we were talking about my childhood but then there's a transition right Like from my childhood to becoming a teenager, and for that portion of my story, I wasn't living with my family.

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Due to the civil unrest in Haiti, they made the painful decision to have me stay in the States, have me stay with a host family with whom I lived for about seven years and my childhood ended at 12.

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And I had to raise myself, and because it's a different ballgame when you are living with people who are not family members, but that gives you an idea of just how much strife was taking place in Haiti at the time.

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And so and at the time my father was getting his doctorate degree, I couldn't live with him on campus.

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My mother was trying to make ends meet and then making sure that the people were taking care of me, had funding to take care of me, so it was a very tough time in my life.

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And then also, too, I always chuckle because I think sometimes there are people who they take things for granted, and I know for me, I've never had the luxury.

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I just never had the luxury to take a break.

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Really, I literally became an adult and I had to be on my grind, doing great in school, trying to get scholarships, trying to go to college and again, my family.

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I'm not the first one in my family to get a terminal degree.

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Everyone has at least a master's degree in my family.

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So I grew up in that environment where education was, and has always been, like a pillar in terms of defining your identity, and so that got me through the tough times.

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And even if I saw my mother during holidays and what have you, it was not the same.

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And so, even when people, when you go in these different Facebook groups and platforms, they talk about divine femininity, learning to be a woman, I had to define my womanhood, even when I received guidance from my mother, but again, there was some level of distance, right and so, yes, and then also, as I'm talking to your audience, I don't want to pit myself as a victim.

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I wasn't a victim.

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There was a choice that was made.

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I was thrusted into something that I was not necessarily ready for, and I think that's the part that we need to take into account when we're talking about changing, changing challengers.

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Right, change is not always comfortable.

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My change was not comfortable at the age of 12.

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Like Dale Carnegie would say, life threw me lemons.

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I made lemonade and some key lime pies and all of that.

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So it all of these experiences like right, like we started off with my history, like how, what was my childhood like?

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Because I had a happy childhood To move from my happy childhood, my cozy, lofty environment to a situation where I was always on survival mode and I don't take any of these things for granted I think that, if nothing else, it has made me a better advocate, especially in my field.

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Right now, in public, I'm talking a lot, so I'm going to let you into general.

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Are you kidding the more?

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you talk, the better it is, because we're getting from you.

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So, but I do have a couple of questions.

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So, basically, so you're saying so, because of what was going on in Haiti, your parents decided, hey, we're going to protect our child, right, thank you, right, not exactly the most comfortable thing, but the right thing, and I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for them either.

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They don't want to let their little girl.

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It wasn't.

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So you ended up moving in with a host family, and did you end up?

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Is that when you went to Miami?

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No, so great question.

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So I was born in Florida, but when I went to live with this whole time was in Boston, massachusetts.

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Oh, big city and cold.

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Big city and cold.

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Trust me, I don't I well.

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I remember the blizzards, but I do not long to live in Boston and go through that winter.

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Our winters are pretty.

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They, they, they pretty rough yeah.

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I grew up in Chicago, so I don't understand win rough.

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Yeah, I grew up in Chicago so I understand winter.

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Yeah, I'm actually going to school.

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I'm getting my doctorate, my DRPH, in public health leadership in Chicago.

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That's amazing.

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I love your city.

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We're in Chicago.

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What college?

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Universal Illinois at.

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Chicago Circle Campus.

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Or.

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Champagne.

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No, not Champagne in.

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We're in chicago.

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What?

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A college universal, illinois, at circle, campus or champ or champagne.

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No, not champagne.

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There's this circle, circle, campus maybe it's circle campus.

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Yeah, uic, uh, university of illinois, circle campus uic but it's downtown program, so I only get to go there to your city, like in august so well, better to go in august.

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At least they're not sending you in december or january they call it isn't that isn't.

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Isn't that the reason why they call it the wind city?

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Yeah?

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yeah, it'll blow you around.

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It'll definitely blow you around.

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I I love downtown chicago between april and the beginning of november.

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Yeah, that's the greatest time for you to be down there any after that.

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Then it could get pretty treacherous yes, yes, actually plane tickets are much cheaper from what I'm seeing in march, uh, but as soon as you get to the august july, it gets you.

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You're paying a hefty fee, but it's worth it.

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It's worth it.

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Well, I like what you're doing.

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You know what I mean.

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What you're doing is stuff for the greater good.

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So we need we definitely need more people like that.

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So, okay, so you moved to Boston, you're living with a host family and you realize that.

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So that, I think, is extremely mature of you, because you had to realize that, okay, I'm over here, I need to do something, you need to step.

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I don't know if you had to step it up or if it was something that was just natural to you.

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As far as academia, both, oh, all right, well, great.

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So you realize that, yeah, no, you talked about it, how that?

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You were like all right, I gotta, I'm here, I'm not taking it for granted, I'm gonna get my grade, get grades.

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And you knew that you wanted to go to college.

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Obviously, that was something that was instilled by you, by your parents.

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So, just going back, so your mother and your father stayed in Haiti.

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States, and then my mother remained in Haiti, but I didn't know that they were.

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It was like a split, or the beginning of a split, but I didn't know until my late teens and again, I never felt the absence, so it didn't really matter at this point, and your father was also going, but he was going to college, or was?

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He?

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Yeah, my father was just getting his doctorate at the time.

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Okay, what did he have a doctorate in?

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I believe it's in economics and political science and he has multiple master's degrees, brad.

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So not trying to after, I'm going to tell you right now, after this DRPH, like I'm not going back to school, I'm just focusing on the school of life.

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Yeah.

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So, yeah, I'm with you, I'm off of that soup.

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I'm just focusing on the school of life, yeah.

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So I am.

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Yeah, I'm with you, I'm off of that soup.

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I don't put it here because it's not.

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This is not about me, it's always about the, it's about the guest.

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But I have an MBA, I have and I've got several certificates in IT and I have several certificates and, yeah, in in fitness and in the whole bit.

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So I understand my father yeah, I understand not wanting to go back to school, because I did not want to go back.

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Don't get me wrong, I'm a nerd and I love school, I love what I do, and I think, like it's a bigger discussion of when you go, at least for me, when I was going to college, I wanted to do something.

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I was passionate about.

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Now, this whole idea of understanding and finding your mission and your vision no, I no, I was not really embedded into the theoretical frameworks of trying to find my mission at the time.

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I just wanted to do something that could allow me to impart wisdom, impart the knowledge that I've gained as a 12-year-old trying to make it out as the daughter of an immigrant, knowledge that I've gained as a 12 year old trying to make it out as the daughter of an immigrant, before my mother finally came, I think around 2007.

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And that's when I left the host family and I was reunited that's what I'm going to call it a reunion with my people, and so, so, yes, so I.

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That's how I landed on public health.

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Initially, I wanted to go to medical school.

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I was on the pre-med track and then along the way, I just thought I don't know if this is a good fit.

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I want to focus on population health and I know if I become a pediatrician, it's more so case management and taking care.

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It's just not that I have something wrong with that, but I just felt like this was just not a good fit.

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And so around my sophomore year, I switched majors, so I was still able to keep my credits, like all for all of the other classes I've taken, so it didn't hurt me that much.

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And so I switched to public health and I just fell in love with it.

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And it's almost like when we're talking about challenges too, I think we and then I spoke about this earlier but keeping an open mind and open heart.

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That was also taking a leap of faith to be to come, to go from I really want to become a pediatrician to taking a moment and realizing no, I need to make a change, because I'm not happy.

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And I had to listen to myself.

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I had to block out the noise of people, and that's another thing that I've learned along the way is that sometimes it's best to move quietly.

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I was so overzealous at the time.

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I really wanted to become a pediatrician.

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No one could stop me.

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But then how?

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And as a believer, I kept thinking, well, is God able to even use me if I continue down that path?

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And there were so many signs and then I said, no, I think I have to make the move and if I fall on my face, then I fall on my face.

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I'll be able to pick myself back up again.

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But I have to have enough faith that something good will come out of it, and it did.

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The gates just opened and I was flooded with opportunities, like with internships, things that like literally opportunities that I did not get when I was in biology.

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If nothing else, I felt like I was struggling to get opportunities, and that's part of I think it's a huge part of when we talk about life changes.

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We need to be able to take a leap of faith and not always try to have everything figured out and I'm speaking to my analytical mind right now not have everything figured out from point A to point B.

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You may have a plan and it's also good to just keep.

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It's also good to make sure that you create space, for essentially, you have to give space for you to be surprised, and I guess that's how you kind of land on your mission and vision and the people and the places that you need to be adversity, trauma, injury, whatever in an uncommon way.

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Well, you had this change in your life that was forced upon you.

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That could be considered adversity, and you had a plan, and I think the uncommon route that you made was you went into the public, you went into public health and then, of course, that led you into and we're going to get to that into this career.

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You've got with with brand strategy and writing coaching, and that's where we're going to move in there in just a minute.

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So, your dad so just to reiterate, dad's in college, mom's in Haiti you're with a host family and you've been making reference you're a reference to faith.

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So was that always something that was within Haiti and with your host family?

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Was that always something that was within Haiti and with your host family?

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Was the church a big part of your life?

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Yes, church has always been a big part of my life and, at the same time, I'll be remiss to say that I'm not an over like over religious.

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So I'm one of these people, like I question everything under the sun and I'm unapologetic about it, because I think that the more knowledge you get, the more you have to be, and I said that earlier, you have to look at things with like a fine tooth comb, because what I'm noticing is that all of the granular details that you're looking for when you're listening to people talk, when you're reading the newspaper, sometimes those granular details are not there for a reason.

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And I always have to ask myself who is driving the story, who is writing the narrative?

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And, make no mistake, I even think about this when I go to the museum.

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I think about who funded the museum, who funded what's inside of the museum, because they get to tell the story and are they telling the full story.

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And so I think of the Bible.

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I take the Bible with, I guess, a grain of salt.

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I don't take it literally word by word, because there are certain books that have been banned from the Bible, the original Bible.

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I think they banned 13 books, so the version that we have does not include everything, and so even now I'm trying to think well, where can I get some of these banned books?

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I probably will never be able to access it.

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I think it's at the Vatican level.

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I literally was just about to say that I'm going to be taking a trip here soon overseas.

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I'm going to be in Rome, and I just thought about that.

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I'm like I'm going to be in Rome, I'm going to go ask the Vatican while I'm there and I'm going to get back to Benchel and tell and I like it, I just gonna, I'm gonna walk up there pope, hey, pope there, buddy, listen, my friend says that there was a banned books and everything.

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Where can we get it?

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Where can we get a copy of the bible as it was written first time?

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is it available on amazon?

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exactly no but, to be fair, I think that what I think, the way I see my faith, is that I have a very close relationship with God.

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I talk to him the way I talk to an old friend.

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I'm talking to him the way I'm talking to you right now.

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I just always have an issue with, like, I'm not the type of person who's going to wait until Sunday to go to a specific place to worship him.

00:20:25.701 --> 00:20:30.491
I think that it's like the, those holidays, right, like the it's not.

00:20:30.491 --> 00:20:40.006
Well, it's not a holiday, but Valentine's day, like I always have an issue with Valentine's day because I'm thinking I'm not waiting until February to tell someone that I love them.

00:20:40.467 --> 00:21:05.573
You know I'm going to be about that life, you know every day, and so what it has provided me, I think my faith has provided me a compass, and knowing that from because I'm Roman Catholic, so knowing from the Bible's perspective that God gives us free will, I know that I can always change my mind.

00:21:05.573 --> 00:21:20.160
I think that the maturity and the wisdom comes when you have to say to yourself okay, I'm going to make a decision and I'm going to live with the consequences of that, good or bad, and I think that's what it has allowed me to do.

00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.920
It has given me this sense of groundedness.

00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:25.820
I feel centered, I'm on firm ground.

00:21:25.820 --> 00:21:29.040
No one can really no one can shake me Right.

00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:42.823
And then also being an informed consumer, questioning things and doing my own research, I think has been very helpful on my journey, when you say that you have to watch out where the narrative is.

00:21:43.143 --> 00:21:44.603
So it's so.

00:21:44.603 --> 00:21:46.303
Sometimes it's like, so blatant.

00:21:46.303 --> 00:21:52.963
So, just for instance, fox News is completely on the right, cnn is completely on the left.

00:21:52.963 --> 00:21:57.384
Yes, they both omit facts to speak to the narratives.

00:21:57.384 --> 00:21:59.244
Facts, so yeah, facts.

00:21:59.244 --> 00:22:02.188
So where do you find it?

00:22:02.188 --> 00:22:03.669
Do you use AP?

00:22:03.669 --> 00:22:06.071
You don't know, obviously not.

00:22:06.071 --> 00:22:13.700
And then the other one that I actually listen to because I like the way they present the news, but I still have to think about it, is NPR.

00:22:14.461 --> 00:22:14.682
Yes.

00:22:15.244 --> 00:22:17.132
Which is completely left right.

00:22:17.132 --> 00:22:52.730
Yes, no-transcript and I don't know if you've ever heard of it.

00:22:52.730 --> 00:23:09.435
There's a site called the ground and it's really cool is the fact that articles, but then they sort it or they give you a, they give you red, green, red, yellow and green, and like red is red is right, so it's.

00:23:09.435 --> 00:23:15.733
It tells you that the art hey, this article is right leaning, and green is all right, this article is left leaning.

00:23:15.733 --> 00:23:20.251
And then they've got center, this one's kind of in the center it's, it's I wrote it down.

00:23:20.271 --> 00:23:21.294
I have to check it out.

00:23:21.294 --> 00:23:25.049
Yeah, yeah, it's the first time I'm hearing about it I didn't know about it either.

00:23:25.089 --> 00:23:25.932
I caught it on.

00:23:25.932 --> 00:23:40.787
I caught on somebody else's podcast, yeah, and I heard about it and I started reading it and it's definitely you can see where it is and then they'll list the same article, like it'll be a different title, but the list it's like the same articles on the same thing on all three levels.

00:23:40.787 --> 00:23:43.171
So you can like all right, what did they say here?

00:23:43.171 --> 00:23:46.516
They didn't say here what was the same, and you can take a look at it.

00:23:46.516 --> 00:23:48.518
But that's a lot of time, you know what I mean.

00:23:48.518 --> 00:23:51.147
It's a lot of time for you to look at that.

00:23:51.147 --> 00:23:54.200
So, yeah, you got to pick your battles, what you want to learn about.

00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.213
So, anyway, all right, so that resource thank you yeah, no, I will.

00:23:59.273 --> 00:24:02.027
Oh, that definitely will, and obviously I mentioned it, so I'm gonna.

00:24:02.027 --> 00:24:03.269
I'll put it in the show notes as well.

00:24:03.269 --> 00:24:04.592
So, all right.

00:24:04.592 --> 00:24:09.527
So you've gone through high school and then, and now you've, you were going to be a pediatrician.

00:24:09.527 --> 00:24:12.233
You had that locked and loaded and then, all of a sudden, it's.

00:24:12.233 --> 00:24:16.548
What it sounded like to me was that as a pediatrician, you're going to work one case at a time.

00:24:16.548 --> 00:24:24.478
Yes, with match with public health, you're going to be able to help full populations or subgroups.

00:24:24.478 --> 00:24:27.121
So is that kind of where you were leaning at that point?

00:24:27.605 --> 00:24:29.449
That's where I was leaning at that point.

00:24:29.449 --> 00:24:37.712
And then also, too, I have to analyze this from the lens of the 16 year old, because I started the college at the age of 16.

00:24:37.712 --> 00:24:42.348
And so by the time I graduate I graduated I still wasn't.

00:24:42.348 --> 00:24:44.534
I wasn't legal to do.

00:24:44.534 --> 00:24:46.097
You couldn't even drink.

00:24:46.097 --> 00:24:48.490
Yet I couldn't even drink yet.

00:24:48.490 --> 00:24:54.954
Oh my Right, yes, that's the, that's when you take a swig.

00:24:54.954 --> 00:24:55.616
No, you're right.

00:24:56.125 --> 00:24:58.070
Yeah, yeah, no, that's.

00:24:58.070 --> 00:24:58.592
That's crazy.

00:24:58.592 --> 00:25:00.257
That's like the Big Bang Theory.

00:25:00.257 --> 00:25:02.773
Sheldon graduated college at 14.

00:25:02.773 --> 00:25:05.945
It was Dr Sheldon by the time he was 17, or something like that.

00:25:05.945 --> 00:25:15.583
It was crazy and you're like falling right there Done with high school at 16, done with your bachelor's, your BA, in public health, at what?

00:25:15.583 --> 00:25:16.224
19, 20?

00:25:16.224 --> 00:25:16.224
.

00:25:16.384 --> 00:25:17.688
To 19, 20.

00:25:17.688 --> 00:25:20.993
And then I decided to do the Peace Corps.

00:25:20.993 --> 00:25:24.027
So I moved to Senegal, west Africa, for about.

00:25:24.027 --> 00:25:32.347
Well, the contract was for two years but I stayed for three because my contract was renewed for a third year but it was not guaranteed.

00:25:32.970 --> 00:25:33.731
Yeah, but what was that?

00:25:33.731 --> 00:25:35.636
Like Senegal, west Africa, that's awesome.

00:25:36.164 --> 00:25:36.567
Yeah.

00:25:36.567 --> 00:25:39.916
So the experience was great, and I don't say this lightly.

00:25:39.916 --> 00:25:52.518
I think that it very much aligned with my values of wanting to travel and experience new cultures, and it had its challenges too, because sometimes things can be lost in translation.

00:25:52.518 --> 00:26:08.650
And so I think, if nothing else, like what it has taught me and I always remember this quote, and I don't remember if it was from a mentor or a friend who told me this but knowledge doesn't bring power into our lives until we apply what we have learned.

00:26:08.650 --> 00:26:22.330
And I think that, as someone who started working in the Peace Corps, it gave me an outlet to put into practice what I had learned in class, like in public health, and bring everything together.

00:26:22.872 --> 00:26:26.398
And I'll tell you, working with people is not always easy.

00:26:26.398 --> 00:26:31.797
You're dealing with different personalities, your different social values and interests.

00:26:31.797 --> 00:26:46.417
I lived in a rural community with no running water, no electricity, and so I was given the bare minimum of resources, if you will, and I had to once again make key lime pie.

00:26:46.417 --> 00:26:56.019
But, in a nutshell, those three years taught me that I am someone who is resilient.

00:26:56.019 --> 00:27:02.258
I know this is like the hot button word that's being used nowadays, but I am a resilient person.

00:27:02.337 --> 00:27:04.826
I am someone who's flexible and adaptable.

00:27:04.826 --> 00:27:46.487
I can live under extreme conditions and survive, and I think that's where the faith and being grounded and centering your values, knowing what you can or cannot do, comes into play, even now, like as someone who's pursuing a doctorate in public health, leadership is not afforded to many people Because we live in a society where we're always on the go-go, that we don't have the time to reflect, and I think that there's so many conflicts that could be avoided had one person just say well, I'm going to take a moment to think about how I showed up today to this person and how I could have done things differently.

00:27:46.487 --> 00:27:55.348
So, so, yes, so that's, at least that's what's coming up for me, like as I'm talking about my Peace Corps experience.

00:27:56.852 --> 00:28:01.867
So no running water, minimum resources, and I'm just going to ask you to do it quickly.

00:28:01.867 --> 00:28:08.991
But can you run us through like a normal day that you had when you were in the Peace Corps, like getting up, what were you do?

00:28:08.991 --> 00:28:10.683
How would you with these lack of resources?

00:28:10.683 --> 00:28:12.311
How are you taking care of yourself?

00:28:12.664 --> 00:28:15.912
And I think, well, the normal day would look different for everyone.

00:28:15.912 --> 00:28:46.808
So I know for my in my community, like when I got up, I just got ready, I would have breakfast with my host family and then I would again some days, because Senegal has different seasons and so in the rainy season people don't really go outside unless you're a farmer, and so you need to go and plant the seeds and do what you need to do before the rain comes, like in the afternoon, but you would pretty much be locked in your room.

00:28:46.808 --> 00:28:53.589
But for me it was literally just having breakfast with my family starting to work.

00:28:53.589 --> 00:29:18.869
So at the time I was trying to bring them like a brand new clinic, and so I was networking with many organizations in the area, and so I spent maybe a good chunk of the day with these local partners and then around 5 pm Eastern time well, 5 pm their time I would already be home, like having dinner with my family.

00:29:18.869 --> 00:29:28.010
Then we would talk about the day, because my in my family I, my father, my host father was a farmer, and so he would just tell stories.

00:29:28.010 --> 00:29:38.708
And don't forget that the people I lived with I don't even think they had a high school, I don't even think I think their reading level was at the sixth grade level.

00:29:38.708 --> 00:29:56.630
And so and I think that experience is humbling as well to come from, and I think that experience is humbling as well to come from a family where it's like I was surrounded by people who are educated to live in, with people who were not afforded that opportunity for whatever reason, it humbles you.

00:29:57.432 --> 00:30:19.111
And then I think also when we talk about my normal day, I also made time to read the Quran, because the majority of the population in Senegal are Muslims, and so it was important for me to understand why they believed in what they believe, how they moved in the world, like what was their compass.

00:30:19.111 --> 00:30:33.832
So I made time to dedicate, maybe, if it's like an hour or two to read the Quran, and I read it in French because I'm a native French speaker it will never compare to the Arabic version and it will tell you that too.

00:30:33.832 --> 00:30:35.691
So it helped me.

00:30:35.691 --> 00:31:03.728
It helped me as an American to go into the country, not projecting how I think things should be done, because remember that when people come to the US, I don't want to say we force them, but it's expected that they have a certain level of proficiency in English and without realizing that when they do that, they're sacrificing a part of themselves.

00:31:03.929 --> 00:31:11.246
So I think sometimes it can be a little bit arrogant if I go to someone else's country and I demand, I ask for them to speak English to me.

00:31:11.246 --> 00:31:13.250
No, I will find a way.

00:31:13.250 --> 00:31:25.717
I'll try to meet you where you are, learn your language, learn your customs and learn your values, because I know when you come to my country we're expecting you to do that and also, I won't be so naive.

00:31:25.717 --> 00:31:28.273
I know that the commercial language is English.

00:31:28.273 --> 00:31:36.711
With globalization, that's the number one language that we can all sell our products and sell our products.

00:31:36.711 --> 00:31:38.731
And again, you understand what I'm trying to say.

00:31:39.365 --> 00:31:43.034
Yeah, no, let's face it, America wants the world language to be English.

00:31:43.034 --> 00:31:46.429
But I think you're absolutely 100 percent correct.

00:31:46.429 --> 00:31:55.740
If you're coming to America and you're coming here to live, I think the expectation is that you learn a level of English that you can communicate with almost anybody.

00:31:55.740 --> 00:32:09.355
Same way, when you go somewhere else, we should be expected that we have to pick up enough of the language to be able to communicate, get around and you pick up.

00:32:09.355 --> 00:32:17.951
Language is pretty easy when you're immersed, when everything around you is, when everybody's talking a different language and you're trying to figure out your way.

00:32:17.951 --> 00:32:19.175
You figure out your way pretty fast.

00:32:20.266 --> 00:32:30.420
I was never a good speaker, but I spent 18 months in Korea and every chance I got I would go on into the economy right.

00:32:30.420 --> 00:32:34.954
So I was in the military, so I would spend my day speaking English because I'd be on base.

00:32:34.954 --> 00:32:40.076
But every chance I got, as soon as we were done with work, I was on the economy.

00:32:40.076 --> 00:32:43.277
On the weekend, when we had any kind of liberty, I was out.

00:32:43.277 --> 00:32:44.582
I was in Seoul, I was, I was out.

00:32:44.582 --> 00:33:00.238
I was in Seoul, I was in Taegu, I was in Busan, everywhere to the point where I could understand it and I could speak a few words here and there, but funny story I was in, I was on Camp Casey.

00:33:00.258 --> 00:33:01.971
I would go to Wijambu on a train and then from Wijambu would go to Seoul.

00:33:01.971 --> 00:33:04.982
I was on it, I was on this I would go to Weijianbu on a train and then from Weijianbu would go to Seoul.

00:33:04.982 --> 00:33:14.874
I was on it, I was on this, I was on this train and these school kids jumped on the train and they started making fun of me as being a white boy.

00:33:14.874 --> 00:33:17.368
Um, and they were.

00:33:17.368 --> 00:33:26.787
You know, they were making fun of me and they didn't realize that I knew what they were saying, um saying until next to me just happened to be there.

00:33:26.787 --> 00:33:28.770
I just was lucky enough for it to be there.

00:33:28.770 --> 00:33:43.736
But there was a folded newspaper in Hangul, which is the actual language in Korea, and I looked at them and I just gave them the side eye and I picked up the newspaper and I unfolded it and I went, just so they can hear it, and I started reading and they just looked at me.

00:33:43.736 --> 00:33:49.250
But they just looked at me, like, and I just gave him the eye and then they all, they quieted down.

00:33:50.051 --> 00:33:53.097
Oh, yeah, okay, sorry, go ahead.

00:33:53.137 --> 00:33:53.377
Go ahead.

00:33:53.377 --> 00:34:15.012
No, I was just saying that's what I meant by immersion, though, because I immersed myself, I had enough where I could listen and and interesting words, and I can probably get away with speaking to get myself around, but not obviously, not like completely, but that was also because I went back to base every time and wasn't using it 24 7, like like you were had to speak.

00:34:15.012 --> 00:34:16.715
I mean, what is sangalese?

00:34:17.175 --> 00:34:17.797
no, I had to.

00:34:17.797 --> 00:34:25.753
So the the main language, the main languages, were wolof and french.

00:34:25.753 --> 00:34:43.079
But in my community I spoke Mandinka, which is spoken by very few people, because when I was going through my training before I was sworn in as a volunteer, the trainers thought that Wolof would be too easy for me because I already knew how to speak French.

00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:44.726
They just don't know.

00:34:44.726 --> 00:34:46.327
I think I should have been speaking.

00:34:46.327 --> 00:34:48.347
Wolof would be too easy for me because I already knew how to speak French.

00:34:48.347 --> 00:34:48.768
They just don't know.

00:34:48.768 --> 00:34:49.688
I think I should have been speaking Wolof.

00:34:49.688 --> 00:35:00.115
I think I probably would have had my learning curve would have been shorter if they had allowed me to do that, because Mandinka Sose is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful language.

00:35:00.115 --> 00:35:09.182
It's just, it's tough in terms of the consonants, the vowels, and it also just how the verb comes before the noun.

00:35:09.182 --> 00:35:12.307
It can get confusing real quick.

00:35:12.387 --> 00:35:13.230
Oh, I can imagine.

00:35:13.230 --> 00:35:14.211
I can imagine.

00:35:14.211 --> 00:35:15.596
So you were there for three years.

00:35:19.125 --> 00:35:19.347
Three years.

00:35:19.347 --> 00:35:29.034
So two years, that's the standard contract, and then that's the standard contract, and then, in order to do a third year, you would have to talk about, like, the projects that you'd be interested in continuing and what have you.

00:35:29.034 --> 00:35:33.898
So, in my case, I had applied for Fulbright scholarship, but I didn't get it.

00:35:33.898 --> 00:35:44.530
And then the doctor I was going to work with because he was focused on, he was doing a pilot project on family planning and so I jumped on to.

00:35:44.530 --> 00:36:02.135
I jumped on this project because he had a connection with, like, a nonprofit NGO based in Belgium, and so I pitched it to them and they had to make a decision and they there's a list, there's a select criteria that they go through, like again, in terms they look at your health, that your health status.

00:36:02.135 --> 00:36:10.768
They look at, like, your past performances, and I had a stellar if I may say so myself, stellar performance, like I did my job.

00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:14.469
I did, I was able to do a lot of community projects with my community.

00:36:14.469 --> 00:36:16.632
They're still going on to this day.

00:36:16.632 --> 00:36:42.751
And then remember the claim that I told you about we were able to, I was able to include my community in an already established project, and that was like some time ago, and then now they have a maternity ward and I believe the clinic has become a hospital, and so, yeah, so I'm telling you, I'm telling you again, it was literally community based, participatory, community project.

00:36:42.751 --> 00:36:44.153
And so we did it together.

00:36:44.635 --> 00:37:00.974
Because that was one thing I was afraid of, and I believe they had spoken to me about, is that they were saying that there were many foreigners who came in and just created these projects and then you would have this building in the middle of nowhere, that's no longer functional, right?

00:37:00.974 --> 00:37:01.175
But?

00:37:01.175 --> 00:37:07.572
And then I didn't want to be taking up space, I wanted to use what they already have and just enhance it and amplify it.

00:37:07.572 --> 00:37:15.192
But before I even contacted and communicated with other NGOs, I did, like a survey.

00:37:15.192 --> 00:37:43.391
So, going from door to door, there were many people living in my community, door to door, and talk to them, and I think that afterwards it became clear, based on the survey results, that there was a need for us to have, like, a newer building, because this small building was just not adequate for, like all of the, for women to come in and conceive in that it was just, it needed an upgrade for sure.

00:37:44.554 --> 00:37:51.771
Nice, so that's a huge accomplishment, vinsha, my God, to get a public clinic up and running.

00:37:51.771 --> 00:37:56.840
And now and you left a path for it to get bigger and broader.

00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:58.391
And now there's a maternity ward.

00:37:58.391 --> 00:38:00.289
That's amazing, yeah.

00:38:00.309 --> 00:38:00.570
Yeah, so props.

00:38:00.590 --> 00:38:01.072
Totally Kudos up there.

00:38:01.072 --> 00:38:01.514
That's crazy.

00:38:01.514 --> 00:38:01.914
So All right, so you.

00:38:01.914 --> 00:38:02.295
So you come back.

00:38:02.295 --> 00:38:03.199
Totally Kudos up there.

00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:03.981
That's crazy.

00:38:03.981 --> 00:38:06.590
So all right, so you come back.

00:38:06.590 --> 00:38:08.034
Where did you end up coming back?

00:38:08.034 --> 00:38:09.391
Did you end up going back to Boston?

00:38:10.346 --> 00:38:35.490
Yes, I came back to Boston even one year in because that's another thing too as I was talking to my parents because they would always check up on me while I was in Senegal, my mother, I believe, became sick, and so in retrospect, I think she didn't want to worry me because it was at the tail end of my third year and I believe that my contract was going to be renewed again, and I politely declined.

00:38:35.490 --> 00:38:36.512
I said you know what?

00:38:36.512 --> 00:38:53.393
I just have a funny feeling that I need to go home now, like I did what I need to do here, and so I left, and so I ended my contract and came back to Boston, massachusetts, and then, three months later, my mother passed away.

00:38:53.393 --> 00:38:57.425
Oh yeah, it's been such a long time.

00:38:57.425 --> 00:39:03.974
Looking back on it, it was a bit like it was a traumatic event because I came back.

00:39:03.974 --> 00:39:38.327
It was a traumatic event because I came back, I was reacclimating myself to the US, and then it just so happens that in this phase, I was practically living at the hospital with her, because, as a public health professional, but also to based on the fact that we're talking about earlier, that I have written articles on race I was always afraid that the people at the hospital were not going to treat her with respect and with dignity and that, as a daughter, I had to fulfill my role and be there.

00:39:38.327 --> 00:39:43.018
And so I lived with her in that hospital for a week, like from August I believe.

00:39:43.018 --> 00:39:51.394
I took breaks where I would go home and check up on my brother, but I practically lived there until she passed away.

00:39:51.394 --> 00:40:16.938
It's not a tough conversation for me to have, because it took me some time to really grasp her loss, just because once again I just feel like I had to step up and it's not something that I wanted to do at the age of 25, like because I've done so much that I thought, ok, I'm going to have some level of reprieve.

00:40:16.938 --> 00:40:27.521
But when you are, when you decide to live life and take life by the bull horns by the horns, you are asking for constant change.

00:40:27.521 --> 00:40:29.746
Change is never going to stop.

00:40:29.746 --> 00:40:41.492
And so I took it upon myself to join a community where I could grieve like a counseling group, to grieve with other people who had lost a loved one.

00:40:41.492 --> 00:40:57.925
I became a staunch advocate and like a shoulder for other people to lean on as well, because I remember one of my friends had lost a mother around the same time, like literally a year later, and so we comforted each other and we gave each other advice.

00:40:57.925 --> 00:40:59.650
We're going through all of these transitions.

00:40:59.711 --> 00:41:14.226
I was looking for a job and I couldn't get a job in Boston, and then, finally, I had to leave my brother behind with a host family to finish his last year of high school because I had gotten a job by the tail end of 2016,.

00:41:14.226 --> 00:41:26.570
But I didn't want to uproot him and so I came to DC and then, from DC, like I lived in Maryland but my job was in DC and then I would do the back and forth.

00:41:26.570 --> 00:41:32.920
I would do the back and forth during that year to check up on him, give him pocket money.

00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:43.793
Just my father and I were pretty much my father, who was still in Haiti.

00:41:43.813 --> 00:41:45.340
We were co-parenting because he had lost his mother at the age of 15.

00:41:45.340 --> 00:42:20.036
And I can only imagine how that impacted him and how he's still impacted by it, because mom was like a kind and just a gentle soul, like she was a great human being, very loving, and I even remember the people at the hospital still reached out to me afterwards, I think a few months later, just asked me hey, just wanted to let you know we're thinking about you and if you need anything, because they sent us gift cards, I felt supported and I knew like once again, like I had to rely on my faith to get me through that stage of my life.

00:42:20.844 --> 00:42:21.686
I can't even imagine.

00:42:21.686 --> 00:42:26.358
May I ask and talk about if you want to, but can I ask what her diagnosis was?

00:42:27.344 --> 00:42:28.166
She had pneumonia.

00:42:28.166 --> 00:42:30.128
She contracted pneumonia.

00:42:30.128 --> 00:42:32.072
It was not a protracted illness.

00:42:32.072 --> 00:42:36.838
She had high blood pressure and all of that, but that's what she had.

00:42:36.838 --> 00:42:38.501
That was the diagnosis.

00:42:38.501 --> 00:43:20.389
No-transcript Did you have a good experience?

00:43:20.389 --> 00:43:21.693
Am I allowed to ask?

00:43:22.586 --> 00:43:23.632
I love DC.

00:43:23.632 --> 00:43:45.679
I loved working at the pentagon and I had I had two offices, so I also, I had an office in the pentagon and I had an office in roslyn, which is just over the bridge, and I yeah, no, my, that was the greatest experience ever and when I was there, they were, they like gutted it and reconstructed it, so I got to see the whole thing just in time.

00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:48.505
Yeah, I separated.

00:43:48.505 --> 00:43:51.739
I separated the first time because I ended up getting callback.

00:43:51.739 --> 00:43:53.525
I ended up separating the first time.

00:43:53.525 --> 00:43:56.710
May 31st 2001.

00:43:56.710 --> 00:44:00.315
I still had a.

00:44:00.315 --> 00:44:12.032
I still had a a good, non-expired pentagon badge or 9-11, so I actually left.

00:44:12.032 --> 00:44:13.034
A friend of mine.

00:44:13.034 --> 00:44:16.407
A friend of mine called me when the towers were hit and I thought it was a hoax.

00:44:16.407 --> 00:44:28.768

A Multicultural Odyssey with Venchele Saint Dic

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