carrying on suj's spirit

suj and i shared a number of passions and organizational affiliations, and i saw much of myself reflected in him, making tragic loss particularly personal for me.

through the Uganda Village Project, we both threw ourselves into rural development in eastern Uganda, albeit working in the field at different times.

through Universities Allied through Essential Medicines, we both fought for global medicines access. in fact, i first met him at a recruiting table for UAEM Michigan and now, following in his footsteps and through his encouragement, have joined national and chapter leadership teams.

at the Center for the Global Health at UMich, we worked on student-oriented projects and co-authored a poster for the 2009 symposium. this year, i am on my own at the symposium.

finally, as a fellow student at the University of Michigan Medical School, he never hesitated to give me "insider's" advice or connect me with relevant faculty, or offer to edit proposals, application essays, anything really, no matter how insanely busy he was.

while our acquaintanceship grew out of shared "work" (global health) interests, our frank, open connection led us to really "click," and i saw him as a friend, a peer mentor, a pillar supporting all of our shared work. it wasn't until the end of the school year, as he prepared for his move to Uganda, that we began to hang out simply to hang out. and i truly looked forward to his return, where we could catch up on a year's worth of travel and global health activism stories.

i cannot imagine the pain endured by his family and best friends, as i myself struggle in the grief of losing a pillar. in reflecting on the tremendous impact he has had on the lives on others - both in global health efforts and through mentoring peers/encouraging student activism, i realize how my own efforts could and should be expanded.

i cannot live up to all that suj had the potential to accomplish, but i do hope to channel my utter grief into conviction to fight harder against global injustices, to make my networks available to others as much as possible, to dream big about changing the world and commit to doing it. throwing myself into the unfinished work suj has left will perhaps ease the pain.

let us all draw strength from suj's impact on our lives and carry his spirit forward.