O鈥橞rien will divide his time between Gaza and the West Bank, territories in the Middle East separated from each other by Israel. He鈥檒l draft and implement grants that provide healthcare and emergency shelter for people in Gaza who have been displaced from their homes and help farmers in the West Bank secure the money and resources they need to grow crops and raise livestock.
He says that one of the goals of the project in the West Bank is to support farmers who want to turn their livelihoods into businesses and sell their goods to customers at local markets. Al Jazeera in May that the novel coronavirus has crippled the agricultural industry in the West Bank, as closures imposed by the Palestian Authority to control the spread of the virus have made it particularly difficult for farmers to sell their livestock.
鈥淚 want to support their contributions to their community,鈥 says O鈥橞rien, 鈥渁nd help them get what they need to implement their vision for their small business.鈥
Muhammad and O鈥橞rien say that their internship experiences at Catholic Relief Services have prepared them to excel in their fellowships for the humanitarian organization. O鈥橞rien helped to bring clean water to families in Honduras and worked with children to teach them important life skills, such as how to save money. Muhammad helped to write three successful grant proposals in Niger, including one grant proposal that provided $125,000 to help healthcare professionals respond to the novel coronavirus in the country.聽
鈥淐atholic Relief Services is such a large worldwide organization,鈥 says O鈥橞rien, who also served as a member of the Peace Corps in Mozambique, where he worked with community members to improve health education and reduce the spread of HIV and malaria. 鈥淐oming in with internships already under our belts and going to different parts of the world to engage with the teams there gives us a better sense how globally connected we all are.鈥
Muhammad and O鈥橞rien, both of whom studied in the global field of practice, credit their classes with helping them develop the technical acumen, thoughtfulness, and compassion required to work in other countries. Muhammad says the writing assignments in sharpened her ability to craft persuasive grant proposals. O鈥橞rien says electives focused on the topics of gender, climate change, and public health increased his capacity to understand the nuances and complexities of any given issue.聽
鈥淢y professors brought a lot of challenging ideas and provided a framework that I plan to reflect on during the fellowship,鈥 says O鈥橞rien. 鈥淚鈥檒l try to look at how whatever I鈥檓 doing relates to gender, climate change, and public health.鈥
Catholic Relief Services has聽聽that 75 to 80 percent of fellows continue to work for the humanitarian organization after their fellowships end. Muhammad and O鈥橞rien expressed interest in managing programs for the organization when they finish their fellowships. O鈥橞rien says he wants to work in public health, with a particular emphasis on addressing health disparities. Muhammad says she wants to apply her skills to improve the health of women and children.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 open to see where it鈥檚 going to lead me,鈥 says Muhammad. 鈥淚鈥檒l go wherever I can be most helpful and most useful.鈥