I joined WFDD 10 years ago in 2015, months after graduating from the Masters of Public Health program at Emory University. Initially, I was hired as a program associate to work on the Luce supported Country Mapping Project as well as the newly launched Faith and Family Planning Project supported by the Hewlett Foundation, both focusing on Senegal. Now, I serve as the Program Manager at WFDD, wearing multiple hats. Programmatically, my work with family planning continues, but I also spearhead the Senegal work for the Strategic Religious Engagement Project on Education and Social Protection Project. Organizationally, as a small (but mighty) core group, I also serve as the administrative and financial lead.
Senegal first entered my life in 2010, when I was invited to join the March 2010 cohort of Peace Corps Volunteers. At that time, my knowledge of Senegal was very basic- I looked up some facts, brushed up on my French, and boarded a flight for Washington, DC for training. Those couple of days were a whirlwind of paperwork and vaccinations and before I knew it, I was Senegal bound. I remember sitting on the plane, filled with excitement and nerves and unable to sleep as we crossed the Atlantic. Armed with the confidence and naivete of a 22 year-old less than a year out of undergrad, I was ready. Clearly, I had a lot of life lessons to learn.
From my time as a Peace Corps volunteer living in a small village in the Kolda region to graduate studies to 10 years of working at WFDD, several key lessons and tenets still hold true: Patience, Humility, Curiosity. Flexibility, and Humor.
Patience: Working at the intersection of religion and development, I find myself caught between two worlds. The secular development field is often focused on KPIs and SMART indicators, while religious leaders condense their role to “we are here to help people.” The two are more closely aligned than it may seem at first glance, with similar goals of improving the health and wellbeing of communities. Religious leaders are development actors, and WFDD strives to build that bridge, creating a common language. Just like learning a new language, this process takes time and dedication.
A large part of my day to day is relationship building. Trust is needed on both ends, and it does not happen overnight. I have spent several years building trust, examining power dynamics, and following through with my promises to get to where I am today. Trust is built and earned and, in my experience, not freely given in the early stages. What does that look like? When we initially began our family planning work, workshop reports were broad narratives that did not discuss challenges and difficulties. It was surface level because our partnership was still in its infancy. Over the next year, we would ask questions and work with our partners to create an iterative process where we learned from each stage to improve the next, emphasizing that challenges were not a negative reflection on our partners, but an opportunity to grow and adapt. That deep trust that we have established and fostered remains a keystone of our partnership.
One of my proudest moments at WFDD came in 2023, when our partners in Senegal,
CRSD, became a main grantee! From the beginning, I would say that one of my goals was to work myself out of a job and here it was. It took years of building systems, reinforcing capacity, and growing pains, but CRSD emerged as a force within the development field.
Humility: I have expertise, but I am not an expert. Each project has their own particularities, strengths, and challenges, all placed within the context of a time and place. In this work, I am the outsider, who has experience to share, but I am not the one with answers. I enter each project with open ears and an open mind, excited to learn from our partners. As a mid-career Chinese American woman, there are some doors that I can sail through based on my identity, where others remain barred. The key is knowing that line.
Religion and beliefs are one of the topics that pop up on the “things you should never talk about” lists as a way to avoid conflict and debate. However, 3/4 of the world’s population identifies with a religion, and it’s difficult to avoid when it is part of your job. I strive to enter each interaction with an open mind and a willingness to hear a range of opinions. However, I am human and fallible. My personal values and perspectives may clash with that of others, but I lean into the next item, curiosity.
Curiosity: At its core, my job is to ask questions: “What does religion have to do with it?” “How could we reach more people?” “What can we learn from this experience for next time?” This ties in closely with humility. While I can read the latest study, report, or article, and cite statistics, it does not overshadow someone’s lived experience. There is power in stories. The
Practitioners and Faith- Inspired Development Interview Series houses over 400 interviews and is a treasure trove of experience, with journeys and motivations of how individuals have arrived at their work.
By asking questions and not setting the agenda, we grow and adapt alongside our partners. It becomes a journey that we venture on together vs. us handing over a roadmap. Yes, there are parameters within the projects, but inside those bounds, we can be creative together, adapt approaches to fit the current contexts, try out different activities, and learn at each stage.
Flexibility: My job is not linear and each day is different with joys and challenges. My experience as a Peace Corps volunteer taught me that I could not impose my expectations and rigidity onto others. I can set expectations and communicate them, but I cannot control circumstances- it is up to me to shift my own perspective and react accordingly. In the last ten years, my work has been impacted by coups, elections, global pandemics, deaths, births, natural disasters, and a long list of other things. I’ve met each of those with flexibility, extending grace to our partners, as well as to ourselves, adjusting expectations and deadlines.
I must meet our partners where they are and that is modeled by our funders as well. In 2020, when we changed our strategy and let our funders know, they were in full support and granted us the flexibility to adapt as needed. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down gatherings, which were a key component of our projects, but our partners were able to shift to other avenues and lean on relationships with media companies, as well as mobilize via social media. It showed the strength and adaptability of our organizations, making the most of a difficult situation.
Humor: While our work is serious, we do not have to be serious at all times. Working globally, there are challenges that come with flights, organizing events, and day to day life that is out of our control. When there are challenges, I aim to find a reasonable solution, even if that is to communicate that it is out of my control. Reminding myself that in 1 day, 1 month, or 1 year, I may find humor looking back at the situation helps to remove the immediate stress. Some examples are: one of the religious leaders we were working with getting stuck in an elevator (we still laugh about it when we see each other), getting handed a stack of photos of sheep from a taxi driver while stuck in traffic prior to Eid al-Adah (Tabaski in Senegal), and a colleague being handed a plate of carrots and beans when we explained that a vegetarian does not eat any type of meat, including fish. While there were immediate actions needed in each of those situations, having a bit of humor prevented them from escalating into very stressful situations.
I am proud of the 10 years I’ve spent at WFDD and am excited to continue to work with our partners, to learn, and to ask all the questions.
