#WomenWhoWill - Activist Sarah Jameel
In honor of Women's History Month, we've launched #WomenWhoWill, an online campaign honoring women we know will make history from around the world.
First, meet Sarah Jameel. She's a Dental Student and Quercus Active Citizenship Scholar at University College Cork, but that's not all. Sarah started her activism at age 11 in her home of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami, fundraising for medicine/medical equipment. Sarah's shaken up our world in incredible ways since: from being a Global Teen Leader at We Are Family Foundation to interning at World Health Organization to serving as a Global Changemaker for the British Council and so much more.
What are you up to right now?
I’m in third year of Dental School, which means I have just started to treat
patients. Besides learning to recreate smiles at school, I run Food Beyond
Borders, an online storytelling campaign that connects people and
places through food culture and conversation. And between that and clinics, my
downtime is spent writing for Dear Fellow Human which is a writing space I founded and curate in order to have important conversations with the world on global and social issues I deem pertinent.
2. What’s a struggle you’ve overcome? What did you learn from it?
When you’re a round peg in a square hole, the struggle of being an outlier is very
real. Growing up in Sri Lanka where I spent most of my primary and secondary
education, I was exposed to the triad of professions – Medicine, Law and
Engineering. Any child growing up there would agree with me that the societal
pressure to conform to one of these 3 pinnacle professions is undeniably
obvious. But the caveat is that you have to pick one from an early age and God
forbid if you have skills or interest that intersect them in any way then you’re a
conundrum to those around you. I grew up as that conundrum – the science
student in the classroom and the arts/politically engaged lover of the humanities
outside the classroom.
Then going onto pursuing a career in Dentistry, the ubiquitous comment I would
get from society in general would be that I was going to follow my father’s
footsteps and take over his practice. Of course, by default I was following his
footsteps in taking up the same profession. But that didn’t mean that I was going
to be him in every sense and form. The way I viewed Dentistry differed from him.
I spent my 18 th birthday with him, helping out at a Dental Fluorosis Outreach
Project in a rural part of Sri Lanka.
Here I met this young girl who looked different
from the rest of the children I had spoken to. Her face was slightly disfigured from
what seemed to be a trauma injury. The nurses later told me that she was a
gunshot victim whose family had been in the crossfire of a recent attack in Sri
Lanka’s three decade-long civil war. Tragedy has struck twice, unfortunately for
this girl; her family had been relocated to a town, which had a dental health-
related time bomb. The effect of excess fluoride levels in the ground water left
discoloration on the permanent teeth of children her age and led them to become
socially stigmatized and afraid to smile. She was suffering from Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), and was not amenable to any type of treatment regimen
thus far. I sat with her, held her hand, and reassured her that when the treatment
was done, she would look back in the mirror and feel better. She came out of the
treatment room, smiling at me and said “nandri” – or thank you in Tamil, and it
was in her moment of glee that I realized the impact a Dentist had on a populace,
and I was awed not merely by the challenge of saving a life but more by being
able to change one. Six months later, at the World Economic Forum as one of
the 6 British Council Global Changemakers, representing the voice of youth
globally, I found myself reliving moments of what could have been this girl’s life
before my encounter with her. At the United Nations Refugee Agency’s Refugee
Run, together with world leaders and businessmen, I was made to experience
simulated landmine attacks, solitary confinement and rape, and negotiate
between meager food rations and a doctor’s visit. So although I had the option of
plunging directly into Dentistry after high school, I decided to take the road less
travelled and answer the fundamental questions that had come out of my
encounter with that young girl. How do healthcare professionals approach
patients in conflict-ridden situations? How is humanitarian relief provided to
communities amidst civil wars? What are the bargaining strategies
and security dilemmas associated with providing reliable dental care to these
civilians? What role do International Organizations play in creating and
implementing health strategies globally? In order to pursue these answers I
majored in Biology and minored in International Relations. I learned that PCR
meant both Polymerase Chain Reaction as well as Post Conflict Reconstruction.
As a firm believer in simplifying the complicated, I learned that deciphering and
solving interconnected challenges the world faces today cannot be done until
fields merge and inspire each other.
But until very recently, people seemed to know what’s best for me and often tried
to feed me the jargon of following a path in Law or International Relations. But it
wasn’t until I was completing my undergraduate degree at McGill University in
Biomedical Sciences and International Relations did I realize myself that you
didn’t have to fit into the boxes and keyholes that are created by society. Being
multidisciplinary is not a weakness that I needed to shy away from. It was what
made me – me. They say kids learn from their surroundings from a very young
age, and I grew up in a home where my mum practiced Law and my dad
practiced Dentistry. So if anything, this nature and nurture could account for my
merged interests. I’ve always wanted to be the type of Dentist that has an insight
that draws on clinical dentistry and social theory, one who is able to link
molecular epidemiology to history, and ethnography to political economy.
As a result, the summer before I started Dental School, I had to stand my ground
about taking up interning with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva
because my dad was not so up for it. I had to explain to him how both Dentistry
and Global Health are two integral parts of me where I can’t lose either in order to
do well in either. I think he later understood where I was coming from that I would
only be happy if I could practice Dentistry clinically, be involved in research and
actively engage in dental outreach. And now being in the midst of learning to
master clinical practice to become a good clinician, something I currently enjoy
every day, what I wrote in my Dental School essay still stands. I said,
“To me, Humanitarianism lies at the core of Dentistry. This is because every act
of kindness that touches another human being inevitably makes them smile, and
spreading smiles or “Sina Bo Weva”, as the name of Unilever’s oral health
campaign in Sri Lanka translates to – is a gift that a dentist specializes in giving.
So my life goal is to create a MSF (Doctors Without Borders) for Dentists. As look
ahead into my future, Sina Bo Weva is not merely the title of an advertising
campaign, but the mission statement in my own personal effort to create a world
with a healthy smile by providing dental care to regions of the globe that need it
the most. But in the present, learning to achieve clinical excellence is what I am
striving for.
Therefore, on as to how I overcome and learn from struggles, I have to thank my
parents for intricately laying out the groundwork for resilience through their love,
support and continued guidance. Growing up, when they realized I had no
interest for my Barbie dolls, they went ahead and got me Lego and Chess and a
First Aid kit so I could practice putting Band-Aids on them and write fake
prescriptions for them – because that’s what made me happy. They never
restricted me with gender stereotypes whether it was in sport or intellect. Looking
back, my dad especially played this game against the world so well by being a
feminist in his own way. He only focused and made me focus on my intelligence
and any talents I may have had, because he very well knew what the world would
focus on the superficial (on looks and appearance – if any). To date, he cares
more about what I learn in class than what I wear to a party. Lastly, my parents
always treated my brother and me alike – so the discrimination never started at
home. And as a result, these are the ideals I took with me to the world when I left
home. So with the people I call life bras (my real life support system) made up of
my parents, brother and close friends/mentors/ nonbiological family any struggle
can be slayed because they’ve seen me at my weakest and loved me anyway.
3. With the current political climate, what’s your advice to keep taking
action? How are you taking action?
I write. There’s some free verse I wrote that might put the way I view the status
quo and what we can and should do into perspective.
“Ordinary people”
What is easy is to stand up
When the injustice is against you
What is hard is to stay standing
When the injustice isn't about you
But it takes ordinary people
And extraordinary circumstances
To think better
To do better
To be better
Ordinary people
Sarah Jameel
What is easy is to turn a blind eye
When the shots weren't fired at your family (yet)
What is hard is to feel traumatized
When the drama doesn't affect your family (yet)
But it takes ordinary people
And extraordinary circumstances
To think bigger
To act bigger
To be bigger
Ordinary people
What is easy is to not stop and wonder
How all the -isms and -phobias aren't deal breakers
How they aren't humane reflexes for all
But,
How we can strive to make them knee jerks
Because it takes ordinary people
And extraordinary circumstances
To think kinder
To act kinder
To be kinder
Ordinary people
Neutrality serves no purpose in moral crises
And it takes ordinary people
And extraordinary circumstances
To spread humanity like Nutella
To ensure it covers the entire toast
And leaves no room for disarray in the one and only tribe
The human tribe
Made of ordinary people
And extraordinary circumstances
That is really all it takes
4. What’s your self-mantra?
In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
5. What does an average day look like to you?
Wake up around 6.30/7am and have my coffee, manuka honey and breakfast.
Go to hospital for labs/clinics or class from 9-5 and leave hospital a bit earlier on
good days. Come back home; touch base with my loved ones. Look over my
Sarah Jameel
schoolwork and extracurricular activities. Write. Swim. Remember to brush my
teeth and floss at night (hint) and try to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night (I am a big
fan of Arianna Huffington and the importance of sleep because I have learned the
hard way about the real physical detrimental effects of not listening to your body
and its circadian rhythm).
6. It’s Women’s History Month - who is a woman from history/from your
own life that has shaped who you are today?
Hermione Granger – and by default J.K. Rowling for creating such an imperfect
yet human(e) character. Hermione taught me that you could be a nerd and still
not be boring – if anything more interesting. Hermione is kind and compassionate
and believes that all creatures should be treated with dignity and respect. She
goes onto to create the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare (S.P.E.W)
after she witnesses a house elf being poorly treated, in order to give house elves
equal rights. She shows her vulnerability and flaunts it as an asset as opposed to
a weakness. She always choses the high road with bullies by saying “Ignore it”
as opposing to feeding the trolls. And this element of maturity is one of the most
valuable lessons she’s taught me – when they go low, you go high. She doesn’t
compromise principle or loyalty for what is easy. And I think this quality is
something I look for in my friends and loved ones. Additionally, I have also
always related to her and how she can be labeled as snobby – when in reality it’s
more like being shy or reserved until I get to know people. And after that you may
regret how crazy and silly I can get when you’re part of my inner circle. But yes
there are many layers you have to peel off to get to that level of candidness. And
the woman that Hermione grew up to be in ‘The Cursed Child’ is everything I
hope to be as a human. So all in all she’s my favourite woman and feminist in the
history of the wizarding world.
Other than that I am a great fan of Ellen and her kindness and Princess Diana
and her humanitarianism. And it goes without saying – my mum, for teaching me
to “lean in” for as long as I could remember. I remember her saying that “Often
you need to work twice as hard as a woman to be half as recognized for your
work.” And I wish she were lying. So as for genetic role models, she makes a
very strong and beautiful one.
