Rachel Witwer hails from the East Coast and spent her formative years in Washington, DC. She attended Temple University in Philadelphia, earning degrees in Linguistics and Spanish. She then worked as a Development Associate for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, and Health Education Manager for CHOICE, Inc. In 2001, Rachel fell irrationally in love with New Orleans and made it her home, as many people do. She ran a supportive services program for homeless adolescents and a harm reduction program for injection drug users and earned her Master of Public Health in Global Health Systems and Management from Tulane University. Rachel joined LearnToLive to develop community health assessments for the 2012 Indonesia Health Initiative. Her varied experience in non-profit administration, program development and implementation, fundraising and direct client support is a great asset to LTL and she is thrilled to put all of those skills to work as LTL’s Programs Director.
“There were countless wonderful aspects to working in North Sulawesi as a part of the Indonesian Health Initiative, but the best part for me – the thing that really made my heart go pitter-patter – was the challenge to be meaningful. This world is littered with good intentions and insufficient deeds. This is because to be meaningful, to have actual value and significance, is harder than it sounds.
On an organizational level, our challenge was for Learn to Live to be meaningful to the communities in which we worked. On a personal level, my challenge was to be a meaningful member of the LTL team. There is nothing more exhilarating, fulfilling and inspiring than meeting a challenge head-on. In three short weeks, we as Learn to Live worked to lay the foundation for solid and sustainable programming that truthfully addresses the needs of the Sapa, Beringin, Likupang and Bunaken communities. Individually, I determined my niche amongst a group of remarkable people and contributed to the overall process with the doggedness and veracity of the best of them.The challenge to be meaningful is dynamic and perpetual, as well as necessary, and I thank my LTL experience for reminding me of that.”