From Sierra Leone to the Stage: A Global Health Leader Reflects

For Cuso International alumni Nancy Edwards, global health isn’t just a profession it’s been a lifelong mission shaped by lived experience.

Volunteering with Cuso in Sierra Leone from 1978-81, Nancy worked as a community health nurse, teaching classes and supervising student’s field work in an innovative primary health care program.

“It was a life-altering experience.  I learned immensely from the nursing students, villagers, traditional birth attendants, Chiefs, and other health workers,” said Nancy. “I have carried this learning with me in both my personal life and my career.”

That experience laid the foundation for decades of leadership. When Nancy took her first academic post in 1984, she brought a deep global health perspective into her work. “I brought the community health experiences I had learned in Sierra Leone to other settings including Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, and Jamaica; and to my community health work in Canada,” she said.

“It was a both a privilege and a humbling experience to return to the African continent in the latter stages of my research career to co-lead research studies in several countries on nursing and HIV and AIDS.”

Nancy is a distinguished professor and Professor Emerita at the University of Ottawa, where she was the director of the Community Health Research Unit from 1994-2009, and the director of the Population Health PhD program from 200-2002 and 2015-2016. Among many of her accomplishments, she has three honorary doctoral degrees and has received numerous awards.

Now, she is on a new journey. Nancy has written Rethinking Good Intentions, a story-telling play largely based on her memoir Not One, Not Even One: A Memoir of Life Altering Experiences in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

“I thought the play would reach both a wider and perhaps a different audience than the memoir. I was introduced to popular theatre in Sierra Leone where I experienced the strengths of oral traditions and storytelling.  A play seemed such an appropriate way to share some of my experiences in the West African country,” she said.

“I realized that a play could be used to provoke discussion among students interested in international development and/or global health in a different way than the traditional readings students are assigned in a course.”

In 2024, Nancy performed the play at five fringe festivals that summer, as well as for other audiences including three universities.  Some universities hosted post-performance panels where participants shared reflections and engaged in meaningful discussions. At Trent University, Nancy met with nursing students preparing for international clinical placements. Viewing the performance online, students were able to virtually share their reflections and have in-depth discussions.

This summer, she will be performing the play at the Conference for the Canadian Association of African Studies in June and at the Victoria Fringe Festival in August, with ongoing discussions about other possible performances.

To learn more, visit Nancy’s website and the “play” page.