Sight and Life Magazine 1/2011

60 A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOHANN C JERLINGmany African countries. Above all, it’s great to see how peopledevelop and progress in their careers, and as part of this Africawidenetwork. I find it really satisfying.SAL: What does Sight and Life mean to you in the context of theglobal fight against malnutrition?Johann Jerling and the ANLP team, from left to right:Violet Mugalavai, Marlien Pieters, Victor Owino, Nyagosya Range,Namukolo Covic, Johann Jerling, Mercy Achu, Charles Mokoena,Olympia Keino, Chrissie Thakwalakwa.for advice and a chat, so I do spend a lot of my time on this. If theteam is doing well, I’m happy and think I’ve done my bit.SAL: What do you look forward to in your working day, and whatdo you find challenging?JJ: Seeing people grow gives me a huge amount of satisfaction.I enjoy solving problems, and seeing the end result of solvinga problem. I also greatly enjoy discovering new things, whichmight be really complex … or really simple. Overall, I really enjoythe enthusiasm in the group. We have some more senior researchers,plus a fairly large batch of 30-somethings, who arefun to work with, as they are all developing careers, and are energetic,adaptable and eager to try to do things in a new way. Itreally adds to the feeling of the whole job being worthwhile.SAL: Which aspect of your work is most important to you?JJ: The activity I find most rewarding is the leadership developmentprogram that I am director of – the African NutritionLeadership Program, or ANLP. Every year about 120 candidatesapply from all over Africa. Thirty get selected and join a 10-dayleadership development course. To me, this is the single mostworthwhile thing that I have done in my whole life. It’s a lot ofreally hard work, but the rewards that I get in many ways arejust fantastic. It’s great to see how people discover things aboutthemselves that they never knew before, how they change in environmentswhere they are challenged in all sorts of ways. It’salso wonderful to see how we can get 30 people together from17 different countries for 10 days, and discover how irrelevantthe differences between nations become. I can see how stronglyreligious Christians and devout Muslims can work together, despitethe fact that we have seen conflict along religious lines inJJ: Maybe six years ago, if I heard someone talk about Sight andLife, I would have thought about vitamin A. Now, however, I thinkit is about people who create awareness, stir, and build capacity.For me, the whole transition that has been undergone by Sightand Life, at least in my lifetime, has built that enthusiasm. Thisis an organization that gets all sorts of things done. Although Ido not believe that there is one single organization that will everwin the battle against malnutrition, Sight and Life plays a reallyimportant role in the whole movement. I have great respect forit because it actually delivers.As for the magazine, it contains articles, inspiring stories, andnews, and its content is strikingly different from what manyother organizations do. I also appreciate that it is not simplyso focused that it’s only interested in its own small area, perhapsbecause it is positioned to be fairly broadly interested inmalnutrition. I get the impression that it’s an organization that’sgenuinely interested in solving issues.SAL: How do you switch off from work? Do you have interestsoutside your professional existence?JJ: Although it’s something that I haven’t done for three or fouryears, I really enjoy fly fishing, as it takes my mind off everything.I also enjoy mountain biking and photography. I’m probablysomething of an undercover artist! I can’t do it very well, butI do have the urge to create… I love putting together slide shows,manipulating photographs and video editing.SAL: Thank you, Johann, and good luck with everything you do.JJ: Thank you.Interview by Susie Lunt