Arif started his academic life as a Philosophy major, at the University of Western Ontario, and holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Globalization and International Development from the University of Ottawa, where he published several articles along with his M.A. Thesis. The road to the M.A. meant leaving behind 3 years of a Nursing degree, during which Arif led the development of the global health curriculum at the University of Ottawa. Collaborating with the newly founded Great Lakes University of Kisumu and its nursing school, we saw the need to empower local knowledge through digital and open access to the global corpus of peer-reviewed literature. Arif’s career focus has always been understanding our context, how we are situated within the whole, and how to exercise the values of mutuality, interdependence, and care for the most vulnerable. Along the way, Arif established careers in frontline street health, palliative, home health, and HIV care, and is a lifetime artist, working in music, theatre, and writing, along with ecological activism and entrepreneurship.