Final Reflection

Final Reflection

Dear future participant,

Your time in Zambia will be what you make of it. You will be in a new country, with a group of new people, enjoying new experiences and creating new memories. Therefore, if I had to pick one word to describe my experience it will, of course, be “new”.

From the time, I arrived in Zambia I was ready to take on a new challenge. Remembering the drive from the airport on the first day, it still didn’t hit me yet that I was going to be staying in this new country for as long as 2 months. The pre-departure class you will take prepares you a lot for certain things, but in all honesty, the most valuable things you will learn will be while in country. For example, the kindness of a Zambian. Strangers will strike up conversations with you just because they just want to get to know you. Or they will feel obligated to walk you to your destination, even if all you asked for were directions. Another pro tip is brush up on your Nyanja, because if even though quite a few people know English, most people do speak Nyanja. This can go a long way when bargaining for minibuses, cabs, or even at the Sunday market.  

As the weeks go by, you will become so familiar with your surroundings. From bonding with your host family and building that level of comfort to be able to navigate your way home in the dark. You will have your go to meal at the Pick and Pay deli and workers at the nearby cafes will start to know you by name. Your route to work on the minibus will be first be intimidating and uncomfortable but will soon become routine and normal. However, it will never become comfortable. When working at your NGO you will be surrounded with extremely smart and dedicated people that should be used a resource for both your research and gaining more insight into their career fields. Your time at the hospital will be one of the most memorable experiences while in Zambia. You witness first-hand the differences in environment, procedures, and practices that are seen in comparison to the hospitals within the U.S.

My time in Zambia has been an eye-opening experience. It has added levels to my world view. In Lusaka, basic amenities are not always accessible such as electricity, Wi-Fi, and water, even though it is the capital of the country. Yet the sense of community is stronger than ever. When visiting the rural village even fewer things were accessible, and the host family were so happy, content and accommodating. The value that is placed on relationships and family with Zambians put things into perspective on what we value most in life. My experience in Zambia has increased my appreciation for my family and life back at home.

Nevertheless, I also experienced some hardships in Zambia. Before this trip, the times that I have traveled internationally, I was always a visitor and tourist but only for a week or two. Also during those times, I stayed at resorts and with families where our differences in culture were more understood and expected. Therefore, being in Zambia for two months, the fact that I was a foreigner remained even as my comfortability with the people and culture increased. There were times when I just wanted to go home and not have to worry about what about what food I shouldn’t eat, or if this minibus driver will over charge me or not. It was small things that began to weigh down on me over time. From trying to conduct research in a country where internet and data aren't readily accessible, it was easy to become frustrated especially with deadlines approaching. Yet these hardships were all a part of the process and experience in Zambia. From this, I achieved a new level of resourcefulness and confidence that I wouldn’t have gained otherwise.

All in all, your time in Zambia is truly what you make of it. Many might say not to have expectations when being in the country but I think it is important to have expectations for yourself. Specifically, not letting hard situations keep you down, continuously being open for new experiences the good and bad, and opening yourself to new people, especially with your host family and your cohort. In doing so your time in Zambia will be a time you will never forget

Final Reflection

Dear Future Participant,

I was honestly a bit nervous before going to Zambia. I had never traveled this far from the U.S. and I really didn’t know what to expect. Everyone said we needed to be open minded and have our comfort zone tested everyday. While this was true, I’ve never felt more comfortable before. Even in what I would view as uncomfortable situations in the U.S., like being dropped off in an unknown place by a taxi, it was manageable in Zambia. The people are kind and willing to help if you need it. This can be crossing the road, asking for directions, and even making nshima in Abundant Life for group dinner. Life is simpler in Zambia. It is slower but people are also more patient. Zambians have their priorities straight. They value social relationships and are rich with them. On the weekends, the streets change from being lively with vendors to being empty. Everything stops for family time. Walking outside on a Sunday, you will hear loud sermons come from churches all day. It is very refreshing being around people who are so passionate about their community relationships.

So onto the tips. My first tip is to journal. You will have so many new experiences in such a short time. I think it is the best way to remember it all. It does not take long to write about it. One member of our trip even made Vlogs occasionally. If you had asked me before whether or not I’d write in Zambia, I would have laughed. I’ve never journaled in my life. But since there is so much to write about in Zambia, it is definitely worth giving it a try. My second tip is to enjoy the delicious food and culture while you can. I did not eat much nshima during my home stay since my host mom prefered rice, but towards the end of the trip, I ate it at every opportunity. Being back in the U.S., I already miss it.

My final tip is to practice your nyanja before you go. In our pre departure seminar in the spring and the first week of Zambian culture class, we learned a little nyanja but it didn’t stick. I would really recommend mastering basic greetings. Although most Zambians know at least a little english, they loved when we would try to practice nyanja with them. For the small effort it takes to learn this, it is definitely worth it. Good luck on the adventure ahead of you! I hope you have as wonderful of an experience as I did.

Advice Reflection

Coming home after being away for two months has been an adjustment. I feel as though I have changed yet everything and everyone around me has stayed exactly the same. When asked about my experience this summer it is hard to describe because I can’t really put into words what I have experienced in entirety this summer. This morning my mom was joking this summer is going to be your summer at band camp where in conversation you bring up “this one time in Africa.” At this comment, I realized how true it actually was, this summer is going to be such a fundamental part of who I am and what I have learned is an integral experience that I will draw upon for the rest of my life.

Telling all my stories to my friends and family has really reinforced what an amazing summer this has been. I tell them how I took bucket showers for a month, how we boiled our own bath water, how I rode the minibus, about the food and the people and it amazes people yet that was my daily life for two months and I have become so accustomed to it. I gave my aunt the basic run down of my experiences and she responded “you are ready to conquer the world! I’m so impressed and now for the rest of your life when you think you can’t do something you can remember what you accomplished this summer.”

The most profound things I got out of this summer were not lessons about research or global health but lessons about myself. During this summer, I had not had this much free time to do things for myself in a long time. My experiences this summer allowed me to learn fundamental things about myself, I realized how much I concerned myself worrying over trivial things. Being so removed from my life at home allowed me to get perspective on what really matters, what I am passionate about and what makes me happy. I think that there are important things to learn from how other cultures live their daily lives and my time in Zambia gave me a refreshing perspective on this. This is why I feel like I am having to reintegrate myself into my old daily life. It is hard to reconcile and adjust who I am now as I feel I have grown and learned a great deal, back into my life from before. It is difficult to adjust having had this profound experience and the vast majority of my friends and family not truly understanding what I went through and all that I saw. Over time the two parts of me will slowly converge seamlessly but this will always be my band camp story.

The most important piece of advice I could give would be to truly dive in and fully invest yourself in your experience in Zambia. Although this is cliché, the most important thing that I did was try and take in everything I was experiencing and make the most of it. I wanted to take advantage of everything I could experience and learn from my short time in Zambia and it payed off. The experiences I had and the relationships I have made are because I chose to take in all I was experiencing and make the most of it. As the research became more intense and you begin to write it is important that you keep this in mind. Don’t lose sight of all that Zambia has to offer because of the research that you are doing. Be proactive about your research but take time to enjoy your time in Zambia as well, it is short so make the most of the time you have.

Research Reflection Post

In applying to this program, I so many expectations for what this program would be. Throughout the semester however, although we learned more and more about Lusaka and were taught about what we would be doing, my perception of the research became less and less clear. When we finally got our topic “social protection and other,” I was really unsure what this research would turn out to be. Looking back on when I applied, research on social protection would not have been what I envisioned; however, I have come to enjoy this topic.

In the beginning of the program 8 weeks to conduct the research seemed like a easily manageable task however, as the weeks went on I realized how short this time frame is in reality. In the beginning, it was easy to keep busy reading and reviewing all the literature. I assumed that I had so much time until the research ended and justified my progress through my diligence in reviewing the literature. As the weeks went on, I realized how short this time frame actually is especially for conducting research. I began to realize what an undertaking we had signed up for in doing a comparative study on Zambia and Namibia. The hardest part in my opinion was making sure we were on the same page in researching two different countries. The most difficult part came when we began writing; it was hard to finally take all of our information and synthesize it into significant findings. Initially I felt very overwhelmed trying to figure out how to take all the information from Namibia and turn it into useful information in the context of how to improve social protection in Zambia. It felt as though I was trying to play connect the dots to draw parallels and differences between the two countries. In the end, I was really happy with the results.

The most gratifying part of this research was being able to see the beginning and the end product of something meaningful. At school, I have written research papers and while I am invested in the end product, it is just for a grade. I enjoyed writing this paper because I knew how it was going to be used and that my research would be of greater use than just being read by a TA or professor. While I initially did not think that social protection would be an interesting topic, I was proved wrong. I learned that anything can become interesting when you invest a lot of time researching something. I found that the more I researched and the more knowledgeable I became, the more interested I became in the topic. From here on out, I look forward to seeing where this paper goes and am grateful for this experience.