What I Learned

What I Learned

It’s been about a month since I returned from Kisumu, where I spent eight weeks working on the development of an mHealth pilot study at the Duke Center for Global Reproductive Health. I really feel that I gained so much out of those two months, and I’m hoping to bring these lessons with me to my senior year at Duke. I was able to experience what it really means to do research in the field, and that a lot of the time this means being flexible and prepared for plans to constantly change. The local team at the Center taught me the importance of communication and planning ahead, but how to also be ready for scheduling changes when working with outside teams. More than that though, the team showed me how easily one can feel connected to a new group of coworkers that welcome you with open arms. I think I speak for myself and the rest of the SRT...
Read More
Expect the Unexpected

Expect the Unexpected

Exactly six weeks ago I spent my first full day in Kisumu, Kenya after a day’s worth of travel, an earlier than expected arrival, meeting my two Canadian housemates, and being so disoriented I didn’t even know where to get a meal or buy groceries. Now, with only two weeks of my time left, it’s almost laughable thinking back on how little I knew of how this city works. I now know which water to buy (the refillable 5L jugs with the handle), how much a tuk tuk from home to the office costs (100 KES, which is the equivalent of about 1 USD), and how to catch the best sunsets every night (rooftop of the building at our complex at 6:30pm). Despite my confusion on just about everything when I first arrived, the one thing I expected to be relatively straight forward was the research project I was set to be working on. I was told to be ready to...
Read More