Preparation

A few weeks ago I received a letter that had this small phrase “you and three others will go to rice university…”. It was quite hard to believe. To be still in university and to be  a part of a global program to help solve the health challenges that my country faces  was beyond my imagination. And so I began preparing for my two month stay in Houston.

A lot of things needed to be done in preparation for the trip. Myself and my friends had to get the necessary travel documents in order, which at that time was quite time consuming. In one instance we needed to travel nearly 800 km to get our necessary paperwork. Also being Malawian I felt that I underst00d the challenges that my country faces the best. So, I wanted to establish a personal viewpoint of the challenges of Malawi’s health care.

I visited Malawi’s Queen Elizabeth hospital to get a closer look at the work that Rice had done at the hospital. I also tried to interview several Malawian technicians, nurses and a doctor  to get their perspective  about challenges they face when using medical technology. I even met with a few engineers working in the biomedical field in hope that it would help add value to my internship in Houston.

Beginning

To me it seemed to be such a long time between when I received the letter telling that I would come to Rice university and actually arriving at the school. And when I set foot on Rice’s campus I wondered to myself  “am I ready for Rice 360- hey, is rice 360 ready for me” but now that I have met the wonderful US students and great professors and mentors, I am certain.

Work has started this week- we seem to have hit the ground running. I am very excited about the summer; I know it will be a great experience.