The Johnson Opportunity Grant is a fund awarded on a competitive basis that aids W&L students’ projects. As a recipient, I want to thank the faculties, sponsors, and administrations at Washington and Lee University for making my remote research in South Africa possible, especially during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Winter 2020, I began my application to intern in South Africa through the W&L Cape Town Program, and I couldn’t sleep from excitement when I received my acceptance into the program. I knew that interning in South Africa was the only thing that I wanted to do this summer. When school was canceled due to the epidemic, my dream and hope were shattered overnight. My summer plan fell apart. I was so close to losing all hope, however, the Johnson Opportunity Grant made it possible for me to do remote research in South Africa through CONNECT123 virtual program. Through the program, I conducted a research under the guidance of Dr. Liesl Zuhlke and her team at the University of Cape Town and Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit. Under the guidance of Dr. Zuhlke, I learned about the health care system in South Africa for treating children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD), how to concisely condense information, and work in a virtual remote environment. This research position opened my horizon and connected me with many other likeminded researchers and doctors across Africa.

Achievements

From my remote internship, I achieve my personal goal of continuing my pursuit of wisdom and breaking free from the W&L bubble, and I will take what I have learned and apply them medical school. My experience allows me to break from my traditional W&L bubble to challenge myself working in a remote, virtual environment. After the Cape Town Summer Internship Program, I have gained new perspectives that diversify my ideas and understanding of the world. One of the things I notice while working virtually is that cultures facilitate different work ethnic and teamwork. For example, honorific in South Africa is less important than in the United States. I call my PI by her first name at her request. In addition, South Africa has more a community-based work ethnic where people help each other out. I find it interesting that during online meetings, the team is flexible with social hours and catches up with each other instead of going straight to the meetings’ objectives. Taking back what I learned from the program helps me to expand my W&L bubble and achieves my goal that aligned with W&L’s mission of life-long learning, responsible leadership, and engaged citizenship in a global and diverse society.

Aspirations

An integral part of this experience is doing what I love, working in the medical field, to improve people’s health. Being a doctor has always been a dream of mine since I was little. I am excited to work with medical professionals to aid others and to improve their lives. A part of my research is to build upon a past survey by broadening it out to pediatric cardiology surgeons across the African continent and investigating the current infrastructures available for patients to get access to cardiac surgery. I get to work with my PI to connect with many doctors from Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, and many more. My objective as an intern is to conduct, promote, and support children’s heart research in Africa. These data will allow better funding to areas that need more than others. According to previous research, many countries in Africa are not equipment with the required equipment and facilities to treat and perform surgeries for RHD and CHD patients. This research experience has strengthened my future aspiration to travel to poor communities to provide medical assistance to those without or limited medical access. Now, I am more inspired to become a doctor.