Hujambo!

In case you don't know where Tanzania is (yeah I had
to look it up too, no shame), located on the eastern coast
in prime safari areas, and home to Africa's highest peak
 and popular climbing destination Mt. Kilimanjaro

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Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Laura, and I am a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo studying electrical engineering. This summer, I have the privilege of traveling to Tanzania with the Engineering World Health Summer Institute Program, in affiliation with Duke University.

So......... what am I doing way over there?

Here is the short summary:

The purpose of the EWH SI program is to provide young engineers with a chance to live in a developing country with a local family, learn a new language, and use newly acquired technical skills to repair medical equipment in a nearby hospital, in order to improve the quality of healthcare in areas of great need. The first month I will take classes on medical device repair in developing countries and learn Swahili. The second month I will relocate and work independently at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania repairing broken medical equipment and other projects. The program is completely voluntary. Though I will not be paid for my work, the experience is sure to be invaluable.

If you would like to learn more about Engineering World Health and the Summer Institute Program, here is a link to their website: http://ewh.org/index.php/programs/institutes

Detailed map of Tanzania. I will be staying in Arusha, located
at the base of  Kilimanjaro 

A little bit about me and why I decided to spend this summer in Africa: I spent the last two summers interning at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., first at Diablo Canyon in Avila Beach and then more recently at the headquarters in downtown San Fransico. Both were amazing experiences. Working at PG&E gave me insight into what it was like to work as an engineer in the "real world," or whatever that means. The experience was empowering: people respected my knowledge and treated me as a co-worker, not just a student. They valued my opinion and my work. It was there that I realized how valuable an engineering education really was......and that there was so much more I was capable of. As appealing as it is, when I graduate, I'm not quite ready to take a desk job at a big engineering company. I have discovered that my dad really was right: with an engineering degree and a lot of hard work, the possibilities are pretty endless. I want to continue my education, see the world, and discover what really matters to me and truly makes me happy, which is a pretty scary thing. I want to make a difference in the world blah blah blahhh.....inspiring right? Which is why I decided to spend this summer a little differently.

Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (one of my favorite quotes of all time, simple yet genius). And if you want to make a change in your life and find what you were really meant to do, you have to do new and challenging things and really push your comfort zones. When I received my acceptance into the EWH program a few months ago, on the outside I was thrilled, but on the inside I was filled with doubt and insecurity. A tiny part of me was hoping I wouldn't get accepted, and then I could go back to my cushy engineering job for the summer. No luck. I'm hoping for a life-changing mind-opening other-worldly reborn again kind of experience. I'll let you know how that goes.

I created this blog to keep my friends, family, and any one else interested up to date on my trip. Here I will be recording my experiences, thoughts, and pictures of my travels over the next two months. I am so excited to share my adventures with you, and I really hope you enjoy reading about them. Comments, questions, advice, and kind words are always welcome and appreciated.

Not my picture.... but I'm not leaving Tanzania until I see some elephants.

And for the boring stuff, here is the program schedule:

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Schedule (June 20 - August 19)

EWH Summer Institute begins (June 20)

All participants meet at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) in Tanzania, no later than 10PM. Meet host family.

Usa River, Tanzania (June 21 - July 18)

June 21: Orientation to Tanzania and EWH, Classes begin

Schedule for Monday-Thursday:

8:30-12:30         Swahili lessons

12:30-1:30         Lunch break

1:30-2:30           Lecture: Introduction to Medical Instruments and Measurements

2:30-5:30           Laboratory: Working in Developing World Hospitals

Schedule for Friday:

8:30-5:30 Field work in local hospital

June 23: Group Visit to an African Village

Host Hospital (July 19 - August 17)

July 19: Travel to host hospital

July 20 – August 17: Work in host hospital, 8:00 - 5:00 or as determined by your hospital supervisor

End of Program Conference (August 18 - August 19)

August 18: 3:00PM All students return to Usa River, Tanzania for presentations and discussion

August 19: 3:00PM Conference concludes

EWH Summer Experience ends (August 19)

3:00PM Shuttles to Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) in Tanzania

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Much more to come. For now, kwaheri! (still working on that Swahili....)