"Start on your dissertation..."

  ...Was a well stated text I received from my sister when I asked her what in God's name I would do to busy myself on the 25 hour plane ride to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Dar Es Salaam is the capital of Tanzania and translates in Arabic to “the House of Peace”. I can tell you this was one of the biggest selling points when I was introducing the idea of me traveling to Africa alone to my parents….However, I didn’t spend much time in the house of peace except for my first night in Tanzania. Wednesday morning I caught a flight from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar, and eventually made my way to Stonetown. The entirety of my trip will be in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania in which is the product of many different cultural influences: Arab, Indian, and even Persian.

My time in Zanzibar will be two fold: (1) capturing and documenting the personal narrations of girls in Zanzibar pursuing educations in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math) and (2) serving as a member of delegation for Students for Students International (S4Si).

(1)        Capturing and documenting personal narrations of girls in Zanzibar studying STEM subjects:

The vast majority of public schools in Zanzibar do not have the resources to adequately prepare students for national exams and to fulfill many students’ scientific curiosity. For many years, an organization called the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) organized science camps in 9 different regions of Zanzibar at local Teacher Training Centers in order to address the missing scientific educational supplements. The Teacher Training Centers remedied one of the most pressing educational challenges that students in Zanzibar face: the lack of science resources and qualified science teachers. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding in recent years, FAWE was forced to discontinue their science programs.

As a public health major and science enthusiast, it’s disheartening to learn that some of my international peers are denied the venue and support needed to discover the same beauty of science that I’ve been so fortunate to experience during my own schooling. Girls’ involvement in STEM subjects both on a domestic and international level is something I’ve been interested in my entire life. My curiosity in science and technology education derives from my own personal experience in tutoring middle and high school girls in math, science, and technology as a means of increasing the engagement of girls with STEM subjects. My research will investigate the approaches and practices taken by math, science, and technology teachers to adequately prepare students for national exams. I will also capture and document the experiences of girls who are passionate about STEM subjects, and how the removal of FAWE’s science camps has since affected their academic aspirations and future ambitions.

(2)        Serving as a member of delegation for Students for Students International (S4Si):

S4Si is a scholarship program that fully funds secondary schooling for young women in Zanzibar. I’ve been involved with S4Si since my freshman year at Carolina, and as cheesy as this may sound, I’ve been excited about going on delegation since. Members of delegation are responsible for maintaining a close relationship with our partner NGO in Zanzibar, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), selecting a new class of scholars, checking in with scholars chosen in previous years, training and working with mentors, and collecting information to bring back to UNC to improve our organization.

S4Si has very close ties and open communication with our scholars. Through this, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the many trials that girls in Zanzibar interested in STEM subjects  must overcome in her search to satisfy her scientific inquisitiveness.

Last year I served as Co-Director of Scholarships for S4Si, so my job comprised of creating profiles of our scholars and condensing their connection letters and applications in one central document. Therefore, I know a lot about the lives of our scholars… Meanwhile, they have no idea I even exist. Talk about feeling insignificant, right? In about 2 days this won’t be the case when I have the chance to meet them all. Words cannot express how eager I was to begin this journey. First, this will be my first experience living and working in a predominantly Muslim country (yeah I’ve been to the Middle East when I was younger—but lets be honest I have 0 recollection of any of that). Since Zanzibar is predominately Muslim, all of our scholars are Muslims too. I am so thrilled about being able to connect with them beyond our mutual love for learning, education, and the advancement of women, but I will also be able to connect with these talented, brilliant girls on a religious, spiritual level.

I cannot thank God enough for blessing me with this unique  opportunity to satisfy this intellectual curiosity of mine. I’m excited about having the opportunity to learn more about traditional practices, biased attitudes, and limited teaching and learning materials that continue to dissuade the growth in number of females studying STEM subjects. I’m excited about having the opportunity to interview and gather oral histories from both ends of the spectrum: the teachers, curriculum creators, and administrators as well as the female students, their families, and the female achievers in STEM-based fields. I’m excited about having the opportunity to understand the structure and instruction of STEM curriculum in a developing nation. I’m especially excited about having the opportunity to join the conversation surrounding the advancement of more women role models in the fields of math, science, and technology.

So now that I’ve beaten the words “opportunity” “excited” and “STEM” to a pulp, I’ll chill with all the excitement and share a few things I've learned since departing RDU:

1.   We live in a very small world. Really, it’s tiny. I ran into Joel Hage in Amsterdam (a friend from UNC), and I also met 2 of Kari Beasley’s teammates from lacrosse during my flight to Tanzania.

2.   Never fly without a pair of socks. I kid you not I was reliving the scene from Titanic when Rose and Jack were shivering in the water on that airplane for almost 16 hours.

3.   Everything happens for a reason. I was originally supposed to leave RDU Sunday afternoon, but my flights got delayed an entire day and I didn’t leave until Monday afternoon. I was originally angry about this, but on second hand, I wouldn’t have landed a spot on the plane next to the Jiwa family’s dopplegangers. Seriously. I met a Muslim mother and daughter from London that were half Tanzanian, half Ugandan and LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE Amirah’s family. The mom took a personal interest me because she enjoyed hearing about S4Si’s mission and values. I took a personal interest in them because, well, they were carbon copies of Amirah’s family. Accent included. The mom learned that I was traveling to Africa alone, and pretty much took me under her wing during the flight until I was picked up from the airport from my hotel.