My last blog post from my internship in 2014 was answering the question of whether or not I would consider returning to Blantyre with BTB again. Apparently the post was less of a reflection and more of a prophecy for this coming summer. I am beyond excited to return to Malawi, but I know that this trip will be very different than my two months last year. I look forward to being in the same city, to seeing some of the same people, and to have the chance to brush up on my Chichewa, but I have been working to keep in mind that my work for this year will be a whole new experience of its own.

This year I will be working at the Polytechnic Institute of Malawi, which is a branch of the national University of Malawi. There are around 7,000 students in the University of Malawi spread among five colleges. The Polytechnic houses the business, accounting, architecture, mathematics, communications, and engineering schools, among others. Currently the engineering department offers degrees in mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering, and they are initiating a bioengineering degree program. The Poly is also working with partners at Rice to create a space similar to Rice’s OEDK that would be used for student engineering design projects and classes. The Poly is already collecting design software and mechanical tools that will be necessary for future students’ prototyping. I look forward to getting to be a witness and a participant in that development.

Sarah, Catherine and I have a few specific projects we expect to complete in our eleven weeks. Firstly, we will be working with students and faculty at the Poly on a variety of design projects. Some of them will be continuations of projects started by Rice and Poly students and some are new projects that we have been assigned or will identify while we’re there. We are hoping for all of the projects to be able to source a lot of the materials locally, instead of carrying them from home and therefore making the projects harder to sustain in Malawi. A second task is to develop a sort of engineering O-week, in which incoming students at the Poly can get some exposure to what it means to be an engineer, in all senses of the word. In our preparation, the other interns and myself have brainstormed some ways that would show incoming students how to think like engineers, how to approach a design project, and what different engineering careers can look like around Blantyre. Once we get on site and have some more specifics about our space and the number of students, we will be able to hash out some details. Along with these tasks we will be helping Dr. Saterbak and Dr. Wettergreen with an engineering workshop for the Poly faculty, identifying potential future design projects for Poly and Rice students, and helping the Poly faculty network in any way necessary to prepare the bioengineering curriculum and the engineering design space. 

So yes, I will be in the same city under the same program that I traveled with last year. I feel the same passion for the place, for the goals I’m pursuing, and for the work I’ll be doing as I did a year ago. But the new experience and knowledge I bring to the table, the projects I will work on, and the people I will be collaborating with make this internship an entirely new experience from last year. I’m so excited to be going back to Blantyre, and I hope that the work I do and the connections that I form with the Poly students and faculty can help me become a better engineer, a better ambassador of the Global Health program, and a better world citizen.