Before coming to Malawi, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The image of Africa that I had in my head was very different than the reality. After living in Blantrye, Malawi for two months I can say that while there is a lot of need in Malawi there are also lots of motivated Malawian people who want to help out.

 

Thank you so much to the all of the Rice 360 donors and the Lemelson foundation for funding this internship. I am so thankful for this wonderful opportunity and for the great work happening in Malawi. There are lots of bright minds in Malawi who are waiting for the opportunity to do great things. Through this internship, I was able to meet some of the amazing engineering students at the University of Malawi, The Polytechnic who are truly inspiring.

 

I’ll always remember all of the Poly students! There’s Taonga and Demobrey who were great friends and great teammates. Taonga is an Electrical and Electronics engineer who is optimistic, clever and a great person to be around. His clever comments always had all of us laughing and I always knew I could count on him to guide our team in the right direction. Demobrey is an Electronics and Telecommunications engineer who is very outgoing and personable. He could be Malawi’s next CEO! The three of us had a good time together. Outside of my team there was Alinafe who brought such great fashion, poise, sass and elegance to the studio everyday. She literally has a great presence and she is studying biomedical engineering. Then there’s Alfred an Electronics and Telecommunications engineer who came to the studio bright and early everyday (at like 7 am even though we didn’t start until 8:30 am) with confidence and energy. There’s Gloria, also an Electronics and Telecommunications engineer, who was always trying to bring together the Rice and Poly interns and who was always in a good mood. There’s Matthews (an Electrical and Electronics Engineer) who is a downright nice, wholesome, motivated and hardworking person. There’s Timothy (Electronics and Telecommunications engineer) who is a very hardworking, put together and intelligent person.  Finally, there’s Isaac (Mechanical engineer) who is a quiet yet thoughtful and hardworking person.  I learned something from each student. Thanks so much for a life changing experience!! I can’t wait to come back to Malawi!