Hi y’all!
Since this is my first post of the summer, I wanted to make a brief introduction. My name is Alex David and I am a rising senior from Will Rice College majoring in BioSciences and in Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology, and I am minoring in Global Health Technologies. Outside of academics, I am the president of the Rice Men’s Club Volleyball team, and I try to find any chance I can get to play, either on the beach or on an indoor court. I also love all things coffee, whether it is trying to brew the perfect cup, exploring local coffee shops, or chatting with other “javaphiles” about our shared love for coffee.
I’m looking forward to this internship in Malawi because of the new perspectives I will engage with and for the opportunity to learn from a low-resource healthcare setting. I hope to make the most of this experience and will be making weekly posts and updates on this blog!
Over the last few weeks, Pranav (the other US intern traveling to Malawi), and I have been getting ready for our departure next Monday. It has been a whirlwind of flight planning, vaccines, VISA applications. This past week was my first week back at Rice, and the other Rice360 interns and I have split our time between the OEDK and the BRC setting goals and making preparations for the rest of the internship.
I will be working with Waliko, an intern from Malawi, on two projects. Our first project is on an infant transport incubator so that babies are kept warm as they are moved around the hospital. This project is still in the early stages, and much of our work will be conducting needs-finding at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Our second project is a little bit further along in the design process, and we will be working on prototypes for NESTation, a low-cost solution capable of storing, charging, and sanitizing handheld medical devices in low-resource settings.
I have also set some personal goals for myself for the summer. Entering into an unfamiliar environment is often difficult, and I know that sometimes, it is easy to stick to doing what I am comfortable with. I want to keep myself accountable for pushing that boundary, and making connections with the individuals that I will be working alongside. I have so much to learn from this experience and will get the most out of it by adopting an open mindset and by not being afraid to ask questions. Finally, I want to have fun! While my main purpose in Malawi is to work, I will be exposed to a new culture and environment, and chances to immerse myself in a culture different from back home are often rare in a lifetime.
Although we have a long trip ahead of us, I can’t wait to hit the ground running in Malawi next week!
Thanks for reading my post!
Alex
Month: June 2023
1. Introduction and Preparations
Hi everyone, my name is Pranav Mandyam, and I’m a rising junior majoring in Biosciences (Cell Biology & Genetics) and minoring in Global Health Technologies. I was first introduced to Rice360 through the introductory Global Health class I took in my sophomore fall. After learning about the various facets of global health and listening to a variety of guest speakers, I excitedly enrolled in my first project-based class, GLHT 360, which helped solidify my passion for developing healthcare technologies in low-resource settings. My passion for medical innovation in various settings and my interest in directly collaborating with local experts and students made it an easy choice to decide on taking part in the Rice360 summer internship. I’m looking forward to getting a more complete understanding of the design process and the opportunity to work as a team with colleagues in Malawi.
As I finish off my first week in the internship, I learned a lot about the cultural competencies that we must consider when immersed in a new environment. We started off our discussion by reflecting on our values, and then conversed about cultural differences and the ethical considerations of working within a different country. One thing that really stood out to me was communicating our experiences through photography, and the ethics behind it. I love to take photos everywhere I go, so it was really interesting to understand the impact that images can make in telling a truthful story.
Earlier this month, we were given the projects that we were taking to Malawi. The two projects that I was assigned were an IV Drip System and an Infant Oxygen Concentrator. The IV Drip project involves constructing an IV infusion monitor to deliver and monitor IV fluids at an accurate rate that is not achievable through a solely gravity-based drip system. Meanwhile, the Infant Oxygen Concentrator is a needs-finding project that focuses on modifying a previous Oxygen Concentrator to accommodate infants and be portable. This week involved a lot of research about these two projects so that I can hit the ground running in Malawi.
On June 19th, Alex and I will be boarding our flight to Malawi, a trip that takes almost two whole days. We’ll be stopping over at Atlanta and Johannesburg (an overnight layover!) before landing at the Blantyre airport. Throughout this week, we’ve been preparing for our travel, from arranging our Visas to making (and remaking) packing lists. As the date gets closer, I’ve been getting more and more excited and nervous in anticipation of our time in Malawi. I’m really looking forward to meeting the Malawi team and all the new experiences I’ll encounter!