22 hours on a plane can take you far. While normally the idea of sitting in one position for hours on end doesn’t seem appealing, I couldn’t be more thrilled. In less than two day, six of us will be leaving sunny Houston, making a quick stop in Frankfurt, then landing in the warm heart of Africa. The fact that I’ll be in Malawi in just a few days surprisingly still hasn’t hit. This summer will definitely test me as a student and traveler, but after downloading the complete Harry Potter book collection, I would say I’m feeling much more optimistic about the plane trip.

While we will be taking in a lot of the wonderful culture that Malawi has to offer, our main task as interns encompasses research and design of different health technologies. From Rice University we are bringing prototypes solutions for medical concerns from hospitals in Malawi. These prototypes include a cervical cancer education model, BiliSpec testing strips to detect jaundice in newborns, ostomy bags, maternal temperature monitors, and syringe pump modifications. I’m excited to see how these devices will be perceived and if they can actually be viable solutions. We will also be doing needs finding research at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and hopefully working on exciting new projects with students from the Malawi Polytechnic. I’m excited to get to know the staff at the hospital as well as the other engineers at the university.

I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks and the new experiences this summer will bring!