Stepping onto the plane at George Bush International Airport in Houston, I took a deep breath and while I looked calm on the outside, on the inside my mind was freaking out. Up until now, the idea of going to Africa for two months was just that. An idea. Forms I signed for my program coordinators. Trips to the doctor to get my malaria pills. Late night talks with my mom about how I, someone who barely knows how to make pasta, would cook meals for a whole summer or do all of my laundry by hand. 

I know these things will all be learning experiences and help me learn and grow this summer alongside five other incredible interns. I am so humbled to have this opportunity! As part of this global health internship, there are three main parts:  

1. My main project in Malawi will be at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital working with the Rice 360 CPAP team. These CPAP’s are being implemented in neonatal ICU’s all over Malawi to treat infants with respiratory distress syndrome and my project will be working closely with the team to find ways to analyze and improve this system to make it more successful. 
2. My fellow Rice interns and I have brought multiple different small technologies from Rice to ask for feedback on from doctors and staff here. These technologies include a cervical cancer training kit, a temperature monitor for mothers during labor, and a silastic silicon bag to treat infants with gastroschisis: a condition in which the infants intestines are born outside their body. 
3. We are also doing needs finding at the different hospitals we travel to. We will be taking notes on current challenges and gaps in treatment and care at different facilities and bring back ideas for new projects that students can pursue at Rice. 

My team started our journey on Monday, June 4th on an overnight flight from IAH to Frankfurt, Germany. I spent most of the flight trying to sleep and was unsuccessful so I instead started writing my thoughts down and most of it was my frenzied stream of consciousness. Upon reaching Frankfurt on June 5th, tired yet equally determined to step foot outside of the airport, we went out and toured the city for a day. We went on a boat tour of the city, ate the cheapest food we could find (they are right when they tell you how expensive Europe is…I had to pay 0.5 euros just use a bathroom in a store), and after a day’s worth of sightseeing made it back to the airport. The best part of my day honestly was the $8 I was able to pay the airport staff to take a hot shower at the airport. Best shower ever. It’s the little wins I tell you… 

That evening was our second overnight flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Out of pure exhaustion, we all passed out on the plane and reached South Africa smoothly on Wednesday, June 6th. Those german airlines do know how to treat passengers well… everyone got an entire bar of chocolate as part of our breakfast! Once we got to South Africa, we had one more flight left from Johannesburg to Malawi. This two hour flight flew by and in no time it was time to finally step foot in Malawi. This long dreamed about idea just became real.  

Warm Wishes,

Sajel