Tanzania: Claudia Bobb
Program: UW Health, Education, & Tanzanian Culture, Summer
Claudia’s Major: Psychology
Describe your internship, research, or fieldwork and how the experience helped advance your career or studies.
My fieldwork consisted of teaching reproductive health to students in Tanzania and learning about the health field from a different lens. This program pushed me out of my comfort zone when learning about different systems of public health and speaking out about my experiences, thoughts and reflections. I gained a new perspective on how to approach my studies and learned many valuable skills that will apply to my future career in the public health field.
What is your most memorable experience from your program?
The most memorable experience from my program was seeing the hospitals and learning about how different the field of medicine is in Tanzania. I got to learn from experienced doctors what their workdays looked like, the difficulties of their jobs and how they approach their patients. It was inspiring to hear the passion that doctors have for the wellbeing of their patients when there is much less of a reward. There is a huge deficiency of doctors, and their medical resources are limited, but that does not prevent doctors from providing the very best care to their patients.
I gained a new perspective on how to approach my studies and learned many valuable skills that will apply to my future career in the public health field.
What is the moment you are most proud of?
I was most proud of the in-depth reflective discussions I had with my peers and group leaders while on the field experience. We talked about the many differences that were beautiful and differences that were heartbreaking. I’m not one to raise my hand in class, but I always felt compelled to share my thoughts with the group, or talk about the ways that I was impacted. I always felt like my thoughts were valued rather than criticized, and I learned so much from the experiences shared by my peers. I opened myself up to new ideas and was internally motivated to participate in discussions for my own learning.
What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience?
I learned that life can be enjoyable for anyone who is doing something that makes them happy. What one culture values can be completely insignificant to another culture. It made me realize that my priorities aren’t that important when put in a different perspective. I learned that I put too much pressure on myself as someone who has only ever been exposed to a culture that constantly judges people for how they look and act. It was refreshing to be immersed in a culture where everyone is celebrated without having to prove something.