I conducted research for the Sustainable Engineering Research Unit at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. My research advisor, Dr. Michael Daramola, conducted research on processes that converted human waste into energy products and fertilizer. My research focused on the socioeconomic feasibility of these products. I researched the potential revenue based upon current uses of similar products in the South African economy as well as conducted surveys to gauge consumer interest in the products.

While I enjoyed my research the opportunity to work alongside graduate and doctorate students was incredible. I had a desk in the graduate student lounge. The people I shared my office with were from all over Africa. I learned so much listening to them talk about their research and their home countries, or even their favorite American rappers.

Also, through distributing the surveys I was able to interact with undergraduate students closer to my age. I distributed surveys at the University of Witwatersrand as well as at local technical colleges. Through different connections I was able to meet some friends at Wits and got to spend time hanging out with young university students from Johannesburg. It was refreshing to spend time with people my age when I spent so much time with graduate and doctoral students. My time at the technical colleges was much briefer and I did not make any long term connections but still I was able to speak with dozens of young people. The students at Wits appeared to have similar circumstances to my own friends back in the states, while the students I talked to at the technical colleges were from a much more diverse range of economic backgrounds.

I also have family connections in South Africa. Through these connections I was able to visit parts of the country I otherwise would not have. I was able to work as a transcriber for interviews with local entrepreneurs in the townships surrounding Johannesburg. I visited small community centers that provided free wifi and job training to the surrounding communities. The centers were incredible. Businesses  were able to begin production in space available at the center. They were leased the space for free until they began turning a profit, upon which they could move to a different location or begin paying rent. I transcribed interviews with young women designing sustainable, affordable period products, a young farmer working on affordable hydroponics systems to grow produce among others. Many of the entrepreneurs were not much older than me and yet their dedication to their visions and ability to devote themselves tirelessly to their community was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

I feel so fortunate for the number of connections I was able to take advantage of during my time in South Africa. I was able to stay with local S0uth Africans throughout the entire country and was even able to travel to Zimbabwe and run a half marathon at Victoria Falls. It was funny how many connections I realized I had once I began talking to people within my own circles in the US and became more comfortable asking new friends for suggestions on things to do and places to go. Everywhere I turned, the more I asked the more opportunities I was given. I never expected to feel so independent abroad in a country I had never been before.

I met an American clerking on the South African Supreme Court and was able to attend a trial and get a personal tour of the court. I met an American running a bookstore in the most down trodden area of downtown Johannesburg. He gave me a tour of his own bookstore as well as the underground book sellers that operate throughout the city. I saw plays, went to museums, traveled to some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen and made so many friends.

Sustainability in South Africa is in a similar place to the US. Much of the country still relies upon industry but there is significant progress on renewables and hope for a sustainable transition to Green energy. While my academic work was focused on sustainability, I found myself engaging with the history and racial relations of South Africa much more during my time there. The legacy of apartheid is evident in every corner of Johannesburg and the country. As an American, I found that people were more willing to engage with me on race than happens in my life in the US. People of all different ages and race and backgrounds would ask me what I thought about racism in South Africa, if it was better or worse than in the US. It was always a difficult question and I think I answered it differently every time it was asked. While the context of race relations in the US and South Africa couldn’t be more different, my global studies education forced me to try to identify similarities in what causes the intense inequality evident in both countries.

It is easy to see the intense poverty so evident in South Africa and think that it different from the conditions of impoverished people in the US and in some ways it is. But the apathy and selfishness we must all live with in order to operate amongst such suffering is apparent both in white Americans and white South Africans. Among the amazing experiences I had in South Africa, my most important takeaway was that it is crucial to recognize the suffering around you and do whatever you can in each and everyday to make some difference about it. It is a small example but I never used to carry cash around in my life in the US but when I was in South Africa I found myself getting cash most days to be able to give it out to people on my walk to work. For some reason getting out of my own circumstances forced me to recognize my own complicity in the suffering of others. And it this idea that now motivates me, in both my personal life and professional career, to pursue justice in everything that I do.