Aa child of Nigerian immigrants, I have always been interested in learning more about Africa and the health care system. This interest led me to pursue the a certificate in African Studies where I have been able to learn more about the different histories, cultures, and environments in Africa. While some of these courses were taught at Pitt, I had the opportunity to take courses abroad in Tanzania, which focused specifically on Swahili and East African culture.
Course Descriptions
During the Summer of 2019, I studied abroad for five weeks in Iringa, Tanzania. While there, I took this public health course focused on East African health issues. We learned about critical illnesses and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and respiratory diseases, as well as problems relating to sanitation and access to food. We also visited several health centers as well as NGOs. Our final project was to design a public health message for a local primary school. For our project, my group focused on the importance of handwashing!
This course was my first introduction to the African Studies Program. It surveyed the history of Africa before 1800. I really loved this class because it opened my eyes about the history of Africa outside the colonial lenses. The Western education system does not touch much on the history of Africa. Here I learned about the processes of African institutional growth within the perspectives of resiliency, change and adaptation.
This course taught about significant aspects of contemporary African social, political, cultural and human problems approached through a detailed study of representative African novels, plays and poetry written by African author. I thought it was wonderful to read different African authors and see Africa culture through words. . For our final papers, we wrote on professor-selected topics which included different types of African writing. For my final paper the influence of past cultural plays on modern African movies
This course was apart of my study abroad courses in Tanzania. Through this course I learned about East African culture and history through cultural excursions. My favorite excursions were being able to visiting different museums as well as engaging with locals through activities such as dancing beadmaking, and drumming .
During my study abroad trip everyday at 8am we got up to learn Swahili for 2 hours. Although it was so early, I was always very eager to go to class and being able to learn more phrases so I could interact more with the locals.