Page 24 - UD Magazine Vol. 31 No. 1

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Because Plumbing Is Overrated
18 There are no toilets, just pits you dig yourself.
Sometimes, it’s 120 degrees. You might wake
up to an elephant relieving himself beside your
head. These are the conditions in Tanzania, where wildlife ecology Prof. Jake Bowman’s students regularly live in tents among Aboriginal groups, observing their hunting practices and helping collect tubers and honey. Through a translator, the group learns that topics ranging from female circumcision to animal conservation aren’t as black and white as they’d imagined. (It’s easy
to plaster a save-the-elephants sticker on a Yeti bottle... until a pachyderm levels your home.) A major takeaway happens when the students see just how little these communities possess—and how little it matters. “They’re very happy,” Bowman says. “They don’t need saving.”
Because You’ll Discover Shared Humanity
When Lauryn Isaacs Marcus, AS07, entered the room, a four-year-old orphan backflipped. While the Blue Hen hadn’t known what to expect from this South African clinic for kids of the AIDS crisis, gymnastics—the kind she’d enjoyed herself as a young girl—took her aback.
It served as an important reminder: “Humans are more alike than we are different.” As a study abroad devotee, Isaacs Marcus relearned the lesson many times: building houses in Fiji, exploring art in China, studying French in Martinique. But it was volunteering at this Atteridgeville clinic that clarified her path. Today, the mom of two works in international development for
RTI International, a nonprofit tackling everything from environmental protection to global health disparities. On her hardest days, she’s grounded by a photo of little Nhlanhla, her unlikeliest teacher: “Studying abroad helped shape me.”