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A typical Sunday in Sipi Falls<\/p><\/div>\n
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I remember the day clearly. It was a Monday and Indy and I were driving through Northern Uganda, from Gulu to Lira, on our way to our next school visit. It was the fourth day of our cross-country road trip, and as we drove, I had plenty of time to gaze out the window and try to process my experience in Uganda up until that point. As I was admiring the Ugandan landscape from inside of our van, I found myself fixated on all the boreholes that dotted the communities we passed and the people surrounding each one of them.<\/p>\n
These scenes called to mind an interview we conducted with Maya Bretzius, the COO of a water filter enterprise, during our first week in-country. In this interview, Maya was explaining how sales agents educate customers about the enterprise\u2019s products and attempt to, at the very least, convince community members to clean the water they collect from their local borehole.<\/p>\n
Maya then explained that when a well or borehole is first tapped, the water is tested and is often found to be safe to drink. Over time, though, animals graze over the land near the borehole and the animal waste (and, in many cases, human waste) seeps into the ground and contaminates the water. Most community members are not aware that the water quality has changed, and continue to drink the water and contract various waterborne illnesses.<\/p>\n
Although I was concerned by this potential for contamination when Maya mentioned it during the interview, I did not fully process the implications of the contamination until we were driving through Northern Uganda and I saw how many people rely on water collected from boreholes. I began to wonder how many of the boreholes we passed are contaminated and how many, if any, of the community members are aware that their borehole could be contaminated. I then turned to Indy and asked, \u201cDo you think anyone ever tests the water that is coming out of the boreholes?\u201d<\/p>\n
To which Indy replied, \u201cThat sounds like a Fulbright idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Side note: I promised Indy that if I ever finished a Fulbright, I would give him some small note of credit for saying those words to me and sparking the idea for a research project. At the moment I am not planning on applying for a grant so this blog post will have to suffice)<\/p>\n
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Indy contemplating water quality (probably)<\/p><\/div>\n
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I came to the Global Social Benefit Fellowship out of frustration. In my first blog, I explain how I decided to study civil engineering with a focus in water resources after an immersion trip to Belize during my senior year of high school. It was during that trip that I first came to understand some of the challenges developing countries face in making clean water accessible to all and I felt drawn towards using my own skills and abilities to alleviate those challenges.<\/p>\n
However, after almost three years of studying civil engineering and two internships, I could not see how anything I was doing was working towards my ultimate goals. Everything that I had done up until that point had put me on a path towards a very typical entry-level civil engineering job after graduation. If I had learned anything from my internships though, it was that I could not see myself pursuing that type of career in engineering, the type of career that would put me behind a desk and one in which I could not directly work with the end users and beneficiaries of my work. As I began to look for internships for Summer 2017, I felt a wave of frustration driven by my perceived lack of options and a desire to use my talents for something more.<\/p>\n
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Working directly with social entrepreneurs and TAMTF beneficiaries was my favorite part of our research<\/p><\/div>\n
Flash forward a few months, and I found myself in Uganda having the time of my life. The and tedium and complacency I had felt at my previous internships seemed to have been washed away and replaced with excitement, enthusiasm, and passion for the research we were conducting for TAMTF. I quickly realized that I loved being able to work on a team in an environment where things were constantly changing and I loved having the ability to take charge of our project. I also found so much satisfaction and joy in meeting all the TAMTF\u00a0teachers, principals, and students and using their experiences and stories to shape our deliverable.<\/p>\n
It was with this excitement and enthusiasm that I found myself seriously considering applying for a Fulbright so I could come back to Uganda and conduct research again. Without going into too much detail, I proposed a research plan to test the quality of water in boreholes across the country, then prepare a comprehensive report that could be presented to governments, NGO\u2019s, aid organizations, etc. in order to outline and draw attention to this water contamination crisis. The proposed plan would allow me to draw upon both my research skills and my engineering skills to work towards improving access to clean water in a developing country as I had always dreamed of doing.<\/p>\n
I brought this idea with me to GSBI when I returned to Santa Clara and was fortunate enough to discuss the idea with one of the mentors. This discussion helped me see that reporting the water quality of boreholes in Uganda was not enough to create real change. I needed to go further, the mentor suggested, and consider the how the test results could be used to influence public policy in a concrete way. He then pointed me towards organizations like World Vision and encouraged me to look at World Vision\u2019s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) East Africa Programs for inspiration and resources. These types of programs combine water resources engineering and public policy in a way that creates large-scale, countrywide impact with proven success. Suddenly, my dreams, passions, skills, interests, and talents seemed to come together as a new path towards international development work emerged.<\/p>\n
I ultimately decided not to pursue a Fulbright grant (at least not right now). However, I chose to discuss my process of considering the grant because it was arguably my most important exercise of vocational discernment. It was through this process that I made two very crucial realizations\u2014first that I ultimately want to work in water resources development, and second, that I need to start my career in development working in civil engineering.<\/p>\n
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Taking a moment to turn back and smile on my way to Lake Victoria<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u201cYour career is a journey.<\/em>\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n I first heard these words from one of the executives at the Executive Roundtable and I have been repeating them to myself often as I\u2019ve been going through vocational discernment these past several weeks. My career is a journey and my first destination will be working as a water resources engineer. Considering a research plan that required a more technical background helped me realize that my civil engineering degree could be a great asset as I work towards a career in development. The process also helped me realize that even after four years, I still do not possess all the technical skills necessary to conduct such research and\/or hold a high-level water resources position. I do not plan to stay in civil for more than a few years, but I can now understand that my engineering education, combined with my GSBF experience, has provided me with exactly the right preparation I need to pursue my dream career.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t help but acknowledge the irony of my decision to go into civil engineering next year. I came into GSBF looking for anything but civil, only to find myself applying for such engineering jobs nine months later. \u00a0However, I now see that I wasn\u2019t looking so much for another job title as I was looking for something I could do that would allow me to utilize my skills and passions. GSBF gave me exactly that. In some ways, it feels as if I have simply come full circle since last spring, yet I return to this starting point an entirely different person.<\/p>\n Before GSBF, I never saw myself as the kind of person who could actually achieve the kind of impact I now hope to have and feel as passionate about her career ambitions as I do now. Over the last nine months, I have gained so much more than the skills necessary to complete our action research project and our final deliverable. I have come to understand my own ability to create a positive social impact and developed the confidence to work towards this impact in every step of my career. I may not have found every answer I was looking for, or even fully processed what this fellowship has meant to me, but I leave this fellowship with so much hope for my own future, and utterly filled with gratitude for the experience and everyone at the Miller Center, TAMTF, and Santa Clara who made it possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I remember the day clearly. It was a Monday and Indy and I were driving through Northern Uganda, from Gulu to Lira, on our way to our next school visit. It was the fourth day of our cross-country … Continue reading