Elayna Bassuk barely had time to unpack from her semester in Spain before boarding another international flight from South Florida. Twenty-four hours later, the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies student was in Tanzania, where it was winter on the other side of the equator. Bassuk had sought out and been accepted to a study abroad program in Africa, where she would spend the month of June advancing her passion for research on another continent.
Her first week there, she and her peers in the program learned the basics of Kiswahili language and culture while staying at a “very nice and modern” university in the city of Arusha. “One assignment was to visit a market and order in Swahili the ingredients necessary to make lunch the next day,” said Bassuk, a public health major from Boca Raton who is double minoring in Spanish and health management and policy.
From there, Bassuk spent the remainder of the program living at a community center run by nonprofit VOYOTA, Voice of Youth Tanzania, for orphans and area youth with low income. Bassuk and her cohort were assigned to design a research project aimed at helping empower area youth. After conducting interviews and analyzing data they’d gathered, the group decided to develop a mentoring program for first-year college students.
“I was able to conduct research in another country and learn about data collection methods, mentoring, mental health, and education systems in Africa,” said Bassuk. “I can now compare the systems and difficulties of Florida to Tanzania and try to evaluate what public health issues we should be focusing on versus what is not as important.”
In her downtime, Bassuk played basketball, listened to music, and took selfies with the kids at the center. “I made sincere connections with the people who live at this community center," she said. "I’m still texting them via WhatsApp." The research project continues too, with plans to host a virtual training session for mentors this month and do periodic check-ins afterwards to evaluate the program’s progress.
“I have been to Africa before, so I was not completely shocked by what I saw,” Bassuk said of Tanzania, ranked among the world’s 15 poorest nations. “I was shocked at how friendly everyone was to each other and to me. People would wave or smile from the side of the street as I drove by, and everyone went out of their way to say ‘hi,’ which in Swahili is ‘mambo.’”
Back in South Florida, Bassuk has already embarked on her next adventure. She’s begun the University’s selective 4+1 Master of Public Health program. “I feel as if everything I have been studying about public health and global health really came to light through this trip to Africa,” she said. “I witnessed people living with inequalities, difficulties, and huge obstacles. I will take this experience with me throughout my career in public health, and generally throughout my life.”
