As the second week comes to a close, I’m both excited, pleased, and invigorated by the progress my colleagues and I have made. It takes a motivated student to take of their summer and dedicate it to an internship, but it takes truly brilliant and passionate students to not only participate in an internship, but also dedicate and fully throw themselves into learning and progressing towards a collective goal. I’ve watched my fellow fellows at home contribute so much work and dedication to their topics and it has been refreshing, but I am truly thankful and grateful for our counterparts in Ghana.

When Alice told us we were going to be working with counterparts in Ghana while we were in the United States, I was a bit concerned. How would we effectively communicate was my major concern and now I see that it shouldn’t have been an overwhelming concern at all. From what I’ve observed and seen, the UDS counterparts as well as the fellows here have been completely dedicated to effectively collaborating and communicating (in all honesty the communication in this fellowship has been better than some I’ve had in academic classes).  It’s been truly tremendous and motivating to see everyone doing so well and working so cohesively.

Seeing the collaboration going on brings me to think about something Susan Sutton said in her talk to us earlier this week. She mentioned that every partnership, in order to be a truly meaningful experience, has to have a sense of reciprocity on both ends. This got me thinking as to what each group, the fellows in the United  States and the fellows in Ghana were offering each other and I’ve come to realize that each group offers new and amazing perspective. With the second week closing out, I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us.