A Flurry of Fulbright Work Part 1- Teaching and Training

Shortly after my January post about the ebb and flow of my Fulbright work in Uganda, we took a unforgettable trip in February to the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Upon return, the days of my leisurely professional navel gazing and fulfilling the often overlooked goal of rest in an academic sabbatical gave way to a flurry of work activity over the past 3 months. This blog highlights the diverse and wonderful teaching and training activities since March that have spanned both Uganda and South Africa.

March and April brought opportunities to teach graduate and undergraduate public health students at Makerere School of Public Health (MakSPH). I taught Master of Public Health (MPH) students qualitative research methods as part of a Research Module. This was taught virtually, which can be challenging at times due to cuts in electricity or gaps in internet access. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful opportunity both to engage and learn more about nearly 100 students across the various MPH concentrations and to co-teach with and learn from colleagues in the MakPSH, colleagues who have far more experience with teaching and implementing qualitative health research in the context of Uganda. I also taught health promotion approaches to undergraduate students, which was actually my first experience with teaching undergraduate students in Uganda. My 3 years of teaching at Uganda Martyrs University from 2005-2008 and other teaching at MakSPH this year was all with graduate students.

Another part of my Fulbright teaching work that really took off during April and May was multiple opportunities to dive into lectures and trainings focused specifically on the photovoice research method, which is my particular specialty in research (more details in the research blog). In April, Dr. Jean Breny, my friend, colleague who teaches public health at Southern Connecticut State, and co-author for a book on photovoice- https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/photovoice-for-social-justice/book265704- came to Uganda. We delivered a "photovoice 101" workshop in-person at Makerere, along with Dr. David Musoke joining us virtually, which was a really special experience. Dr. Musoke and I went on to do a follow up workshop focusing specifically on photovoice in Uganda, which again was a great collaboration. Both photovoice workshops were well attended we felt great about planting seeds for doing more qualitative, participatory research in Uganda--especially since there seems to be a preference for methods both in terms of research implementation and the lesser proportion of the research curriculum devoted to qualitative methods. This lesser focus on qualitative methods is a similarity with many public health curriculums in the U.S. and one that I increasingly feel compelled to examine in the next stage of my career as an academic.

In May, I was awarded a Fulbright Regional Travel grant that took me to Wits University in Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) to conduct photovoice talks with a wide variety of faculty, staff and students in diverse disciplines of therapeutic sciences, medical school, and education. Noah was able to join me for the South African adventure and even connected with colleagues in the Faculty of Law at NMU. This was my first trip to South Africa and though I have read and viewed a fair amount of material about apartheid, I wasn't really prepared for the the reality of present day South Africa just 30 years out from the end of the system. Noah and I engaged in a lot of discussion and reflection about wanting to know more about the history and comparisons between Uganda and South Africa--still lots more to reflect on and digest about the experience. While in Gqueberha, I connected with my WMU colleague Dr. Bob Bensley and our amazing public health students where I kicked off a join photovoice project with the students through training and discussion about taking photos and generating stories about their experience with study abroad in South Africa. Bob had done a Fulbright in Gqueberha 20 years earlier and has built a long-lasting friendship and professional connection with South African colleagues Andre and Marina. It was amazing to see this up close and in person and to envision how relationships built during my Fulbright year might flourish and grow 20 years down the road. Finally, also in May, I had yet another opportunity to conduct photovoice training for undergraduate students in a study abroad course in Uganda led by a new friend and colleague, Dr. Monica Swahn from Kennesaw State University. We met at the #INTEGHRAL hub in Uganda where Dr. Swahn has designed an exciting interdisciplinary hub with Kennesaw State for her NIH funded research, study abroad trips like this one and more. I am so inspired by this idea and would love to work towards something similar for WMU.

Now that it's June, my teaching and training activities for #Fulbright have come to a close-at least for now. Looking back, it is a bit of a blur, but I am so grateful for collaboration with colleagues and students from so many U.S. and African institutions--MakSPH, Wits University, Nelson Mandela University,Western Michigan University, Kennesaw State University, and Southern Connecticut State University.

Photovoice with Jean and David at MakSPH