After four straight hours of hiking up a steep rocky slope in the rain, I was exhausted. The past hour had felt like a straight ninety-degree angle and our journey appeared to have no end in sight. Mount Mulanje is a famous peak in southern Malawi that our group decided to hike during our last weekend on study abroad. This journey was challenging, beautiful, and epitomized the biggest lessons that I learned while studying in Malawi. After struggling for hours to reach the top, there was no warm shower to greet us, but a simple hut without power or water. Instead of getting frustrated, we quickly discovered the joy of relaxing in the nearby springs instead. In Malawi, I learned how to adapt and work with the resources that I had. I also learned that when dealing with complicated problems, it takes many people coming together to solve them. Sometimes you get a giant blister while hiking or your power goes out for days on end, but the views are so beautiful. 

Studying in a developing nation, I definitely expected there to be some challenges, but I was amazed about how Malawi showed me how to be creative and come up with solutions. Our study abroad program to Blantyre, Malawi was focused on infectious diseases more common to East Africa, like HIV, Malaria, and Schistosomiasis. With a passion for global health, I was so excited to be able to work in endemic areas first-hand and to explore a future career in research or medicine. We spent a majority of our time shadowing in local hospitals and conducting research with the Blantyre Malawi Project – an MSU supported project that is investigating how Malaria can cause comas in young children. Our project focused on optimized a test that detects Malaria in blood and finding a way to make it more sensitive while also not raising the cost too much. For many other labs in more developed areas these costs wouldn’t be so critically thought of, but working in Malawi it was always at the forefront of our minds. Overcoming challenges like these was amazing to watch. I was able to witness the beauty of a community of women and their children receiving vaccinations to support a national vaccination rate that is higher than even the United States’. Even though many of the families couldn’t easily see a doctor, medical professionals would go door to door to make sure that all had received their necessary vaccinations or bring them to one of the local clinics. Although all of these setbacks are definitely not ideal, it shows the power in community and creativity for coming up with solutions. I feel so fortunate to have this experience in Malawi, learning how to adapt and having my passion for global health flourish. 

Name: Georgia Artzberger
Status: Senior
Major: Biomedical Laboratory Science; Comparative Cultures and Politics 
Hometown: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Program: Malawi: Infectious Diseases of Africa