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- Terri R. •
- IRSEP Senegal •
- Journalism and Political Science Majors
“I
really loved living abroad. After a while it doesn’t
feel like a challenge, it feels like home.”
—Terri R. |
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Terri, a journalism and political science student, spent a year studying and interning in Dakar, Senegal on the IRSEP reciprocal exchange program. While in Dakar, she interned with Human Rights Watch to learn more about the work of political and international organizations in West Africa. Originally from Malaysia, Terri had already traveled abroad extensively and developed a keen understanding of intercultural communication. She decided to challenge herself by participating in IRSEP Senegal, a program that required her to be independent and offered cultural immersion.
The IRSEP Senegal program is unique because students are allowed to enroll in courses at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, as well as other educational institutions. Terri, for example, was able to take Wolof language courses at the Baobab Center, African Literature and the History of Islam at the West African Research Center (WARC), and political science coursework at the university. She said that it would have been, "very frustrating only to take classes at the university," and she enjoyed being able to take courses from three different schools.
During the first semester in Senegal, Terri lived with a host family in Dakar, but decided to live in an apartment second semester. She liked the way that living with a host family allowed her to learn a lot about the Senegalese way of life and in no time, she felt comfortable with their schedule, their meals, and their daily interactions. She explains, "The family didn’t treat me differently or delicately so it made it easier to integrate – it was an expectation." She appreciated the opportunity to have both experiences – a homestay and an apartment. Once she moved into her apartment, she had more privacy and found it easier to focus on her studies and internship, though she still believed it was best to start out in a host family in order to really learn about the culture and the language.
Not long after arriving in Dakar, Terri met the head of a newly opened office for Human Rights Watch and was offered an internship. Terri thought she’d be doing mostly administrative tasks, but instead was given a great deal of responsibility to do research, writing, and communications with other international NGOs. It was an eye-opening experience that gave her a new understanding of war, violence, and political dictatorships in West Africa. Terri reflected on the internship and explained, "I gained a whole new respect for the survivors. Especially the women who came in and gave testimonies about their experience in Sierra Leone or Cote d’Ivoire – most people couldn’t imagine what they’d been through, but these women were still laughing, living, and raising their kids. In them I saw this amazing strength and perseverance in the face of absolute violence."
Terri believes that her experience in Senegal gave her new skills – her French is much stronger, she gained experience in human rights work, and she’s really great at bargaining shopkeepers down to a fair price – a skill that she said was really important in Senegal. "You have to be aggressive in West Africa otherwise you’ll be cheated. I gained a lot of confidence just by being able to navigate through my day." Her return to the United States has left Terri even more ambitious about pursuing a career in international human rights and living and working abroad. She plans to begin a graduate program in International Relations and will conduct her research on small arms trade in West Africa. When asked what was difficult about coming home she said, "Everything. I felt more at home in Senegal than I do in the United States. There is an art in life that you find in West Africa that I’ve been missing since I’ve been back… I thought this was just going to be an adventure and I’d come home and go to grad school and live the rest of my life like it was nothing special, but it didn’t work that way. Now I know that I want to live and work abroad."
Last modified on May 13, 2008 |