In Country Assignment #1

I could start this paper off with some leadership lessons that I have learned here in South Africa. That’s what I feel like I am supposed to do. Talk about how I feel about apartheid, Nelson Mandela, South African history. Don’t get me wrong; many of those things have affected my outlook and meaning on life (as you can see in my previous blogs). Leadership exists all around me: in our group discussions, in our group organizers and in the surrounding community. It is natural for me to connect South Africa with leadership, it seems to associate and scream the subject. But one of my biggest passions in life is science and I have been struggling to link this trip to just that. I find myself wanting to ask the tour guide of our safari what the microbial ecology is in the area.  This past semester I have been surrounded by Microbiology, from my classes to the UROP I received to the REU application I have filled out. I have been surrounding in science the entire time before leaving and now I have been thrown into this country and I have a hard time transitioning into the context of leadership.

Which is partially why I was exciting upon cracking open the book we were assigned to read: Dinosaurs, Diamonds and Democracy. I received a little taste of the scientific history that South Africa holds. The word bacteria was mentioned on the first page, explaining that South Africa contains fossils that hold the remains of ancient bacteria dating back to the earliest evidence of live on earth, 3.5 billion years ago. The book continued on to explain that the first evidences of humans on earth were also found in places of Africa, such as the famous fossil Lucy. Due to these reasons, the first half of the book was naturally a quick and interesting read.

Now, I know that this has little to do with leadership, but my leadership skills lie within my passions and science is one of them. After learning this information, I have found myself connecting with South Africa in my own special way, a way that is unique to my scientific interests and my future. Now that I can feel myself becoming one with this country, I know I will be able to “switch” my brain to a leadership context and start to understand the country from a different lens. When I first arrived in South Africa, I found myself trying to be this intelligent leadership student with tons of insight and understanding. But I have found that is not how I work. I need to slow down, step back, connect with my surroundings (however I find necessary to do so) and THEN start to reflect with respect to certain subjects (in this case leadership).

So now I finally feel like I can mentally start this trip with reference to leadership. It has taken me awhile and I did not understand why I was struggling so much until reflecting in this paper. I have learned that I can have more than one passion in life, science and leadership. I do not necessarily have to “turn off” one side of my brain to focus on the other. I can find my own ways to connect the two, to make them feel as one. I am happy to be making this experience one of my own, something that can be unique to my interests and special to my liking. I am excited to get this journey started.