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Study/Research grant

U.S. Fulbright

Success Happens in Concert, By Justin Hill, 2009-2010, Barbados

May 30, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I came to Barbados on a Fulbright grant to conduct a study examining the risk and health-seeking behaviors of incarcerated men in Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, St. Philip.  During my first trip to the prison, I was simultaneously excited and apprehensive.  I was apprehensive not so much because I was visiting a prison, but because I would be asking the men serving sentences there to trust me with their life stories and experiences.  I was anxious to see how they would react to my research questions which had taken months to prepare.  By the time I had been granted approval to conduct my research in the prison, I had developed a burgeoning appreciation for the impact my work could have.  After my first meeting with the HIV coordinator and prison psychologist, the two people who guided my direct involvement with the men in Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, I was reminded of the importance of relationships – a lesson at the heart of my Fulbright experience.

Because of the HIV coordinator’s and psychologist’s support, the imprisoned men were curious and receptive to my work.  Everyone was curious to know who was the visiting American interested in learning about their lives.  While working in the prison, the HIV coordinator allowed me, along with some female graduate students, to lead discussions.  This helped me to build a rapport with several of the men whom I would later interview for my study.  

During the meetings before entering the prison, I spoke with experts from the Barbados Ministry of Health (MOH) and HIV/AIDS Commission, as well as the University of West Indies, Cave Hill.  From these conversations, I was able to connect the names I had researched in books and the Nation newspaper’s electronic archive with the people who were quickly becoming my friends, mentors and colleagues; from these relationships, I was able to build a network of colleagues who supported me professionally and socially.  

Nicole and Mikala, two consultants at the MOH, gave me an in-depth, crash course on qualitative research and provided articles on the how, why and when to use different research methods.  They also took me on tours of the island, invited me to dinner with their families and rescued me when a water main burst near my apartment leaving me without running water.  Several other colleagues opened up their homes and went out of their way to help me, so much so, that when I had discouraging meetings (i.e., my ideas got scraped and I had to go back to the drawing board), I was reassured by the knowledge that my friends would motivate me to push through my setbacks.

John Donne’s phrase “no man is an island, entire of itself” truly applied to my Fulbright experience.  I spent more than six months drafting, researching and thinking about the project I wanted to create, but applying for a Fulbright grant was not a solitary process.  My friends, colleagues and mentors (including the University of Chicago’s in-house Fulbright application review panel), gave their time and energy to ensure that my application materials were in good shape. 

Two years had passed after college before I applied for a Fulbright grant, and I ended up doing so because my best friend had also applied.  Relationships are, and were, central to making my Fulbright application successful!

My advice for applicants:

  • Imagine a project that reflects your interests and passions.  Take time to envision how your work will be conducted and what the results might be.
  • Seek support from professors, work colleagues and friends (particularly if they are Fulbright Student or Scholar Program alumni).
  • Think strategically about the in-country resources that will be available to you for your proposed research or as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.
  • Apply with the assistance of a Fulbright Program Adviser (FPA) whenever possible.  If your school has an FPA, speak with him or her about the application resources available on your campus.

Top photo: Justin Hill, 2009-2010, Barbados, standing on the cliffs at Cove Bay, St. Lucy, Barbados

Middle photo: Justin Hill, 2009-2010, Barbados (center), with his colleagues Nicole and Mikala from the Barbados Ministry of Health at the Vashti Inniss Empowerment Center, Saint Michael

To learn more about Justin Hill’s Fulbright grant, click here to watch his video interview and hear him describe his experiences.

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U.S. Fulbright

Good Karma: Volunteering While on a Fulbright Grant in Nepal, By Franz Knupfer, 2008-2009, Nepal

March 21, 2012

When I visited the Naxal School for the Deaf on my first day in Kathmandu, the students crowded around me asking questions. “What’s your name?” they asked. “Where are you from? Are you Deaf?” I touched my index finger to my ear and then my mouth, the sign for Deaf in both Nepali and American Sign Language. I was Deaf, too, and I knew immediately that I had found a community that was willing to accept me as one of its own. In fact, I was beginning to realize that I am part of a much larger community of more than one billion people with disabilities worldwide.

The focus of my Fulbright research in Nepal was creative—I was there to work on a collection of short stories. Just as importantly, though, I knew that I wanted volunteering to be a big part of my project. In my Fulbright application, I had mentioned that I planned to teach at the Naxal School in order to find inspiration and material for my stories.

Of course, that was only part of the reason I wanted to volunteer. As a former AmeriCorps volunteer who spent two years working on environmental projects in Portland, Oregon, I knew that volunteering would help empower both the community I was working with and myself. Also, it felt good to volunteer. Volunteering gave my Fulbright experience a deeper, more fulfilling meaning that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It gave me the opportunity to make new friends and to give back to the community that was so generously hosting me for ten months.

I volunteered to teach art and American Sign Language at the Naxal School. Soon, I discovered that my students were used to learning drawing through copying and rote memorization, just like their hearing peers in most of Asia. My goal was to teach my students to think creatively, so I taught them art techniques like shading, perspective and drawing three-dimensional objects. Eventually, I showed them how to combine all of these techniques to make a landscape, and I was rewarded one afternoon when I came into the classroom and discovered that my students had drawn a landscape on the board for me.

After school, I taught students American Sign Language and learned more Nepali Sign Language in return. During lunch breaks, I sometimes played soccer and cricket with the students. Through my experiences, I made many close friends and I also got to know a Deaf Sherpa who eventually became my guide for a month spent in the Everest region of the Himalaya. Near the end of my time in Nepal, I helped arrange an overnight camping trip around the Kathmandu Valley with ten of the older students.

While volunteering is not a requirement for a Fulbright grant, I highly recommend it. Citizen diplomacy is an important part of the Fulbright experience, and in my mind, volunteering is citizen diplomacy at its best. Fulbright grantees, with or without disabilities, may find it particularly rewarding to volunteer within the disabled community of their host country. There are many opportunities to work with people who have disabilities, especially in developing countries. Disability-related organizations and people with disabilities are helping to lead a new worldwide human rights revolution that is working towards full inclusion and participation in all aspects of society for people who have disabilities. Volunteering has the potential to leave a high impact and allows Fulbright grantees to see disability in a new context.

In Nepal, being disabled has traditionally been considered a karmic curse and people with disabilities often weren’t allowed to marry. That is gradually changing, as more people with disabilities are being included in society and are working, marrying and speaking out for their rights. While I was in Nepal, I felt anything but cursed—instead, I felt blessed to be there on a Fulbright, and by volunteering, I wanted to spread some of that good karma around.

Photo: Franz Knupfer teaches students at the Naxal School for the Deaf in Kathmandu how to draw a three-dimensional landscape.

Franz Knupfer now works as the Project Coordinator of the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange, a project administered by Mobility International USA and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Specific resources for people with disabilities interested in applying for a Fulbright grant can be found at: http://www.miusa.org/ncde/fulbright/.

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U.S. Fulbright

Pygmy Hippos: The Real Diamonds of Sierra Leone, By April Conway, 2010-2011, Sierra Leone

February 29, 2012

My journey began when I travelled to the remote Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary located on the Moa River in Sierra Leone. I set out to study the endangered pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis), a very solitary and elusive animal that is notoriously difficult to study in the wild. Armed with 20 remote-sensing camera traps, my goal was to capture pygmy hippos on film. In addition to obtaining photographs, I explored methods to physically trap a pygmy hippopotamus so that we could attach a collar and track the animal through the forest. To raise awareness for the plight of the pygmy hippopotamus, I collaborated with several conservation organizations to conduct environmental education in schools and villages.

I spent almost every moment with my two local field assistants. We worked together in the forest and travelled around the countryside to explore areas for hippos. While we worked, we discussed all aspects of our cultures, trying to understand the differences and find where we had common ground. These men became my brothers, and the villagers, my second family. Kenewa, one of my field assistants, loaned me his grain storage room to sleep in when I needed some “people time” off the island. He carved my name into the door and declared the room would always be mine, no matter where I was in the world.

Although work took up much of our time, my team and I would sometimes go to the local dances.  Dee-jays would set up shop in a village meeting area and we would dance the night away. The relationships I developed gave me a unique perspective on conservation. I witnessed the frustrations that wildlife conservation can bring in an area where people are struggling daily for survival. I have learned to enjoy every day as it comes and cherish relationships. I have also learned to work better with people, to maintain patience even when things are difficult, to manage employees and to try to understand all sides of conflicts before making a decision. By employing over 60 local people over the course of my research, the villages began to see some benefits for conserving the island.

Fulbright enabled me to interact with and influence hundreds, if not thousands, of people. I am a stronger person when dealing with adversity and have come through the experience with a new insight into the world. I also obtained some great results for my research: video footage of pygmy hippos eating and pictures of animals never before documented on the island including the majestic bongo. The highlight of my research was when the U.S. Ambassador came to visit the island for a night, and the villagers put on a fantastic cultural show complete with a ‘pygmy hippo devil.’

My advice to those applying for a Fulbright grant is:

  • Pick a project that is your passion. This is your time to do what you want!
  • Tell a story with your personal statement and explain your project in a way comprehensible to those outside your specialty (no jargon!).
  • In country, try to do an extra project outside of your own research. You’ll meet new people and maybe have an adventure you never expected.

Top photo: April Conway, 2010-2011, Sierra Leone (center), training local field assistants in radio telemetry techniques that track wildlife through the forest using radio waves

Middle photo: A pygmy hippopotamus caught on camera on Tiwai Island

Bottom photo: April Conway, 2010-2011, Sierra Leone (left), with women preparing rice flour for a funeral in Kambama village

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U.S. Fulbright

Reevaluating the Meaning of the Word Home, By Cristina Gauthier, 2010-2011, Brazil

February 2, 2012

As the jumpy, beat-up bus lifted a cloud of dust behind it, I felt a lump in my throat.  I stuck my head out the window and took in the scenery: palm trees, mangroves, birds and sunshine.  I was leaving the small rural town of Mutá in Bahia, Brazil, for the last time.  Nine months had passed and Mutá had started to feel like home.

When I first arrived, my intention was to help the town reuse all its organic waste.  My Fulbright project consisted of building a biogas system to produce cooking gas, supplemented by composting, while raising awareness about adequate solid waste disposal methods.  After a few months of investigating the possibility of a replicable biogas system (as an alternative energy method for rural communities), I realized that my Fulbright experience was about more than just my research.  I quickly became involved with the Mutá Residents’ Association and its nursery.  Each day, I visited the kids, helped with lunch, read stories and relished the company of these wonderful children who, in spite of not having luxuries of any kind, giggled, smiled and played with me.

Living in this community gave me an opportunity to become part of something bigger than my Fulbright project.  During most evenings, I attended Association reunions, church activities, birthday parties and other events that allowed me to discuss customs back home, food differences and national and international stereotypes.  As I overcame language barriers, the challenges I initially faced in adapting to living in a poor fishing community diminished considerably.  By offering English lessons, I became friends with the older children I mentored and tutored.  I also performed tutorials for the community on composting and biogas as alternative ways to dispose of organic waste.  All of these regular interactions helped me recognize how the degree of a community’s social inclusion’s impacts environmental issues, and how it affects rural communities throughout Bahia. My Fulbright experience expanded my understanding of underrepresented social groups with limited access to traditional education, and developed my ability to transcend cultural differences to attain a common goal.  Collaborating with some amazing people, I was able to design and construct a biogas system, a composting area and a small garden in the nursery.

Previous to these wonderful experiences in Mutá, I had worked hard on my Fulbright application.  I spent six months reading dozens of articles, investigating related projects in Brazil, sharing my project proposal and personal statement with friends and colleagues and obtaining affiliations.  I urge current applicants to do the same.  In developing a proposal, demonstrate that your proposed project will fulfill a very palpable need that will directly benefit your host community.  Furthermore, in finding an affiliation, patience and perseverance are crucial.  Potential host affiliations need to be contacted well in advance of the application deadline.  Keep in mind that contacting more than one affiliation can be advantageous, particularly if your first choice doesn’t work out.  The success of your project can depend on the number of people who are interested in it.  Also, while you’re developing your proposal, keep an open mind to changes.  This greatly benefits any project.  Starting early with these application components gave me time to craft polished documents that I felt confident submitting, and my efforts ultimately paid off.

As a Fulbright alumna, I have benefited from a world of opportunities in academia.  I have participated in conferences, presented my findings at universities and met marvelous individuals through non-governmental organizations interested in learning more about my project.  My Fulbright grant continues to be much bigger than just the sum of my research; it was, and is, a life-changing experience through which I uncovered my passion for investigating ways to fulfill rural communities’ basic sanitary and energy needs.

On my last day in Mutá, good friends walked me to the bus stop and sent me off with hugs, kisses and nostalgic goodbyes.  With barely any academic education, members of this community taught me many important things in only nine months.  Through their constant acceptance, incessant curiosity and unmistakable joy, they made me feel right at home.  I still keep in touch with many of my friends, and it is rewarding to know that they are currently eating the vegetables we planted together.  The most valuable lesson I learned?  Not everything is as one expects.  Nine months is more than enough time to make a place feel like home.

Top left photo: Cristina Gauthier, 2010-2011, Brazil, weighing organic waste

Middle photo: Cristina Gauthier, 2010-2011, Brazil (right), attending a birthday party for one of the children at the Mutá Residents’ Association’s nursery

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U.S. Fulbright

A Musical Odyssey through Malawi’s AIDS Epidemic, By Andrew Finn Magill, 2009-2010, Malawi

January 25, 2012

My Fulbright-mtvU grant to Malawi focused on HIV/AIDS.  If you’re at all like me, you probably grew up confused about HIV/AIDS based on the overwhelming amount of information produced by the media.  To execute my project, promoting mutual understanding between cultures was paramount to navigating any confusion about the global epidemic, and I can say that I genuinely accomplished that goal.

My project was done in collaboration with legendary Malawian musician and social activist Peter Mawanga.  We are both musicians and deeply passionate about global public health.  For six months before my Fulbright-mtvU grant catalyzed our musical collaboration, we had been concocting a concept album about AIDS.  Peter acted as my cultural translator and helped me to understand the vast cultural matrix within which HIV is transmitted, prevented and managed in Malawi.  What Peter and I strived to accomplish was to tell personal HIV narratives through song, letting the songs and the people themselves talk about AIDS.

To do this, I collected more than 25 Malawian HIV narratives.  I had several translators, all of whom ended up becoming dear friends.  These friendships were very important in carefully translating stigmas surrounding HIV and adultery into English.  Working with Peter also gave me some legitimacy within the Malawian community and made people eager to volunteer their stories.

“Who are you working with again?” they’d ask.

“Peter Mawanga.  You know that song, Amakhala ku Blantyre?”

“Oh, THAT guy!” they’d exclaim.

When people understood that this project was actually a genuine collaborative effort, and not a dilution of African realities, the response was very encouraging and people contributed some exceptionally candid narratives.

Another collaborator and translator by the name of Blessings often had the tricky task of making sense of social phenomena I had never come across before, like beliefs regarding infection and witchcraft.  I was introduced to most of the narrators through conversations with ordinary Malawians.  I often heard, “Oh, if you want a story, you have to talk to this guy!”  And then a few weeks later, that story would be recorded.

I am deeply grateful for the fact I was able to work with so many willing people, and I think that the process of collecting their narratives hinged upon an ongoing demonstration of cultural understanding. Malawians are tired of people swooping in, taking their stories, twisting them, and–worse–giving nothing back in return.  This Fulbright-mtvU project was intended to be something intrinsically Malawian yet accessible to a global audience.  To achieve that, I managed to enlist Peter, who then enlisted his band to perform the music Peter and I co-wrote.  We filtered each other’s cultural biases through our songwriting, ultimately finding ways to reconcile cross-cultural misperceptions, craft lyrics accessible to both Americans and Malawians, and render a fair portrait of each song’s original narrative.

To this day, my Fulbright-mtvU grant still very much informs my life.  The album we created was released in October 2011 (www.storiesofaids.com), and on World AIDS Day, December 1, I returned to Malawi for a U.S. Embassy-sponsored album launch.  The reception was awesome. Thank you, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy Lilongwe and Fulbright-mtvU!

My advice for Fulbright-mtvU applicants:

During my project, I frequently had brainstorming sessions with people from as many different backgrounds as possible: public servants, doctors, medical school staff, musicians and humanities professors.  Every person you encounter will provide a different angle and perspective on your research.  A strong proposal will have a clear focus but will also allow for an interdisciplinary understanding of your project.  Discussing your project with different people will help you craft this kind of proposal. (Make sure to take notes!)  I benefited greatly from these varied perspectives.  And, of course, don’t forget to work closely with your campus Fulbright Program Adviser whenever possible.  They are there for a reason!

Photo: Andrew Finn Magill, 2009-2010, Fulbright-mtvU to Malawi (far right), attending the album launch for Mau a Malawi: Stories of AIDS at the U.S. Embassy’s 2011 World AIDS Day event at the Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi; standing with him (left to right) are fellow musicians Alfred Sitolo, Dryson Mwimba, Mavuto Miliyoni, Marlyn Chakwera, Faith Mussa and Peter Mawanga.

Andrew and Peter also recently performed some of their songs for an audience at the U.S. Department of State during their U.S. tour this past fall. View some of the pictures on the Fulbright Facebook page.

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