Facing Illness, Poverty and Disease in the Name of Education and Research

Ph.D. Candidate Calls PRTM Tanzania Research a “Life Changing Experience”

When Sue Slocum started checking boxes on the what-do-you-want-to-be survey during her middle school years, she skipped right past the options of: Be Exposed to Tropical Diseases; Witness Effects of HIV on Third-World Families; and Live in Mud Hut.  However, that’s exactly what she’s doing.

Slocum, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management (PRTM), is learning the true meaning of putting her life into her work.  Focusing on the specialty area of Tourism Management and Economic Development, Slocum has spent the last five months in Tanzania, Africa collecting research data for her dissertation.

She departed for Tanzania in August 2008 as part of a Memorandum of Understanding between PRTM and the Tanzanian government to study the affects of tourism on the population of this East African country bordered by Kenya and Uganda.  She will return to Clemson University during Summer 2009. 

Her experience thus far is nothing short of amazing, and she’s committed to keeping a blog what she sees on a daily basis.  The following passages are in her own words.

For many of us, collecting data is one of the many hurdles we negotiate in the quest for an advanced degree, just like our statistics classes and our comprehensive exams.  Rarely do our mentors, those professors who came before us, say “the data collection process of my dissertation was a life changing experience”.  Often the whole procedure is tucked away in the “dos and don’ts” file they pass on to us in lecture.  I have taken a slightly different approach to data collection, and I must say, “It’s been a life changing experience”.

I am half way through a 10-month research expedition in Tanzania for my PhD.  I have been living in villages with local families, studying the effects of tourism on poverty.  I have witnessed the true spirit of Africa, with all the positives and negatives that come from hardship.  I learned a new meaning behinds family and community; I have suffered through 3 months of the African diet; I have lived in a mud house and been exposed to the suffering of tropical illness; I have been a mentor to children; I have witnessed the effects of HIV on families; I have made life-long friends; and through it all, I have felt welcome, safe, and secure.

This type of experience isn’t for everyone.  However, doing research has reminded me why I came to grad school in the first place.  I have learned that adding to the body of knowledge is not enough.  As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that our continuation to knowledge reaches the people, the communities, and the environments that need it most.  It is only through the sharing of information that we can get a deeper understanding of the world that we serve. 

I encourage all students to strive for that deeper understanding, to find your own personal limits, to achieve more than you are asked, and to truly try to alter the world in which we live.  We have opportunity, and rarely do we realize how unique that is.

As you can imagine, a reliable Internet connection isn’t as common in Africa as it is in the United States.  As such, Slocum sends her blog entries to someone within the Department of PRTM.  Currently, her on-going blog is posted in PDF format.  Feel free to read more.