The trip to Ethiopia includes both doctoral students and graduate students in the counseling programs in Appalachian’s Reich College of Education. Here are two of the master’s level students – Mylyia Bowers, right, and Kia Foster – on why they came to Ethiopia and how they are benefiting. They are standing in front of a political billboard written in Amharic near our hotel.
Mylyia Bowers ’14
Mylyia earned her bachelor’s degree from Appalachian in psychology and is now pursuing her master’s in marriage and family therapy. Not enrolling in a study abroad as an undergrad was her biggest regret from college, she said. “I’ve also always wanted to go to Africa, so this trip was perfect,” she said. She said she is benefitting from experiencing a different culture. One of her most poignant lessons so far has been appreciating what it is like to be stared at and called forenji. An aspect of the Bahir Dar University campus that she values is the separate library that the university has for each of its colleges, as opposed to a single library for all of campus. While we are still here, she hopes to learn more about the Ethiopian culture’s attitudes and traditions toward dating and marriage.
Kia Foster ’11, ’15
Kia just finished her second degree from Appalachian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and her master’s degree in school counseling. She, too, had long wanted to come to Africa and even considered joining the Peace Corps after finishing her undergraduate program but was fortunate to have been offered a teaching job in North Carolina before graduating. She had barely traveled outside of North Carolina before this trip.
The most beneficial part so far has been hearing the assumptions Ethiopians have about Americans and helping dispel them, she explained. “They don’t think we have gender or poverty issues, but we do. They are just on a different level,” she said. She highly recommends study abroad to other Appalachian students, especially if they are going to be in any type of humanities education or helping profession. As a future school counselor, Kia said she is learning to better appreciate the different perspectives people come from and the assumptions, concerns and fears they bring to a situation regardless of their culture.
Mylyia Bowers ’14
Mylyia earned her bachelor’s degree from Appalachian in psychology and is now pursuing her master’s in marriage and family therapy. Not enrolling in a study abroad as an undergrad was her biggest regret from college, she said. “I’ve also always wanted to go to Africa, so this trip was perfect,” she said. She said she is benefitting from experiencing a different culture. One of her most poignant lessons so far has been appreciating what it is like to be stared at and called forenji. An aspect of the Bahir Dar University campus that she values is the separate library that the university has for each of its colleges, as opposed to a single library for all of campus. While we are still here, she hopes to learn more about the Ethiopian culture’s attitudes and traditions toward dating and marriage.
Kia Foster ’11, ’15
Kia just finished her second degree from Appalachian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and her master’s degree in school counseling. She, too, had long wanted to come to Africa and even considered joining the Peace Corps after finishing her undergraduate program but was fortunate to have been offered a teaching job in North Carolina before graduating. She had barely traveled outside of North Carolina before this trip.
The most beneficial part so far has been hearing the assumptions Ethiopians have about Americans and helping dispel them, she explained. “They don’t think we have gender or poverty issues, but we do. They are just on a different level,” she said. She highly recommends study abroad to other Appalachian students, especially if they are going to be in any type of humanities education or helping profession. As a future school counselor, Kia said she is learning to better appreciate the different perspectives people come from and the assumptions, concerns and fears they bring to a situation regardless of their culture.