Why I Chose to do a Field Study

Have you ever had that feeling somewhere between your ribs and your stomach that makes you want to stand up and do something? That feeling is why I chose to major in public health. I realized when I came to BYU that while I was growing up, that feeling came to me when I was learning about the plight of the third world in regards to health. Whether it was lepers in Bangladesh, fistulas in Ethiopia, or hurricane disaster relief in Haiti, I knew I wanted to do something.

But where was I supposed to start? As a white American that never went a day without food, that grew up in a household with two parents including a father that always had some kind of employment, that had access to the internet, and that earned a scholarship to college, how am I supposed to truly understand the plight of the third world? And if I can't understand, how am I supposed to help?

I don't expect that by spending one summer in South Africa I'll be able to truly comprehend all there is to know about global suffering. If it were that easy, I think more people would go on field studies. What I hope to gain this summer are skills that will enable me to immerse myself into other cultures. To learn how to appreciate different viewpoints and remember that I might not always be correct. To learn how to participate appropriately in cultural customs and practices without offending anyone. Compared to other parts of the world, the United States is quite culturally homogeneous. Or at the very least, I feel like we expect outsiders to leave many of their cultural traditions at home and put on a face of homogeneity in public. Instead of forcing people to fit inside my narrow box of how the world should be, I want to expand my view, broaden my horizons. In a word, I want to improve my cultural competency.