My name is Joshua Tamakloe, I am a rising senior and a Public Health major on the pre-med track. I chose the Public Health Threats in Suriname study abroad program to get an immense experience towards tackling public health issues in other countries.

Often times we talk about how we as future public health professionals and healthcare provider within the United States can make an impact on other developing nations, but I think there is an argument to be made that we can also learn a lot from these developing countries on how to better change how we run healthcare in our country. My initial expectations were low; I did not truly know what to expect. I had never really heard of Suriname before applying to and attending this trip, but I was intrigued. A nation on the coast of South America, right above Brazil, and from what our professors had told us; is the one of the most diverse countries in the world. However, I kept an increasingly open mind as I knew the reasons as to why I had selected this trip and wanted to take full advantage of it.

With it being my first international trip as a functioning adult, I was curious as to how I would adjust to the country, its culture, and its customs. I had the mindset of genuinely trying to explore and to make memories that I would be able to hold onto for the rest of my life. I knew that going on this trip would be a different experience and that there would be various lessons and values to gain from it, but one thing I didn’t expect was changing my mindset from being in an environment where you felt like the minority to being in a place where there was in essence no minority. It was a strange feeling but it opened doors to make me feel comfortable in truly immersing myself within the experience.