By Lindsay Boyle

In early January, two weeks after students who studied abroad in Zambia returned to the U.S., the trip was still receiving regular coverage from outlets including The Athens News, the New Political and the Post.

Those publications and more featured stories telling of the experiences students had and their resulting reactions, but rarely did articles cover the individuals who made the program possible.

On the Athens end of things, journalism professor Dr. Yusuf Kalyango played a large role in organizing the Zambia study abroad program, but he did so with much help from two other colleagues: Kenny Makungu and Dr. Monika Kopytowska.

Makungu and Kopytowska were scholars in the Study of the U.S. Institute on Journalism and Media at Ohio University in 2010 and 2011 respectively. For the past two summers, journalism and media scholars from more than 30 different countries spent six weeks at OU through a program administered by the Institute for International Journalism in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

It was during Makungu’s time in Athens in 2010 that the idea for a study abroad program in his home country was born. “I discussed it with Dr. Kalyango and we agreed to develop the program in Zambia together,” Makungu said.

For more than a year, beginning in December 2010, Kalyango and Makungu worked to set up the program’s itinerary, contacting and meeting with several different organizations to find places where students could intern or visit and people who would talk to the students as part of the journalism coursework.

Makungu, who is a senior lecturer in journalism and mass communication at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, also taught one of the two courses students took, lecturing for one hour two times a week about the various issues and aspects of Zambian media.

In addition, Makungu willingly provided transportation to students’ internships and additional activities, even when those activities were late night adventures.

“I was glad to be involved with the project,” Makungu said. “I miss being with [the students].”

“I enjoyed every aspect of [the program], from teaching to listening to the chief and from dancing in the disco to bungee jumping,” Kopytowska said. “Observing the students in their daily Zambian explorations and seeing how much they benefited from it made me enjoy it even more.”

Makungu’s and Kopytowska’s involvement with the Zambia study abroad program is just one example of post-SUSI projects for past scholars that are funded by the OU IIJ.

By Lindsay Boyle

Eighteen Ohio University students embarked on a journey on Nov. 25, 2011 that turned out to be even more life changing than they had anticipated. The students—from various media and communications-related majors—arrived in Zambia, Africa after more than 20 hours of flight, where they began a jam-packed three-week study abroad program.

Their first experience in Africa was transiting through the modernized O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, which quickly dispelled any misconceptions they may have had about African development as a whole.

Their arrival to the four-star Cresta Golfview Hotel in the considerably Westernized Zambian capital city of Lusaka only furthered that reality. Traffic on the road was constant and intense. Tall buildings equipped with electricity and Internet access lined the city streets. On the surface, Lusaka looked like it could be a city in the U.S.

However, that is not to say it actually is like a city in the U.S. By U.S. standards, food service was incredibly slow and often, menu items were not available at all. Internet access—whenever it worked—was also sluggish. Rolling electricity blackouts were common. Toilet paper was a luxury.

And that is the capital city.

Just outside Lusaka, in some cases less than 10 minutes away, the scenery was quite different. During their three weeks in Zambia, students had many opportunities to experience such scenery—what some Zambians call “the real Zambia.”

Huts made with combinations of straw, wood, mud, bricks and other natural materials were scattered in the slums of the countryside, sometimes connected by dirt roads and, in other instances, not connected at all. Such villages had little or no access to electricity. Villagers sometimes had to walk miles to gather safe drinking water. “Toilets” were literally holes in the ground called pit latrines. Preventable disease and other health-related hazards were quite rampant.

Hundreds of Zambians sprawled their goods out at congested marketplaces, crammed in muddy, low-lying areas lined with trash and infested with flies. They did this every day; their only source of income came from the products they sold.

In fact, many of the Zambians were grateful and quite content with the little they had, regardless of their socioeconomic statuses or life situations.

Students experienced that excitement not only in the people they met, but also when they were learning an upbeat traditional Zambian dance and while playing football (soccer) with University of Zambia students.

In addition to local cultural encounters, students also traveled across the country, both to the Copperbelt Province and Livingstone.

In the Copperbelt region, students toured copper mines and plants, learning first hand about the industry upon which Zambia’s economy is heavily reliant.

The weekend spent in Livingstone is one many students said was the best weekend of their entire lives. From seeing Victoria Falls—widely considered one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World—to riding elephants, playing with lions and cheetahs, bungee jumping and more, the students embraced adventure, doing things they never thought they would.

The students also surprised themselves in other ways, taking Zambia by storm via their internships. Students with media internships traveled around Lusaka, meeting important officials and seeing first hand how stories come together in Zambia. Others volunteered at nonprofit organizations, developing programs for and working with orphans and widows. One of the students interned at the University Teaching Hospital.

Two students published three articles in two different national newspapers—the Times of Zambia and the Daily Mail. One student appeared on ZNBC national television for a nightly news segment. Other students designed entire ad campaigns and public relations plans for agencies such as Young and Rubicam.

Some students who interned at S.O.S Children’s Village subsequently sponsored some of the children, a humanitarian responsibility that entails contributing money on a monthly basis in order to help pay for necessities like food and clothing.

“My internship opened my eyes to the struggles in the world that are beyond our knowledge and sometimes our comprehension,” said sophomore Brooke Bunce, who interned with the Chikumbuso Women and Orphans Project. “It helped me to realize that even the simple things can help someone else in need.”Senior Lauren Nolan interned for Goman Advertising Limited. Her challenge was to market a product specifically to some of the most impoverished people in Zambia—without the use of new media.

The more impoverished an area is, the less likely its residents are to be fluent in the country’s official language—English.

“I learned how overcoming language barriers is the first, and most vital, step in creating meaningful communications for consumers,” Nolan said.

Through their internships, students observed places in Zambia they would not have otherwise seen and received cultural advice they would not have otherwise obtained. The internships proved to play an imperative role in the study abroad program.

A final component of the study abroad program, as expected, was the classes. Students commuted to the nearby University of Zambia twice a week to take two journalism courses, learning about different aspects of Zambian media and culture from UNZA communications lecturer Kenny Makungu as well as multiple guest speakers.

While spending time on the UNZA campus, OU students were able to meet and become close with several UNZA students. The two groups of students participated in many events together and regularly engaged in conversations about cultural differences—everything from politics to food to popular music.

The importance and impact of the friendships between OU and UNZA students—many of which are still in contact—is immeasurable.

OU students went abroad to Zambia fully expecting to learn from their courses. When they returned, however, they realized they had learned from every single moment they spent in Zambia.

straightforward and accessible style. Overall, the book offers an important resource for students, media professionals or advocates, and scholars interested in the cutting-edge debates surrounding the challenges facing contemporary media, third world politics, and democratization. It offers ideas about how the media can mobilize the public to make informed political choices that strengthen and foster good governance and the rule of law in Africas revolutionary transition to democratic rule.

African Media and Democratization: Public Opinion, Ownership, and Rule of Law by Yusuf Kalyango Jr. (Peter Lang Publishing; 283 pages; $89.95). Draws on survey data collected in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. 

It’s an opportunity of a lifetime! If you are a sophomore or junior, you can plan to spend the Winter Intersession (from November 25 to December 23, 2011) in a sunny tropical adventurous land in Africa. The Institute for International Journalism in the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism is now accepting applications for the Journalism Study Abroad Program to Zambia (Africa). The program is titled Zambia: Media, Society, and Governance.

Two courses offer students exposure and immersion into the conditions under which Zambia and the African media in general and journalists operate. Students experience the complexity of the economic and political environment in the news media (TV, Radio, and Magazine), advertising or marketing firms, PR organizations and non-for-profit sector. The study abroad program is suitable for students specializing in Public Relations, Strategic Communication, Journalism, Visual Communication, Peace and Advocacy Communication. A Tier 3 course is offered to fulfill a university requirement. You can also earn up to 60 hours towards your internship requirement.

You can start the application now, save an incomplete application, and then complete it days later when you have gathered all of the required supplementary materials. But you must start the application in order to secure your spot. Here below is the link but first read my entire message:
http://eais.admsrv.ohio.edu/eais/student/program.cfm?program=10993&iteration=1

You will not be required to complete it yet if you don’t have all the requirements. That's all you have to do at the moment to complete and submit your online application. Our firm deadline for submitting a complete application is May 13, 2011. Here again is the link to the online application.
http://eais.admsrv.ohio.edu/eais/student/program.cfm?program=10993&iteration=1

For additional information about the Zambia program, please read the following article:
http://scrippsjschool.org/blog/post.php?postID=221&blogID=14

Please do not hesitate to contact me (Kalyango@ohio.edu) or Ms. Catherine Marshall,marshalc@ohio.edu (Office of Education Abroad) if you have any further questions.