UMass students find perspective in Africa

Associate professor Rajini Srikanth leads the Epidemics course at UMass-Boston that took students to South Africa. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

For Spencer Lewis, the defining moment of the trip to Cape Town came during a meeting with an activist group that's trying to reduce the threat of AIDS in South Africa.

"The workers there were transitioning between speakers, and suddenly they broke out into a song, everyone singing loud and in harmony," said Lewis, a 22-year-old biology and anthropology major at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

"It was a very moving thing that I can't completely explain," he said. "Just to see what so many people are dealing with, and the workers there who provide the sick with so much optimism."

Lewis was among 10 UMass-Boston students who, along with three professors, traveled to Cape Town in January as part of an honors-program class. The yearlong symposium, titled Epidemics, used the trip to enhance understanding of South Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis as well as its apartheid history.

It was the second time students in the symposium have made the trip to South Africa, the first occurring in January 2006. Padraig O'Malley, a UMass-Boston professor, facilitated the connection between the honors program and South Africa through his extensive contacts, a relationship that has since grown.

Rajini Srikanth, who is director of the honors program and is teaching the Epidemics colloquium this semester, said the trip provided an educational experience that isn't available within the walls of a classroom.

"The honors program is committed to enlarging the global perspective of our students," said Srikanth, who went on the trip. "It's not just about going to a part of the world that's very different from ours, but it's also about learning how to see differently and hear differently, and in the process learning how to think in ways that we are not accustomed to."

Before traveling to South Africa, the students spent the fall semester learning about epidemics of the past and present from honors professor Dick Cluster.

Despite the preparation, Olayemi Ajayi, a 23-year-old biology and classical studies major, had mixed feelings before getting on the plane.

"I had never heard anything good about South Africa," said Ajayi, who is of Nigerian descent. "My father was concerned about people being prejudiced toward me, while my mother, who is a nurse, was worried with me being exposed to people infected with AIDS."

But like the rest of her classmates, Ajayi found the trip to be invaluable.

While most of the funding for the trip came from the university and private donations, each student put up $800.

During their eight days in Cape Town, the students spent much of the time meeting with South Africans who have experienced the AIDS epidemic firsthand.

The session described by Lewis took place at the offices of the Treatment Action Campaign, whose efforts include promoting AIDS awareness, and working for equal health treatment for AIDS patients.

The students also visited a center for rape victims, participated in informal discussions with students from the University of the Western Cape, met with doctors who research HIV at the University of Cape Town, and traveled outside the metropolitan area to visit the impoverished townships in the Cape Flats.

"We were at one HIV clinic and saw people in the waiting room, some who were very sad looking," said Carol Price, who is majoring in American studies. "That was contrasted by the positive emotions of the caregivers. It gave the feeling of hope."

Some of the students plan to return to Africa. They hope to go to Nigeria, perhaps in August, to work as missionaries.

"We wanted to go back there and figure out what more we could do," said Ezra Star, a 26-year-old biochemistry and anthropology major.

Even for those who won't revisit Africa, the trip will have lasting effects.

"You come back to the United States with a new outlook," said John Bausemer, a 27-year-old psychology major.

"I have this whole new appreciation for life after seeing what the people over there are faced with. They have such a difficult situation, yet they are so motivated. It's inspirational."