Thanks for visiting my blog! Here is a little more about what I am doing this summer.
Thanks to my school, LeTourneau University, and an amazing volunteer program, African Impact, I have the opportunity to travel to Africa and participate in two different incredible research projects in Kenya. The first is an undergraduate research project called Wheels that studies wheelchairs, focusing on improving their functionality in order to benefit children in less-resourced settings who need a quality wheelchair. The second is a volunteer position with the African Impact Mara Project that focuses on the conservation of big cats in the Masai Mara, a nature preserve in the heart of Kenya. I would love to tell you a little bit more about both opportunities.
The Wheels project is a real-life application of everything I have been learning in my classes here at LeTourneau. Using scientific research and experimental testing, we collect data to send to wheelchair manufacturers who can then use that data to improve the design of the wheelchairs. Our research focuses strongly on helping the kids that we work with, in order to make their lives as wheelchair users as comfortable as possible. The research is conducted both at LeTourneau and at our partner school, Joytown Primary School for the Physically Disabled, in Thika, Kenya. Every year we, the student researchers, study two different wheelchairs. We gather data about the energy cost for pushing and self-propelling each chair and compare the results. This year, the team has already begun data collection on the first of the two chairs, and this research will continue into next semester. Every summer, as a result of this trip, we facilitate the donation of fifty wheelchairs from the manufacturers to Joytown. In this way, Wheels is able to benefit the children in Kenya both immediately (with a new wheelchair) and long term (with data that will improve the way wheelchairs are designed).
The African Impact Mara Project is a wildlife and conservation venture that will enable me to continue my work with big cats following last summer's involvement with In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center. I will be stationed at the Koiyaki Guiding School in the heart of the Kenyan bush. My responsibilities will include: participating in diverse data collection guided by experienced field staff, learning from experienced Masai guides about life in the African bush, working alongside local Masai expert instructors in training and educating students from the surrounding Masai community to be safari guides, and assisting in efforts to empower local Masai communities to value their environment through conservation education. In addition, I will be involved in helping and improving the facilities of a Masai school located on the edge of the Masai Mara ecosystem. Throughout the whole trip, I will be experiencing the Masai culture and living in the heart of the finest safari destination in the world.
In May 2014, I will travel to Thika, Kenya, with the rest of the Wheels team and continue to study the chairs with the help of students at Joytown Primary School. After one month in Thika, I will travel to the volunteer base in the wild Kenyan Mara Naboisho Consevancy. I will work in and around the Masai Mara for four weeks, and then travel back to the States.
I am extremely excited for the opportunity to travel to Africa this summer. I am eager to experience and learn about a culture outside of the U.S., and I am even more eager to meet and work with the kids at Joytown and the other volunteers at the Mara. Through the Wheels project, I hope to share God's unconditional love, care, and acceptance with the children of Joytown Primary School. As I research and work with the conservation efforts of the Mara Project, my goal is to learn about and encourage proper treatment of wildlife, the environment, and conservation based on the Biblical principal of stewardship and the calling we received from God to care for the plant He gave us.
If you would like to learn more about the Wheels team or the Mara Project, please feel free to contact me and ask questions! God has given me an incredible passion for both projects, and I would love to tell you more. For even more information, you can visit www.letu.edu/wheels and www.bit.ly/MelanieAfrica.
Peace and blessings,
Melanie
Thanks to my school, LeTourneau University, and an amazing volunteer program, African Impact, I have the opportunity to travel to Africa and participate in two different incredible research projects in Kenya. The first is an undergraduate research project called Wheels that studies wheelchairs, focusing on improving their functionality in order to benefit children in less-resourced settings who need a quality wheelchair. The second is a volunteer position with the African Impact Mara Project that focuses on the conservation of big cats in the Masai Mara, a nature preserve in the heart of Kenya. I would love to tell you a little bit more about both opportunities.
The Wheels project is a real-life application of everything I have been learning in my classes here at LeTourneau. Using scientific research and experimental testing, we collect data to send to wheelchair manufacturers who can then use that data to improve the design of the wheelchairs. Our research focuses strongly on helping the kids that we work with, in order to make their lives as wheelchair users as comfortable as possible. The research is conducted both at LeTourneau and at our partner school, Joytown Primary School for the Physically Disabled, in Thika, Kenya. Every year we, the student researchers, study two different wheelchairs. We gather data about the energy cost for pushing and self-propelling each chair and compare the results. This year, the team has already begun data collection on the first of the two chairs, and this research will continue into next semester. Every summer, as a result of this trip, we facilitate the donation of fifty wheelchairs from the manufacturers to Joytown. In this way, Wheels is able to benefit the children in Kenya both immediately (with a new wheelchair) and long term (with data that will improve the way wheelchairs are designed).
The African Impact Mara Project is a wildlife and conservation venture that will enable me to continue my work with big cats following last summer's involvement with In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center. I will be stationed at the Koiyaki Guiding School in the heart of the Kenyan bush. My responsibilities will include: participating in diverse data collection guided by experienced field staff, learning from experienced Masai guides about life in the African bush, working alongside local Masai expert instructors in training and educating students from the surrounding Masai community to be safari guides, and assisting in efforts to empower local Masai communities to value their environment through conservation education. In addition, I will be involved in helping and improving the facilities of a Masai school located on the edge of the Masai Mara ecosystem. Throughout the whole trip, I will be experiencing the Masai culture and living in the heart of the finest safari destination in the world.
In May 2014, I will travel to Thika, Kenya, with the rest of the Wheels team and continue to study the chairs with the help of students at Joytown Primary School. After one month in Thika, I will travel to the volunteer base in the wild Kenyan Mara Naboisho Consevancy. I will work in and around the Masai Mara for four weeks, and then travel back to the States.
I am extremely excited for the opportunity to travel to Africa this summer. I am eager to experience and learn about a culture outside of the U.S., and I am even more eager to meet and work with the kids at Joytown and the other volunteers at the Mara. Through the Wheels project, I hope to share God's unconditional love, care, and acceptance with the children of Joytown Primary School. As I research and work with the conservation efforts of the Mara Project, my goal is to learn about and encourage proper treatment of wildlife, the environment, and conservation based on the Biblical principal of stewardship and the calling we received from God to care for the plant He gave us.
If you would like to learn more about the Wheels team or the Mara Project, please feel free to contact me and ask questions! God has given me an incredible passion for both projects, and I would love to tell you more. For even more information, you can visit www.letu.edu/wheels and www.bit.ly/MelanieAfrica.
Peace and blessings,
Melanie