Alumni Directory Display

Alumni Update:

Abigail is currently living in Dallas, TX, finishing her final year of medical school. She will be moving in the fall of 2014 to begin her Ob/Gyn residency at Wash U in St. Louis. Abigail hasn’t been able to go back to Africa since her fellowship, but she has been on a few trips to Haiti and just returned from 5 weeks in Peru. Hopefully she’ll be able to organize something in Africa during her residency!

Fellow Bio:

Abigail is a religion major from Houston with a certificate in Spanish. At Princeton, she was in eXpressions Dance Company and frequently choreographed. Abigail was also a member of the Cottage Club. She loves traveling and learning new languages, so she spent her junior year spring studying in Santiago, Chile. Abigail is pre-med and after her year in Africa she is planning on attending medical school for a joint MD/MPH degree. While in Kampala next year, Abigail hopes to pick up some new African dance moves and have a fabulous adventure.

he/him/his

 David graduated from the University of Texas San Antonio with a degree in Geology and graduated from Clark University with a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science. He was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, he worked in rural agricultural development, where he collaborated with multiple government agencies to meet the development goals of communities. He is an active member of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer service community and is a former Coverdell Fellow. During a previous internship with the Red Cross, he consulted with the Red Cross volunteer recruitment services to leverage census data to find new communities for outreach. He also interned with the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) and supported the disaster rapid mapping group, which provides timely analysis to humanitarian disaster response organizations. More recently, he worked full-time as a contractor for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service, where he monitored global food production through satellite remote sensing. Following the Princeton in Africa Fellowship, he plans to pursue a career in agriculture monitoring and development. Originally from Texas, he enjoys hiking, traveling, and learning new skills and languages.

Alumni Update:

Meghan is currently attending medical school at UBC in Vancouver, Canada. She returned to Project Mercy for 2 weeks in December 2014 to continue a vision screening project she started while there with PiAf. It was fantastic to see the children and people she worked with last year!

Fellow Bio:

Meghan is from British Columbia, Canada and studied neurobiology and global health & health policy at Harvard University. At Harvard, she was co-president of Student Mental Health Liaisons, co-president of Women in Science, events chair of Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors, and events co-chair of the Harvard Canadian Club. She also captained, coxed, and rowed for intramural crew. Through Harvard, Meghan studied abroad in Germany and served as a Harvard Summer School proctor in Cambridge. Through Projects Abroad, she spent three months volunteering in a hospital in Ghana. While in Ethiopia, Meghan looks forward to learning Amharic and learning about the Ethiopian culture and food.

Alumni Update:

Mike is now in his third year of residency in the Family and Community Medicine department at University of California San Francisco. He is working on research projects both related to social and health systems barriers to health care in Tanzania as well as impacts of homelessness on health in the US.

Fellow Bio:

Mike is a biology major with minors in anthropology and chemistry. Mike is originally from Minneapolis, MN and at Macalester he was a wide receiver on the football team, president of the Health Professions Student Coalition and a chemistry tutor. Through Macalester, Mike participated in summer research programs on campus and at the University of Minnesota and studied abroad in Gaborone, Botswana. In his free time, Mike volunteers at Regions Hospital and plays the saxophone. Next year in Botswana Mike looks forward to practicing the Setswana that he learned during study abroad, meeting new people and enjoying local food.

Alumni Update:

Keir is living in Maryland and working at the environmental consulting firm SSPA (www.sspa.com). Prior to this Keir was a Princeton postdoc at Mpala Research Center for two years. And before that he did his PhD research in Namibia at Gobabeb Training and Research Centre. Keir and his wife Natasha just had another little girl, Cora Ann, who joins her 4 year old sister Emma.

she/her/hers

 Haby Sondo is a Burkinabe-American woman from The Bronx, fueled by her passion for international development in Africa, travel, and storytelling. Growing up in a culturally diverse environment fostered her love for immigration and cultural immersion. She completed her undergraduate studies at Boston University where she majored in International Relations & minored in Political Science. Haby’s awakening to the world outside of New York City occurred while living abroad in The Dominican Republic and France. During these experiences, she gained a profound appreciation for the complexities Black immigrants face globally and has since searched for opportunities to include their realities in global migration discourses. These experiences ignited her desire to create two travel blogs that offer an authentic glimpse into the experiences of Black Women traveling globally. With a focus on unconventional travel experiences, Haby shines a spotlight on underrepresented travel destinations. In her professional life, Haby has worked as a Business Immigration Paralegal; her leisure time is spent traveling, blogging, biking, hiking, and exploring cuisines from around the world. With a bold vision for the future, Haby aspires to pursue a career at the intersection of her passions for immigration, law, and international development, using her voice and digital content to inspire Black Women and People of Color to pursue global travel opportunities. She is confident that her Princeton in Africa Fellowship at Food for Education in Nairobi, Kenya will provide her with the tools and knowledge to make a meaningful impact in the world.

Nika recently completed her M.A. in African Studies at Stanford University, where she focused on issues surrounding international development, education, and visual representation in Sub-Saharan Africa. She received a B.A. degree with distinction in International Relations (specializations in Africa and Social Development) and a minor in Creative Writing at Stanford in 2015. She studied in Cape Town during her junior year and worked at a community resource center for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Nyanga. She returned to Nyanga that summer to conduct two independent, community engaged research projects. She created a preliminary monitoring and evaluation report and a photovoice project, which explored the social dynamics of unemployment by giving youth cameras to capture and narrate their experiences. The next summer, she worked at the Baylor Pediatric Aids Initiative in Gaborone, Botswana, extending the regional scope of her photovoice project, which was exhibited at the largest contemporary art gallery in the country. Nika has published articles for the Stanford Daily and for the Los Angeles Times. She enjoys writing nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Nika is a passionate writer and next year looks forward to improving her Xhosa, telling stories, and advocating for others to have the opportunity to tell theirs.

Alumni Update:

Kelly received her MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2018, where she focused on social impact and emerging markets. She now works in management consulting at Deloitte in San Francisco.

Fellow Bio:

Kelly is a Culture and Politics Major and African Studies minor who grew up all over the world in the United States, the UK and Russia. At Georgetown University, she engaged in various activities including serving as Secretary of the African Society of Georgetown and student tutor at the African Immigrant Refugee Foundation. Kelly studied abroad at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and spent summers interning in Ghana and Kenya, fulfilling her love for traveling and meeting new people. While in Rwanda next year, Kelly looks forward to making new friends, using her Kiswahili while picking up French and Kinyarwanda, dancing up a storm and going on some exciting trips around the region including finally climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.