By: Shingai Gwatidzo
This week was packed with loads of exciting activities: ignite talks, meetings with collaborators, more exciting workshops, trip to Montgomery. However, what I enjoyed the most was the opportunity to meet Dr. Michael Bartlett, the Associate Dean at the School of Pharmacy. The meeting was exceptionally eye-opening, guiding me through some of the work that they do, including experiential learning through their model quality assurance/quality control laboratory. He shared with me information that might help establish long-term working relations around drug regulation.
What I learned this week was the concept of Understanding my strengths and applying a strengths-based approach. Having identified my strengths, this week was an opportunity to get a deeper understanding of how to apply these strengths throughout my work and community engagements. I have learned that I am more of a people-person, therefore I should learn to apply these strengths in building solid relationships.
Something unexpected I encountered this week was the deep-rooted history of race relations in America, emanating from decades of slavery and injustice. Learning about it from reading books and watching TV back home in Zimbabwe is one thing, but learning about it first hand and visiting the historic sites and museums is something that invokes unexpected emotions, moreover when I reflect on the history of Zimbabwe and where we are today. There is a lot that we as leaders need to do, in terms of utilizing our strengths to build our communities by addressing some of the remnant effects of the injustices.
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