Join Dr Grace Soma as she shares her transformative journey from a summer school in Germany to pioneering healthcare training in South Sudan, highlighting the power of intercultural competence and collaboration.
Well written. I particularly like the reflection on ideas and conceptions that had to be “un-learned”. Note that Sudan is in the midst of a devestating civil war, undoubtedky impacting negatively on the work of scholar.
In early 2018, I was invited to attend a summer school in Germany as part of the DAAD scholarships program – the German Academic exchange program – which had granted me an in-region scholarship to study Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Nairobi. I was drawn to the University of Heidelberg summer school, entitled ‘Enhancing Academic Qualifications in Teaching and Research in Public Health’[1]. This program was the best fit for me as I planned to return to my university teaching position at the University of Juba, in my home country, South Sudan.
A requirement of the application was the submission of a proposal for a teaching or research project as a summer school learning project. Eager to enhance my teaching skills, my project was entitled ‘A Teaching Project on Comprehensive Care of the Newborn for Health Workers in South Sudan’. I focused on newborn care in South Sudan because it has one of the highest neonatal mortality rates worldwide at 39.6 per 1,000 live births according to UNICEF 2021 data[2]. The country’s shortage in skilled health workers aggravates this situation hence the need for health worker training programs. I worked on this teaching project and made a poster presentation for feedback from faculty and my peers. At the time, I hoped to get funding to implement this much needed intervention for newborn care in South Sudan. As fate would have it, little did I know that it would not take long before the end of the year for all of this to come full circle, and the best part about it, I was ready.
With a successful summer school application at hand, a Schengen visa, travel health insurance, accommodation and flights booked, I was Heidelberg bound in the summer of August 2018. At the airport, it was easy to identify some of my summer school cohort on the same flights and itineraries as myself, navigating immigration authorities, armed with a folder of documents and the magic words: ‘DAAD Summer School in Germany!’ It is with this diverse and multidisciplinary group of DAAD scholars from Africa and Asia, that I would spend a summer of learning and unlearning about teaching and research in public health.
After classes, we would spend the evenings getting enchanted with the ancient and beautiful castles in Heidelberg or bargain hunting for deals and sales in the shopping malls. These sessions of networking and bonding would later morph into long term friendships and professional collaborations. Some weekends included group excursions to explore nature – we visited the Bad Waldenburg forest where the famous blackberry fruit is found and took trips to Bonn and Berlin visiting DAAD and Deutsch-Welle offices and some tourist sites. Some of us took advantage of the Schengen visa to tour Europe. Taking a day trip to Paris, France was quite a highlight for me because the summer school was after all, an ‘academic adventure.’ As they say, all work and no play make Jill a dull girl – the ‘adventure’ part was an equally important component of my summer school experience!
The Learning
The DAAD summer school had an impact on my teaching and academic career because it was where I was first ‘taught to teach’. Despite prior responsibilities to teach and train medical students, junior colleagues, and other cadres in my teaching and training positions, I had never received any formal training on this. The curriculum was modular encompassing: 1) intercultural communication, 2) participatory teaching techniques, 3) good health research practice, 4) grant proposal writing and 5) a visit to development institutions in Bonn and Berlin.
Learning to teach –. The module on participatory teaching techniques stood out the most for me as it equipped me with critical skill sets that have enriched my teaching and training skills focused on adult learners. I learnt about the ‘learner centered teaching approach’ based on ‘constructive alignment’ where the teacher ‘facilitates’ learning. I gained new knowledge on participatory methods like ‘living statistics’, ‘think; pair; share’, one-minute paper and world café; and on feedback and evaluation methods like target evaluation and silent dialogue. Practical sessions included delivering a micro-teaching session on ‘Successful Breastfeeding Among Newborns’ and a poster presentation on my summer school teaching project.
Learning to collaborate – A key strength of the summer school was the diversity and multidisciplinary professional backgrounds of the participants. Participants came from different fields like education, mathematics, psychology, veterinary medicine, laboratory medicine, agronomy, and crop science. We worked together in teams developing proposals and writing grants. It was insightful listening to different projects from diverse disciplines and learning how expertise from these sectors were being utilized to tackle public health issues. This experience broadened my thinking and capacity to work in multidisciplinary teams and has shaped the transdisciplinary nature in which I collaborate in program development, project management and research.
Unlearning cross-cultural misconceptions, biases, or stereotypes should be a continuous process as it fosters our intercultural competencies. Cultural misconceptions negatively impact success of teams and working relationships. I had never visited Germany or extensively interacted with Germans prior to the summer school. The summer in Heidelberg gave me an opportunity to unlearn most misconceptions that I had regarding Germans and Germany through the intercultural exchange and social networking I experienced.
Another inter-cultural concept that I had to unlearn over time has been through my reflection of the ‘third culture’ concept introduced during the intercultural competence module. Third culture individuals are those raised in a culture other than their parents’ or the culture of their country of nationality, and now live in a different environment / culture[3]. I found this relatable because of the ‘cultural identity’ struggle I have experienced as one born in South Sudan, raised in Kenya, and later lived in Europe and North America. I have had to unlearn agonizing about this and I now appreciate the intercultural competence, cultural intelligence, adaptability, and unique world view that I possess because of these life experiences.
How it all came full circle
After the summer school, I graduated in September and returned to South Sudan. That December, I came across a consultancy to provide training on IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood illnesses) to healthcare workers in South Sudan. I was ecstatic and whipped out my summer school teaching project on newborn care. Activating my newly acquired grant writing skills, I put out a technical proposal on IMNCI (Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses) – incorporating newborn care into the IMCI training in line with the latest global health recommendations.
This first successful training opportunity cascaded into other training opportunities focusing on newborn care and child health. This shaped my portfolio as a training consultant providing training and capacity building for diverse cadres of healthcare workers. During my training sessions, I brought a fresh perspective to the learning environment comprising of didactical teachings, clinical practical sessions and group work where I utilized participatory teaching methods from the summer school like world café and evaluation methods like the target method.
Beyond the training consultancies on newborn care, and having developed interest in this topic, I wrote a series of clinical guidance review articles on newborn care titled; ‘Nurturing newborns in South Sudan’[4]. So far there are two papers in the series, with more to come as a collaboration with other specialists and health workers involved in newborn care. This will be published in South Sudan Medical Journal where I serve as an editorial assistant.
Having learnt the art of collaboration and teamwork I have since co-founded two initiatives that are both multispecialty and transdisciplinary. These are South Sudanese Women In Medicine (SSWIM) and Women In STEM (WiSTEM) South Sudan. The latter brings together women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to inspire and empower South Sudanese women and girls to pursue stem related courses and careers.
Through WiSTEM, I have taken lead in grant writing and program development and in 2023, I received funding from the DAAD Alumni Program fund to host a DAAD Alumni event and science symposium dubbed ‘Let’s Talk Science South Sudan.’ During the symposium I reached out to Dr. Catherine Musyoka, a fellow summer school participant who had since become a friend and colleague to speak in a panel discussion on implementation science – a testament to the power of the out-of-class networking sessions! I look forward to future collaborations with Dr. Musyoka and other alumni in related projects activities and research.
A quote from Paulo Coelho states: ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it’[5]. What started out as a summer school teaching project and experience aligned to set me off on a path in training consultancy, grant writing, program development, project management and research.
Dr. Grace Soma
MBChB, MMED, MSc. Pediatrician and Child Health Specialist.
