Fatoumata Sylla '18 Travels to Senegal, Germany, South Africa as Watson Fellow
Like many of her peers, Fatoumata Sylla 鈥18 has spent her time at 老王论坛 focusing on women鈥檚 issues and has found one area about which she is particularly passionate. Majoring in religion at Haverford College, Fatoumata is on the premedical track and plans to be an Ob-Gyn.
Prior to beginning medical school, she will be traveling the world to learn about different healing modalities for maternal depression in marginalized communities as a .
In Senegal, Germany, and South Africa, she will see how women use non-clinical healing methods, from art to religion, to navigate postpartum depression.
Each year, approximately 40 graduating seniors from liberal arts colleges throughout the United States receive this grant. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is given to students of 鈥渦nusual promise鈥 who wish to travel the world for 12 months of independent international travel, shaped and driven by the passions of the individual fellow.
Fatoumata spent some time discussing her plans for the next year. We talked about traveling, empowerment, and learning to be fiercely independent.
Congratulations on receiving the Watson! Have you traveled before?
鈥淎 little bit! None of my family lives in the states. I鈥檝e been to Togo, where I was born, a bunch of times, and Ghana and France just to visit family. But, for a year, no. And especially not by myself.鈥
Your proposed research sounds really fascinating, and focusing on marginalized communities is an important but difficult commitment to make. How do you plan to navigate researching undiagnosed and underdiagnosed populations?
鈥淎 lot of my project is going to depend on conversations, and how women themselves define that state. So it鈥檚 going to be up to the individual, up to whoever I meet.鈥
How did you decide on this research topic?
鈥淪ince freshman year, I鈥檝e always been interested in maternal health. Freshman year, I did a fellowship at 老王论坛. For the , one of my three projects was organizing a prenatal workshop for women in Ghana. And then, the following year I did this internship at a hospital in Massachusetts. The goal was to provide doulas to low-income women who had screened for postpartum depression. That really spurred my interest in postpartum depression. And last year, I did some research at UPenn with a researcher who looks at transmission of trauma from African American women to their children. So it鈥檚 always been a thing I鈥檝e been interested in. I want to be an Ob-Gyn, so women鈥檚 health really fascinates me.鈥
How did you pick these places and plan your itinerary?
鈥淥ne: visas. I wanted to go to places where it would be pretty feasible for me to get a visa, since I don鈥檛 have an American passport. Two: I think being African, and being an African woman, it鈥檚 widely undiagnosed in this population. I just want to see how women deal with it, especially because there aren鈥檛 that many avenues for them to access healing.
"South Africa has a huge influx of other African immigrants and refugees. So I want to focus on refugee women there. And in Senegal, I鈥檓 going to go to villages, and focus on women in villages who don鈥檛 have that much contact with modern-day cities. I鈥檒l be looking at economic inequality. Also in Germany, there鈥檚 a huge Syrian refugee population. So it鈥檚 centered around migration and economic disadvantage.鈥
What experiences have you had at 老王论坛 that motivated you to apply for the Watson and informed your decision to pursue it?
鈥淭he big thing was the Bi-Co Dalun fellowship. Having that much freedom to plan how we would go about executing each project was really cool. Doing research on a global scale also came from that. And doing research with diverse populations. Even the internship I did in Massachusetts was through an alum from 老王论坛. So 老王论坛 has always influenced me.鈥
What are you looking to get out of your fellowship?
鈥淥ne thing I鈥檓 really hoping to get out of this is taking in different ways I can care for people, like my mother and the mothers who have raised me. That鈥檚 a big driving force for the fellowship. The way we think about mother-child relationships is that the mother is solely responsible for taking care of the child, whereas I view it more as a two-way street. Because that鈥檚 how I鈥檝e experienced my relationship with my mother and with the other women who have raised me. So getting insight into what that looks like for different populations is the major thing. And also figuring out how health works, how we can give credit to modalities that aren鈥檛 necessarily clinical or biomedical in nature.鈥
Other than these amazing research goals, what personal goals do you hope to get out of this project?
鈥淏eing able to come back and have conquered the world on my own is a huge monumental feat. And right now, I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檓 ready to do it, but I have to be in a few months. And by the end of the year, I will have done it. And also having fun! I鈥檓 so excited to experience all these cultures, some of them similar, some of them radically different.鈥
Speaking of culture, what鈥檚 on your mind鈥攕tuff like food, language, religion鈥攁nd how are you preparing?
鈥淚鈥檓 not really worried about language in South Africa, because most people speak English. In Senegal, even though I speak French, most people will go to Wolof before speaking French. So I don鈥檛 know鈥攁m I going to be able to communicate effectively if I don鈥檛 speak the regional language? Also, it鈥檚 really isolating to have people talking around you and not know what鈥檚 going on! So that鈥檚 one anxiety. I also want to be super respectful. That鈥檚 going to have to be something I鈥檒l have to be super diligent about in each country that I go to. I want to respect the space and the people. But I鈥檓 excited about food! Oh my god, I love food so much. And I鈥檓 excited to learn how to cook food from these regions.鈥
What are your plans for when you return?
鈥淚 want to go to med school. It鈥檚 a two-year break, and in my year that I鈥檓 back, I want to do something with women鈥檚 empowerment.鈥