Final Presentations

On the last Wednesday that we were in Nampula, every group made their final presentation. I was incredibly nervous to speak in front of all the students and Novos Horizontes management team. Somehow I still sruvived though! I think it was great practice for public speaking because the managers asked real life business questions about our project. We were expected to know our project and the information surrounding it in order to answer knowledgeably.

I enjoyed hearing the end results of every other project. Since I was able to help on every team for at least one afternoon, it made me feel invested in all the final conclusions. It was tough to say goodbye to the farm, but it felt great being able to clearly show that our team worked hard to help the operation.

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Project Shadowing

One thing I love most about this specific study abroad trip is that there are five projects and each pertaining to a different avenue of the business. I have made friends with students in thepoulty, engineering, agriculture, and business colleges. The faculty members, Dr. Clark, Dr. Nalley, and Dr. Farmer encourage us to branch out and shadow each team at least once in order to learn about each subject.

For example, today I went with team One Egg that helps with marketing strategy for Eggs for Africa, a sister company of Novos Horizontes. This team also helps with distributing eggs to school children every morning. This program’s goal is to improve the children’s nutrition level and also to increase attendance at the school. malnutrition and lack of education are two huge obstacles that the children in Africa face and the One Egg program has found a unique way to combat both challenges simultaneously.

Working Hard

The past week we have been working very hard on organizing plans for an accounting database. As a team we decided to focus specifically on one business department in order to help start movement towards an enterprise wide database server.

Our first step was to brainstorm as a team to find the best way to categorize the information in Access. After that, we split up and did some data entry to get a sample database from two weeks of records from the outgrower department. Currently, we are working to create a form which will allow management to control the information being inserted into the system. It will take the completed form and transfer the information directly to tables that we created.

Game Plan

This week at the farm has taught me more about chickens than I ever thought I would know! I was able to visit every business department and interview the employees dealing with the data being recorded. My team toured the business departments in order to learn how and where each unit stores the information for their role in the company. Our project goal is to convert the way they record information into a useful database.

After meeting with the chief financial officer, Ray, it was decided that using Microsoft Access as a starting point for creating a database for the company was the best approach. Although this is just the beginning our team is optimistic that we will be able to help the business run more smoothly through our project!

Walking in Mozambique=Running in America

The entire weekend was spent catching up on sleep…oh and climbing a mountain. We hiked up Mount Mohitu, place of darkness, and had to run to keep up with our Mozambiquen guide.  The pace he set would have us passing out halfway, if our compassionate translator hadn’t intervened after hearing our heavy breathing and seeing our wobbly legs. 

It was a difficult hike but since there was a large group of us, with varying levels of fitness, they slowed the pace. With enough time and breaks, we all made it to see the gorgeous view from the mountain top.  

 

Survival of the Fittest

Luckily, we all survived. The travel time was around 35 hours and it took some endurance to make it through. I loved the adventure of flying though, it is one of my favorite parts of traveling. I met and re-met (I’m not so great with names) all my team mates and even made some friends with the people I sat next to on the plane. Although it was an exhausting trip, the key was to find your own way to recharge. Mine was to power nap anywhere I found a place to sleep.

When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the bamboo hotel. We were split up into room mate pairs and were each assigned to a different hut. My first room mate is my project lead, so this will be great for  planning for next week!

Africa is wild

Africa is wild. I wanted to start my traveling adventures going somewhere exotic. Somewhere that is completely different than anything I’ve known. 

To begin, I should introduce myself and then later on I’ll explain more about the service project I will be working on while I am in Mozambique. I am an accounting student at the  University of Arkansas and I plan to graduate next May. I’m hoping to continue my education  and earn a master’s in accounting. The reason I chose a program in an impoverished country is because I wanted to change the way I think and behave and not just my perspective of the world. I cannot wait to see how my life is impacted from this trip!