Did you know that the Baobab tree has a fruit? Me neither. The Baobab trees are images often associated with the natural beauty of Malawi, and frequently make their way onto postcards, paintings, and pictures of the country. These large, bulbous trees provide a picture of Malawian wildlife that is simultaneously magnanimous and whimsical. Despite their popularity in pictures, many people do not get the opportunity to understand the importance their fruit plays in the ecosystem.
The dehydrated pulp inside the woody exterior of the fruit provides a nutritional punch of antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. As described to me, the fruit often serves as a vital resource of nutrition during times of drought. Immediately intrigued, I located some Baobab fruit for myself. I was pleasantly surprised by the sour tart flavor of the desiccated seed pods, and in an epiphany, I realized this fruit very much symbolized the first quarter of my fellowship year.
When I first pursued this fellowship I had many different visions of my future, and a shallow understanding of the country I would live in for the next year. Utilizing the internet and my imagination, I had gathered as much textbook knowledge as possible to prepare myself. However, the lessons I have learned during quarter 1 were not the ones I anticipated.
When I applied, I was pursuing an adventure of a lifetime and setting a foundation for my future career in public health. My plans included gaining a few conferences and a publication for my curriculum vitae, sharpening all my quantitative skills with ambitious projects at work, and reemerging on the internet with a vibrant persona. I expected the often arduous career lessons about assimilating into different work cultures, and the natural faux pox that occur when trying out a new type of occupation.
However, my lessons were of a different kind. In Bounce Living the Resilient Life by Robert J. Wicks PsyD, the author discusses “the interior life” as a psychological place where nonjudgmental self-awareness, simplicity, freedom, and truth flourish. Wicks goes on to discuss how self-growth in the interior life is necessary to facilitate growth in the exterior life of jobs and relationships. While pursuing ambitious goals in the external life, Malawi has unpredictably become a crash course in lessons from the interior life.
Similar to the simplistic image of the baobab tree, my simple vision of the fellowship was me combating the ills of health disparities while acquiring accolades to fill my LinkedIn profile. Three months later, I realize that the true value of my experience lies in my personal growth, just like the true value of the Baobab is more than pretty pictures.