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My name is Barbara McAlister, I am a junior at Mount Holyoke and this summer
I went to Africa on the Karen Snyder Sullivan Award,
which is a travel scholarship set up for students who've never yet been abroad.
One of my good friends is from Ghana.
She said, "Well, why don't you stay in my home?"
So I put Ghana into my itinerary.
I put Kenya into my itinerary,
because a friend of mine from UMass was working on a project there,
building spring boxes for water purification.
I put Tanzania on my itinerary for the pure fun of taking a safari,
and I put Ethiopia on my itinerary because my parents
were in the process of adopting two children from Addis Ababa, the capital.
So I thought, why not go meet them?
So I had an opportunity to spend two weeks bonding with my new siblings.
I could tell so many stories.
Like when the elephant came right up to our Land Rover,
and I was peeking out over the top and the closer he got, the bigger he got
until he was looming over us and I sort of started to creep down inside the Land Rover
until it was just my eyes peeking over.
I took West African Dance my first year, and I loved it.
And I anticipated having the opportunity to learn more of that.
I actually had set up a week at a school West African Drumming and Dancing in Cape Coast,
which ended up falling through, but because I pursued it even further when I was there,
I kept trying to make it work, and the family was helping me -- it never worked out,
but it lead to some opportunities.
For example, I ended up meeting a lot of musicians.
Now, I want to study ethnomusicology, the study of what humans do
is what I want to do, particularly in music.
I met a well-known Ethiopian jazz musician.
I got to record in Kenya.
(Singing)
And I have been invited back -- like seriously -- not just, "Oh you should come back,"
but I've received a few serious invitations like, "We'd really enjoy that you come back."
And I have my voice teacher to thank, I think, because I'd only taken voice last fall.
It was like opening doors and opening windows.
I was ready and I was willing to open doors and windows in my life.
I wanted to see. I wanted to know.
It was, I wouldn't say satiating a curiosity, because it only made me more curious,
but it pulled me further and further out of myself.