When I moved to India in August 2018 for my Fulbright, it was my first time coming to Asia and my first time living outside of the United States for a significant period of time. I grew up in a small town in southern Georgia, and many members of my community and family have not had the opportunity to travel outside of the United States or to know people who are from different cultures and backgrounds. Because of this, many people with whom I shared that I was moving to India expressed concerns that were rooted in love but based on misconceptions. I came to India wanting to build connections and learn about the environment, but I also wanted to show my community in the United States that India is more than the sum of their stereotypes.

I think I successfully achieved my first two goals. My community here in India is strong and loving, and the idea of leaving in less than two months is more bittersweet than I thought it would be when I moved here alone and terrified. By working with the labs at the Indian Institute of Technology and with the nonprofit Shamrik Bharti, I built connections with the community and laboratory infrastructure that allowed me to create a robust dataset of antimicrobial resistance in water and air around Kanpur, and to improve sanitation conditions in the surrounding communities. But communicating what this experience has been like to my family and friends in the United States has not been easy. It is challenging to share my difficult experiences, like having Dengue Fever or being stranded at the airport, without the fear of reinforcing stereotypes about India as a dangerous and non-redeemable place. It is challenging to share my proudest moments, like using my newly-learned Hindi to coax a smile from a child, or seeing a local community volunteer explain the results of a water test she conducted herself, without diluting the experience through translation. I fall short when attempting to relay the sunrise over the Alleppey backwaters or the smell of the Old Delhi spice markets.

I hope that when I move back to the United States to begin my MD-PhD, I can become a better ambassador for these stories that combat misconceptions. Individual connection is the best teacher of the similarity of people, and I plan to convey the connections I made with my Indian community when I return to one in the United States. I want to show my peers who said “I could NEVER do something like move to India” that yes, you could- and it should not be a radical idea. I want to show the medical community that when we talk about eliminating health disparities, this needs to apply to health disparities globally, to the polluted water and air that is not only killing millions in India but affects each of us. The global community becomes more connected every day, and in response, we can either fight for the maintenance of our homogenous silos or open our hearts and minds to people half a world away that may share more similarities with us than our neighbors.