June 29th - 30th

July 5 -7th

 July 14 – 19

July 20-23

After five weeks of hard work in the field and office, we got to explore other areas of Malawi. To begin our vacation, we drove south to Mulanje. On our way there, we stopped at the house of a UIUC professor, who had retired in Malawi, his homeland. We enjoyed a traditional, homecooked meal and even got a lesson on making nsima. Nsima is a staple food in Malawi made out of maize flour. Fun fact: Malawians say that they haven’t eaten a proper meal unless they have eaten nsima.

Where are you from?
I grew up in a small town, Oblong, IL, located in Southern Illinois. My family farm is predominately row crops, but my passion was raising and showing Angus cattle. After high school, I attended Lakeland College for two years before transferring to the University of Illinois.  

Where do you live?
Wooster, OH

Where are you from? 
I grew up in the Quad Cities where we consider ourselves the "city" for the outlying rural areas. 

Where do you live? 
I live in my hometown of Moline, IL 

Where are you currently employed? 
I am employed in Davenport, IA, just a short drive across the Mississippi River. 

What is your current job title?  
Associate Veterinarian at Animal Family Veterinary Care Center and Head Veterinarian at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley

Where are you from?
I am from Ashton, IL and I grew up on a farm with livestock including farrow to finish swine farm and cow/calf operation. 

Where do you live?
I live in Ashton, IL in the country. 

Where are you from?
I was born in Chicago, IL and then moved to Oak Park, IL in 3rd grade.

Obtaining my B.S. in NRES/resource ecology from the University of Illinois has helped me tremendously in every professional position I have held. NRES taught me many skills that I use daily, including dendrology, soil science, chemistry, GIS, and plant biology. During my time as a consulting forester, I have inventoried and electronically mapped over 40,000 trees. As Urban Forester for the City of Park Ridge, I was able to protect mature trees from new construction by applying the City’s strict building code regulations.

Our last days in Malawi were spent at a safari camp inside of Liwonde National Park. I think it’s safe to say that none of us have ever experienced a camping trip like this before. For starters, it was in a Malawian national park. Secondly, there were no borders protecting us from wild animals and we were sleeping in elevated tents. Thankfully those tents were elevated because otherwise we would’ve been trampled by WILD ELEPHANTS. Yas, in the middle of the night and into the morning there were wild African elephants roaming through our campsite 20 feet away from us!