Alumna Looks Back at Her Time in Ghana
News
SUMMARY: History alumna Yasmine Vaughan (’18) studied abroad in Ghana a decade ago, but still vividly remembers the experience she had through both the program and the optional internship. After graduating from JMU, Vaughan used this experience to guide her in pursuing a master's degree in public health at George Washington University and now works at Helping Children Worldwide.
“The strength of studying abroad is that, as opposed to traveling internationally by yourself, it’s with the explicit purpose of learning, and you’re doing it with a cohort of people who are also out there to do that,” says Ghana Summer Program alumna Yasmine Vaughan (‘18). “It’s not just a tourist experience; you’re going to meet the locals, and learn about their lives, eat their food and speak their language. You’re with a group of people who are there to help you learn. So, when you’re navigating different cultures, you’re among people that are also trying to do the same.”
As a history major with minors in pre-medicine, sociology, biology and honors interdisciplinary studies, Vaughan took her first trip abroad in 2016 as part of a week-long Honors College Alternative Spring Break trip to the Dominican Republic. “That experience taught me how to engage thoughtfully in cross-cultural settings and approach service-learning with an awareness of both helping and causing potential harm,” says Vaughan.
Just a few months later, she traveled to Ghana under the guidance of Dr. David Owusu-Ansah. The insights she gained in the Dominican Republic made her time in Ghana even more poignant.
Vaughan vividly remembers attending a class on economics and then walking around a marketplace, volunteering in an afterschool program, and visiting former “slave castles” in Cape Coast and Elmina. “I saw so much of the beauty and rich cultural history of the regions,” Vaughan recalled, “as well as the scars of poverty and the legacy of colonialism up close.”
She also participated in the program’s optional internship, witnessing eight births during her time at a Winneba hospital’s maternity ward. “My time in Ghana, though I didn’t realize it then, helped me understand that I did not want to become a doctor,” Vaughan said. “Instead, it gave me valuable insight into how healthcare systems function in low-resource settings — knowledge that became especially meaningful later in my public health studies, and now deeply informs my work in Sierra Leone.”
After graduating from JMU, Vaughan went on to pursue a master's degree in public health at George Washington University and now works at Helping Children Worldwide, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing child poverty and mortality. She prepares mission teams of American midwives and nurses who travel to train Sierra Leonean nurses in emergency obstetric and neonatal procedures.
JMU offers many study abroad opportunities, but Vaughan also encourages students to find global perspectives in their local community. There are countless opportunities to volunteer with refugee organizations, explore non-major classes or join special-interest clubs, among others. Whether students choose to explore another country or the Shenandoah Valley, they can have enriching experiences that shape their futures.
