Hanging out and catching up remotely with the C-A Scholars in lock-down..
Written by Amit Bhasin, C-A Programme Manager
After a crazy few weeks for everyone, adjusting to working from home and contributing in their own small ways to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the pleasure of hosting a “hang-out” with the Cambridge-Africa scholars yesterday. It was fantastic that we managed to get 12 scholars on the first of our “zoomeetings”, with the promise from others to join next time! With the pandemic limiting interactions for the last month or so, it was a great opportunity for the new cohort of students to get to better know their peers in years two, three (and four!). A particular shout out to those who were lock-downed, for a variety of reasons in South Africa (Anye), Benin (Lyn), Zambia (Chilombo) and Kenya (Tonny) and were able to join us without interruption for the entire 100 minutes of the catch-up. Both Tonny and Lyn shared their very different experiences of being quarantined after fraught journeys home as the University’s continuity plans came into play and the Colleges started to close. It was really interesting to hear how each country was dealing with the pandemic and had a lively discussion about information/misinformation and the myth that COVID is a disease of the rich. There followed a refreshingly honest and frank interaction between the cohorts with lots of useful information being shared about the Scholarships and some of the issues they are facing at their very different stages of study - definitely not a forum to talk about work per se! I was delighted to share to the group the news of the first, successful, virtual viva having been conducted – congratulations to Dr Taskeen Adam who passed with minor corrections! Following the call we are now picking up further snippets of information on what the Scholars are doing to help in the COVID-19 response in their home countries – watch this space for updates. We hope to talk again in a couple of weeks and hope that every-one stays safe and well wherever they are and thanks for a really stimulating chat – I definitely came off the call with a buzz!
See the Cambridge-Africa PhD Scholarship Scheme page for more information about the students and programme.
For trusted resources relating to Africa and COVID-19 see our new COVID-19 page.