Eboni's Swahili Study Abroad in Tanzania

By Eboni Brown, International Affairs Undergraduate Student

My name is Eboni Brown, and I am a senior International Affairs major, TV/Film and Geography double minor from Goldsboro, NC. I was a finalist for the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship program for Swahili and I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania for 8 weeks to improve my Swahili skills and learn more about East African culture. 

I started learning Swahili during my freshman year of college, as I was inspired by a professor who told me that I should pursue an African language at Howard University since our school offers so many! Getting the CLS award was really important for me because it was the first time I studied abroad, and that was one of my goals when coming to Howard University.

My favorite parts about the program were staying with a local host family and learning more about the importance of community in Tanzania, and visiting Machame where I hiked to a waterfall, spent the day with members of the Wachaga tribe to learn about their culture, and even caught a clear glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro! In the future, I want to travel back to Tanzania, but for now, my goal is to encourage students to pursue the study of African languages and travel as much as possible!