| My sister is studying anthropology with a side of pre-med, and she spent three months working/interning independently in Kenya. She will be returning again this summer. Kenya was considered dangerous by the CIA, and my sister had to work hard getting letters from people in the area attesting to the relative safety of her particular area in order to get funding (since her school has a policy not to fund trips to countries deemed dangerous by the CIA). One of the doctors at the clinic she was going to be working at was a client of my parents, so I think that knowing someone there made my parents feel a lot more comfortable about the experience. My family had also traveled a lot, and my sister had studied abroad through school with a homestay previously. She stayed in a hotel for the first part of the trip when she was getting training and then stayed in a youth hostel the rest of the time. There were a lot of thefts, and her locked hotel room was broken into by someone outside of the hotel at one point (they also broke into the room of one of the only other white people in the hotel). My sister didn't speak the langauge, and though most people could speak English, they chose to speak Swahili or a local language. My sister is a very pretty, blond, white girl (not to mention oblivious and generally lacking in common sense) who would certainly stand out. My parents were never too worried about her safety (or at least didn't express it to me), and she wasn't either, though she was quite shook up when her room was broken into. She made a lot of friends, learned some conversational Swahili, had a Kenyan boyfriend, traveled a lot, and overall had a great experience. She had very limited contact with us at home. The biggest concern was probably the risk of malaria or another disease.
Do you know anyone in the area at all? Being able to talk to an adult about the area would be helpful. You can contact the Embassy if you have any questions, and it may be useful to ask them some questions. Does your son know a lot about what he'll be doing, where, and with whom? The more details you have, the better off you'll feel. See if he can get internet access, so that he'll be able to communicate with you easily. If he's with a school program, he will likely have other students as well as professors or program directors with him who would have done the program before. Organized study abroad is almost always safer than studying alone; it's in the school's interest to keep students safe. Try to look up the particular area your son will be going to. |