I chose to take International Development Studies at Trent University for a number of reasons, but first and foremost it was the Trent-in-Ghana program that interested me. Like many students who apply to TIG, I was drawn to its focus on “hands-on” learning and critical thinking about what development is “really” like on the ground. And while these are, without a doubt, strengths of the program, what I value most about my time in Ghana was further understanding how to be critical of my own place in the confusion that we call international development.
Working with a women’s rights organization in northern Ghana, I learned more about the strengths and weaknesses of microcredit than I could ever hope to learn from reading about the Grameen Bank. However, what I continue to think about today is how I fit into the organization I worked with and the implications of that role. I was pushed to contemplate issues of privilege and power in new ways, and that is something I will always take forward with me.
It’s not hard to get misty-eyed over my time in Ghana; I met inspiring people, couldn’t get enough of the groundnut soup, travelled through a country I had fallen in love with, and learned just as much from my peers as I did my professors. I am still incredibly grateful for all of it. Even without the rose-tinted glasses though, the TIG program was essential to me in forming perhaps the strongest skill of Trent IDS students: critical thinking.