“You can’t spend two months in Zambia and come home the same,” says Abby Logan, a first-year ֱ-Carolinas student from North Augusta. Before starting med school, she joined a student research team studying the environmental health effects of mining in Zambia, an experience that cemented her love for public health and her desire to serve both global and rural communities as a future physician.
Abby and her team studied pollution caused by mining, the heavy metals left behind in huge dump zones called tailing sites. Tailing sites are massive manmade mounds where waste from copper and mineral mining is dumped, the leftover material after valuable metals are extracted. These barren, otherworldly landscapes can stretch for miles, leaching heavy metals into nearby soil, water, and air, with serious consequences for the health of surrounding communities.
“Our focus was phytoremediation, which is the process of using plants to extract and absorb heavy metals from contaminated soil. It was really cool. We were the very first student group to go, so we were laying the groundwork for future teams. We were taking soil samples, meeting officials, figuring out what might work.”
The experience deepened Abby’s passion for public health and opened her eyes to the global impact of environmental conditions on human well-being. It inspired her to pursue a career that bridges both global and local needs by serving underserved communities abroad and one day opening a rural clinic in the American South.
“I’m obsessed with public health, and I think I want to go into family medicine. So many counties around here don’t have anyone. People have to drive hours to see a doctor. I want to take care of whole families, get to know a community, not just numbers.”
Living in Zambia for two months didn’t feel like a trip; it felt like life. “We weren’t in hotels,” Abby explained. “We stayed in hostels, shared bunk rooms, walked to the mall for meals, and got to know so many other travelers. Our hostel became home.”
Through daily routines, soil sampling at mining sites, and long conversations with locals, she formed meaningful relationships. “We met so many families. Family culture is huge there. Every time you met someone, you got introduced to their entire family — and they’d bring you food and say, ‘You have to eat it!’ I was like, okay, I’m eating! I’m not even hungry anymore, but I’m still eating.”
At the end of the trip, Abby and her team carved out time to experience Zambia’s wild beauty. They went on safari in Chobe National Park, camped in tents while lions roamed nearby, visited Victoria Falls, and rafted the roaring Zambezi River. “It was the first time I’d ever done whitewater rafting — they were category fours, and we completely flipped the raft. I was hooked.”
At one point, they leapt into the river to float a gentle rapid, only to be rushed back into the raft when a crocodile was spotted nearby. “You’re kidding!” she remembered thinking. “We just didn’t even know.”
From near-capsizes to zip-lining above river gorges, Abby leaned into every moment. “I’m an adrenaline junkie! I’ve always loved that stuff. I wanted to bungee jump, too, but the school said no. Next time.”
Abby’s two months in Zambia made a lasting impact that she has carried with her into the long hours of study as a first-year medical student. “That trip changed my life. It showed me how big the world is and how much one person can still do. Every time I talk about it, I realize how much I want to go back, but next time, with my medical degree in hand.”
