This summer, Twange Kasoma and Matthew C. Ogwu will lead App State’s first-ever study-abroad trip to Zambia, combining global and local climate literacy through the communication and sustainable development departments.
The trip, which is housed under the App State Honors College, is open to all students. It is part of a five-week summer class, including three weeks of virtual instruction followed by two weeks in Zambia.
In Zambia, students will work alongside farming experts at Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre, the largest organic farm in Zambia. They will then work with local media organizations to increase visibility for climate-justice work.
“I think there’s a lot of exciting work that is happening in Zambia to try and combat climate change that we are not necessarily hearing about or reading about as much as we should. And so, it’s time to change that,” said Kasoma, an associate professor of digital journalism.
Kasoma grew up in Zambia and considers giving students the opportunity to study abroad an integral part of her professional identity.
“I myself am a product of study abroad. I came from Zambia to the U.S. to study and have never looked back,” Kasoma said. “That was an experience that was so transformational to me, and I feel I would be selfish to not want to share that experience with my students.”
As an undergraduate student, Kasoma had a professor who was a Fulbright scholar from the United States. This professor inspired her to study abroad. She traveled to the U.S. to earn a master’s and doctorate, then she began teaching at Emory & Henry University in Virginia, with plans to eventually work as a professor in Zambia. There, she founded Emory & Henry’s first study abroad program in Zambia.
“I realized I could have the best of both worlds: I could teach in the U.S. and then take students to Zambia. And that’s what happened,” Kasoma said. Now in her second year at App State, she will co-lead this school’s first study-abroad program in Zambia.
Ogwu, who is on parental leave for the spring 2026 semester, has experience teaching internationally in Italy, Korea and Nigeria. He is now an assistant professor in the Goodnight Family Sustainable Development department at App State.
Vicky Klima, associate vice provost of the honors college, emphasized interdisciplinarity as something that makes this program special.
“You’re studying the climate crisis and that is a scientific problem, and Dr. Ogwu is going to be able to help people think about agriculture and biology and the microbiome and all of those scientific things that are affecting the climate in Zambia,” Klima said. “But we’re not going to move toward resilience if we cannot communicate the approaches that are being found.”
With Ogwu, Kasoma said she aims to build a connection between the students’ local community and the global scene in what she calls a “glolocal” solution.
“If the students go to Zambia and realize some of the smart agricultural techniques they are using right here in the U.S. on a farm, such as the one owned by the department of Sustainable Development, can be shared with the Zambian farmers through that farm, and if there’s something that is happening on this farm that can be eye opening for the students to bring back here, then we have that glolocal sharing of important knowledge as far as food insecurity in the world is concerned,” Kasoma said.
Kasoma said climate change has led to drought in Zambia. She said one effect of this is food insecurity, which compares to Boone. Additionally, Zambia faces a loss of communication resources, since hydroelectricity comprises the majority of the country’s power.
Kasoma’s has had students at Emory & Henry University work with Komboni Radio, a Zambian company through which Kasoma and her sister distribute free, solar-powered radios to farmers. One of these radios can be seen in the top-left photo of the Zambia study abroad flyer.
“In this context, journalism is going to provide that opportunity of showcasing what Zambia, what Kasisi, is doing to help alleviate the problems that have been brought about from climate change stemming from this drought,” Kasoma said.
The international trip will take place June 11-26. Most of the trip will take place in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, with a weekend trip to Livingstone halfway through the trip.
The all-inclusive trip is predicted to cost $6,500. Klima said the course will fulfill honors college credits as well as the international education requirement. For both honors college and non-honors college students, there is no prerequisite to take the class.
