Question: Do you feel having experience of such a different culture in Zimbabwe has affected the scientific work you do?

Yvette Wilson answered on 22 Jun 2010:

I think it has hugely affected the scientific work that I do…where to begin?….I suspect that if I had grown up in the UK I would have realised that to have a more certain career i may have trained in medical genetics or drug development (out of the biological sciences).

Also I may not have been as concerned about the environment as I am now. I say this because I have found it difficult to become familiar with the UK environment and the ecological issues here (but maybe thats me just struggling to get used to a very different country anyway). It is only from my training in Ecology that I know that there are many important environmental issues here (and the media of course).

The main difference between Zimbabwe and the UK is that in Zimbabwe the relationship between natural resources and survival is very direct. If a rural family in Zimbabwe cannot grow their food they starve. Its that simple. In the UK there are many safety nets between not being able to make a living and starving so people are not forced to think about how they manage the environment.