ARGENTINA
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Rebecca Ochs, Summer 2012
This photo is from one of the Equisalud outreach projects in
Villa 31, the largest slum in Buenos Aires.
Rebecca spent ten weeks in Argentina working at Hospital
Bernadino Rivadavia, a public hospital in Buenos Aires that
treats mainly poor immigrants from other South American
countries. She rotated through various wards of the hospital
to shadow doctors in many different areas of healthcare and
to learn how the public healthcare system in Argentina
functions. She spent time in maternity and obstetrics,
pediatrics, gynecology, adolescent sexual and reproductive
health, and the emergency room. Although she found all
wards interesting, Rebecca spent a large portion of her time in adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
In this part of the hospital, she was able to work closely with doctors to provide healthcare to women
under the age of 21. Here, she was also able to teach weekly lessons on the female and male reproductive
systems, consensual sex and healthy relationships, and contraceptives.
Rebecca also joined Argentine medical students on capacity building projects in the urban slums through
Fundación Equisalud. She volunteered at a free clinic on the edge of the largest slum in Buenos Aires and
participated in additional projects deep in the heart of the slum. These included vaccination clinics,
HIV/AIDS prevention, condom distribution, and safe sex awareness programs.
She lived with a host family for all ten weeks and on weekends traveled to many areas of the country.
Whether venturing into the high peaks of the Andes Mountains or whale watching in Patagonia, Rebecca
was able to experience the diversity Argentina has to offer, while at the same time gaining a deep
knowledge and understanding of Argentine culture and the hardships the country's poor urban
populations face on a daily basis.
BELIZE
Jill Hsia, Summer 2011
Jill Hsia spent eight weeks over the summer volunteering as a
health intern with ProWorld Service Corps in Belize. For the first
four weeks, she volunteered in the maternal and child health unit
at San Ignacio Regional Hospital, working with the nurses in triage
and assisting the OB/GYN and pediatrician. Since the services
offered by the government-funded hospital were free to the public,
the clinic was extremely busy, sometimes seeing over 80 patients
in 6 hours. During her second month in Belize, Jill worked in
Mopan Health Clinic, another government run health facility that is
near the border of Guatemala. At the health clinic, she assisted the
nurses in triage, worked in the pharmacy and the front desk. She
also worked in outreach clinics with ProWorld Belize. Members of
the community came into the outreach clinic to get screened for
diabetes and hypertension. Upon getting screened, patients were
given nutrition, fitness, blood pressure and sugar management education. Jill spent the last two weeks of
her field experience volunteering at a youth empowerment camp. Campers would attend a lecture in the
mornings and participate in organized sports tournaments in the afternoon. Lecture topics included
STD/STI education, hygiene, drug and alcohol abuse, disaster preparedness, and healthy eating. Jill and
several other ProWorld Belize volunteers had the opportunity to present a program on nutrition labels
and exercise to the campers.
Jonathan Lin, Summer 2012
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
This picture was taken during Jonathan's time volunteering
at Northern Medical Specialty Plaza. On this day, a baby
named Chloe had just been born and the paediatrician was
checking her Apgar score and vitals.
Jonathan spent eight weeks during the summer of 2012 in
Orange Walk Town, Belize shadowing and assisting nurses
and doctors in three different healthcare settings. During his
first three weeks, Jonathan volunteered at a maternity clinic
where he was able to assist nurses, work at a pharmacy, and
observe strategies. What surprised him most was that
doctors in Belize often practiced outside their
specialties. For example, the Ob/Gyn at the maternity ward
saw male patients often and assisted in hysterectomy surgeries. Next, Jonathan volunteered at a clinical
laboratory for two weeks. Here, he assisted the lab technician with blood, chemistry, urine, stool and
parasitology tests. It was a great opportunity to integrate knowledge from his coursework with the
various biochemical tests.
For the last three weeks, Jonathan shadowed doctors and nurses at Northern Medical Specialty Plaza. He
had the opportunity to rotate between the reception, emergency room, in-patient rooms, and operating
room. Here, he saw the most cases, different kinds of illnesses, and variety of doctors! These
opportunities as well as immersion with a homestay family opened Jonathan's eyes to the different kinds
of culture and healthcare in the world.
CAMBODIA
Stephen Siu, Summer 2012
Stephen Siu spent eight weeks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
working with a local NGO (Khmer Women's Corporation for
Development) that focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and
education as well as human trafficking problems. He
accompanied the HIV/AIDS team out into the local community
to perform outreach and educational programs, which
involved going into beer gardens, massage parlors, karaoke
bars, and other entertainment establishments where many
indirect sex workers are employed, and gaining permission to
hold and lead group discussions and lessons about HIV/AIDS,
STIs, and other issues with willing employees. KWCD also
provided condoms and vouchers for treatment and testing.
Stephen also worked with another volunteer in writing the annual report for 2011 as well as the 20122016 strategic plan, as well as grant applications for PSI and USAID, which involved data compilations,
interviews with participants and target groups, and other local staff. For two and a half weeks, he spent
additional time working with an HIV/AIDS orphanage (SFODA), helping care for the children and
working with the teacher to plan English lessons that were held throughout the day.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
CHINA
Philina Yee, Summer 2012
Philina Yee spent this past summer in Beijing, China as a study abroad
student in Peking University-Northwestern University's Public Health
program. She took three courses: Mandarin, Public Health in China, and
Traditional Chinese Medicine. Philina had taken Intro to Public Health at
Cornell the previous semester. Learning about major public health issues in
a different country supplemented her understanding about global health.
She noticed various common factors like income disparity, political
corruption, and poor allocation of resources that burden the health of many
countries. The lectures were presented by Peking U professors who were
also conducting research in medicine and public health.
COSTA RICA
Alysia Wiener, Summer 2012
Alysia volunteered in San Jose, Costa Rica volunteering in several health
related fields. For the first two weeks she worked with Clinica Mana, a
clinic that serves patients without medical insurance and performs
checkups and treatments at a reduced cost. In the mornings, she
volunteered with one of the nurses and performed routine checkups, i.e.
taking pulse, blood pressure, checking ears, throat, eyes, etc. In the
afternoons, she shadowed the doctors in the clinic meeting with patients.
For another two weeks, she and another volunteer worked on health
education projects. They made materials and posters and presented the
information on HIV/AIDS, nutrition specifically for HIV positive patients,
cuts and scrapes care, and hygiene to the HIV-positive residency
home, Hogar de la Esperanza. They did this for several other sites such as a
childcare facility run in a church in one of the slums, La Carpio, in the
surrounding area of San Jose. They gave parents and children that came in
to the childcare facility on soup kitchen day information on nutrition and hygiene as well as assisted
medical school students that came in and did routine checkups. For the remaining 4 weeks, she
shadowed paramedics at the Trasmedic Ambulance Service. The ambulance services in Costa Rica are
privatized so a person or company pays a certain ambulance service to provide care when needed. Most
of the calls we received were from companies, schools, and wealthier people and the cases varied from a
women with high blood pressure to trauma. The privatized system that they have also limited the
number of cases received each day so while waiting for calls the paramedics taught her how to put in an
IV and give injections. While responding to calls, she was able to assist with hospital transfers and taking
patients' blood pressure, pulse, etc. Lastly, she was able to see a great number of the hospitals in San Jose
through the hospital transfers as well as a tour through the children's hospital, Hospital Nacional de
Ninos. This opportunity to see and really appreciate so many different sectors of Costa Rican healthcare
was unforgettable.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
ECUADOR
Stephen Allegra, Summer 2011
Living and working on the northern coast of Ecuador was definitely a
change of pace compared to Stephen's usual summers in New
Jersey. Stephen shared a small biological reserve station bordering
shrimp farms and an estuary with a few volunteers and some local
workers in the province of Esmeraldas on the northern coast of
Ecuador. His work activities were extremely varied day to day. He
assisted three days a week at the local hospital in a few departments
including triage, outpatient, emergency services, laboratory, and in the
delivery room. Stephen usually shadowed one or two doctors who
were in their last year of residency, which in Ecuador is spent in rural
settings determined by the government, or worked in the lab. He also
witnessed three live births in the delivery room. With the two other
days in his week, Stephen worked alongside the other volunteers and
local farmers to promote environmentally friendly community
practices. They assisted in cocoa harvesting, clearing land with
machetes, planted corn, built fences, herded cattle, milked cows and
constructed trash cans. In addition to these projects, Stephen assisted a Peace Corps volunteer with
implementing three sets of sexual education workshops within the community for teenagers in order to
discuss the social and physical repercussions of being sexually active. Overall, Stephen's experience in
Ecuador was one which he will always fondly remember. Other than just solidifying his passion for
volunteerism, he had a great time exploring different places within Ecuador and eventually Peru, and his
appreciation of Native South American cultures has grown immensely.
Abby Fessler, Summer 2012
This is a picture of Abby and some fellow students with
members of an indigenous Quechua community. It was
taken just after she spent 4 days with the tribe, exploring
the jungle and learning about traditional myths, medicines,
and survival techniques. Abby spent 8 weeks in Ecuador
with Child Family Health International, an organization
that pairs students with local hospitals for a first-hand
account of health and medicine in developing nations. She
stayed with three different host families in Quito, the
capital city, Salinas, a costal town, and Puyo, an Amazonian
outlet. During the two months, Abby had the opportunity
to take Spanish lessons and shadow physicians in urban
and rural, public and private hospitals. She was also able to
participate in vaccine campaigns at local schools and make field visits to various communities that did
not have access to medical facilities. As mentioned above, she spent several days in Puyo with a Quechua
tribe, trekking through the Amazon, swimming in sacred waterfalls, swinging on jungle vines, and
learning about the rituals and medicines of the indigenous peoples. Traveling through Ecuador allowed
her to explore all parts of the country, comparing regional differences in culture, language, traditions,
attitudes, and healthcare. She loved discovering the natural beauty of the landscape and meeting so many
unforgettable people, and cannot wait to go back!
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Walker Grimshaw, Summer 2012
This summer, Walker was granted the opportunity to
travel to Ecuador as a student volunteer to work and
learn in medical clinics, travel into the Amazon with
Indigenous guides to learn about their traditional
medicine practices, and even survey the path of a spring
down a mountainside to where it provided three
communities with drinking water. Traveling all around
the country, he learned how medical practitioners sea
with the lack of resources inherent in a developing
country, and in turn how the lack of resources affected
their patients. Walker also experienced first hand the
lack of water treatment, sadly witnessing how the vast
majority of the country simply deposits its sewage
directly into the closest body of water. It was an incredibly eye-opening summer and he will not soon
forget his experiences abroad. In every experience in Ecuador, Walker learned about the culture,
medicine, and even how to dance salsa. He hopes to continue to work with the underprivileged in the
future, providing them with the resources needed to escape poverty, in a sustainable manner friendly to
the environment.
GHANA
Margo Jacobsen, Summer 2012
report.
Margo volunteered with a small local NGO, Care Net Ghana
(www.carenetghana.org) that worked in the Volta Region
of Ghana. During the first month she was there, she
assisted in conducting fieldwork and data collection for a
maternal and child health project run by the NGO. She
visited rural communities with the project manager and
spoke with TBAs who underwent trainings on proper ANC,
PNC, family planning, and delivery services to observe and
record how work in their communities has been since the
training sessions. Margo also worked closely with the
director of the NGO and project officers to develop new
programs, write proposals for funding, create videos,
organize fundraising venues, and write the NGOs annual
Alexandra Munson, Summer 2011
Allie spent weeks volunteering in the small coastal village
of Atorkor, Ghana, where she worked with a local NGO
called Atorkor Development Foundation (ADF). ADF's
mission is to eradicate poverty in Atorkor and surrounding
areas by enabling development and equipping the
community with basic infrastructure including a medical
center, a well-functioning school, and a vocational training
center. Allie spent much of her time at the community
medical center, where she shadowed and assisted
nurses. Once a week, she traveled with the nurses to well-
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
child clinics in surrounding villages to weigh babies and give routine immunizations and vitamin
supplementations. Along with several other volunteers, she created and presented a community forum
on cholera, sanitation and personal hygiene, and she also assisted in a mosquito net distribution
campaign directed by USAID and Ghana Health Services.
Several times each week, Allie taught junior high nutrition classes and kindergarten sports and games at
the basic school. She organized a community-wide cleanup competition for the students, and every day
after school, she coached a junior high school volleyball team. The students were tremendously
welcoming and friendly. They were eager to learn and excited to teach about their village and their
culture. In this picture, Allie and some players on her team gather at their last practice.
Katherine Rosettie, Summer 2012
In this picture, Katherine is teaching students in Elmina,
Ghana about teenage pregnancy. Her lesson is focused on
the causes and consequences of this public health issues,
which had an extremely high incidence in the area she
worked in.
Katherine spent eight weeks in Elmina, Ghana volunteering
for two local NGOs. Her first five weeks involved working
at the Elmina clinic for an NGO called the Needed Life
Foundation (NLF). Her time with the NLF involved a
myriad of tasks centred on maternal and child health. She
went on biweekly outreaches to weight and immunize
babies, taught schoolchildren about HIV and teen
pregnancy, tested pregnant women for HIV and syphilis and
conducted family planning surveys in the clinic.
Katherine spent the remaining three weeks of her field experience working for the Progressive
Excellence Youth Organization (PEYORG). She spent the majority of her time reagent and conducting
teen pregnancy surveys to learn more about the causes of the increasing incidence of teen pregnancy in
Elmina. Individual surveys were created for students, teachers, young mothers, parents, medical
workers, and sex workers. At the end of her internship, she analyzed the data from the surveys and
submitted a final report. This information will be used by PEYORG to implement intervention strategies
aimed at ameliorating this problem. Additionally, Katherine worked with another volunteer at PEYORG
to plan and host a malaria quiz competition for over 225 students. The goal of this event was to create a
stimulating, exciting learning environment for the students on a very severe public health issue. Lastly,
Katherine raised money to build a bathroom in Kwahinkrom - a local village with no form of sanitation while working at PEYORG. She is continuing to work with the PEYORG staff as they update her on the
progress of this community development project.
Grace Seo, Summer 2012
The attached picture was taken in a small clinic of Ofaakor
where hospitals were not easily accessible to pregnant
women. A mother had come in with her child, shown in the
picture, for a routine checkup and needed immunizations.
Grace visited the clinic with a head nurse from the Kasoa
Health Centre, where she worked alongside nurses in the
Reproductive and Child Health Unit as well as the Maternity
Unit. There, Grace had the opportunity to work with and
learn about Ghana's healthcare system from the nurses, who
quickly became good friends. She quickly familiarized herself
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
with the registration, immunization, family planning, and financial processes of the hospital. Grace also
spent her time shadowing midwives in the maternity ward, where she had the opportunity to observe
prenatal care and births. Lastly, Grace traveled with the Public Health Educators to schools to inform
students about cholera, malaria and sexual education. In addition to working at the hospital, she spent
her afternoons with a fellow volunteer at various primary and secondary schools, teaching students
about malaria's causes, effects, prevention, and more.
HAITI
Heather Larkin, Summer 2012
Heather Larkin did her field experience in Petite Riviere de
Nippes, Haiti. She worked with Gift of Water, a non-profit which
works to provide clean water to rural communities through
point-of-use water purifiers. She was able to work as an
interpreter and international coordinator, collect demographic
information in the field, and design her own pilot health impact
study.
HONDURAS
Josh Sperling, Summer 2012
Josh spent most of summer 2012 completing an externship
in Honduras with the "Guardianes de Salud" program
through an international NGO, Global Brigades. Following
up on two weeks in temporary medical clinics in rural
areas, Josh had the opportunity to work with an amazing
group of community health workers (CHWs) in two rural
communities. Over the course of the summer, he and three
other interns facilitated community discussions, lead
review activities, and taught about diabetes and
cardiovascular issues. They were in turn instructed by the
CHWs in home births, natural remedies, and the realities of rural health provision. The highlight of the
experience was partnering together to teach health education classes in the local schools, followed by
cooking and sharing a meal in the homes of several CHWs. Overall, it was an incredible summer working
within a local health system and an incomparable experience. Contact: Josh Sperling.
INTERNATIONAL HONORS PROGRAM
Clare Boals, Spring 2011
Clare Boals, '12, spent her junior-year spring semester
studying abroad with the International Honors Program
studying Health and Community. Clare traveled to
Switzerland, India, China, and South Africa over the course of
five months accompanied by thirty-four other American
students and two professors. Guest lectures and the traveling
faculty led classes which often involved travel to site visits
such as alternative medicine clinics and research
hospitals. Dr. Suniti Solomon, the woman who discovered HIV
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
in India, led Clare's favourite class. The group looked at health policy and structure through a
comparative lens as well as completed research case studies on topics of personal interest. Clare chose to
focus her research on food and nutrition and had the opportunity in each country to conduct qualitative
research about food choice and health.
In each country, Clare stayed in home stays with one or two other students. These homestays provided a
unique perspective on the culture and way of life of each country. During one of the home stays in a rural
township in South Africa, Clare had the opportunity to stay with Mama Thempsee, a revolutionary leader
for her community during apartheid. Clare and her home stay partners often stayed up listening to Mama
Thempsee's amazing stories. Homestays provided the kind of education you can never find in a
classroom!
Arin Grant, Spring 2012
For her global health fieldwork requirement, Arin Grant did
a one-semester study-abroad program that focused on
public health, called the International Honors Program
(IHP), from January 2012 until May 2012. Through IHP, she
traveled to New Orleans, USA; Chennai, India; Buenos Aires,
Argentina; and Cape Town, South Africa.
During her travels with the 34 American college students
who all together were participating in IHP, they learned
about the social and structural factors that contribute to
people's health, in a comparative format across all four
countries in four continents. It was an amazing
experience. They lived with homestay families in the three non-USA locales, and they had traveling
professors and a program fellow and a host of other in-country coordinators and facilitators to guide
them in their learning and growing processes. Arin's learning was not only stimulated by lectures by our
American professors but in-country guests, site visits to NGOs and personal traveling.
INDIA
Tiffany Rose, Summer 2012
For her field experience this summer, Tiffany Rose went to
Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu India where she was able
to shadow an OB/GYN by the name of Dr. R. Govindammal
in a Maternity Hospital that she operated there called
Booma Nursing Home. Mostly, Tiffany played the role of
an observer and a student. Mainly she was responsible for
shadowing the doctor through patient consultations,
diagnoses and treatments, and requesting and
reviewing individual case histories as well as researching
unfamiliar medical terms and conditions as necessary, in
order to self-facilitate the most enriching learning
experience in the clinical environment. Tiffany witnessed a
host of gynecological and obstetric procedures such as routine pelvic examinations and obstetric
consultations, vaginal deliveries, cesarean deliveries, dilation and curettage, sterilization procedures,
episiotomies and vaginal and abdominal hysterectomies. She was also able to see a circumcision, and an
anal sphincter repair as well.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Seung Hee Shon, Summer 2012
For the first four weeks in India, Seung Hee participated in a
Rural and Public Health Rotation program by visiting
numerous hospitals and clinics that were mostly located in
Lonavala. She spent most of her time working with patients
and shadowing doctors in various medical fields, including
general hospitals (part of the primary health care system),
pediatrics, gynecology, psychology, dermatology, cardiology,
and ENT. In addition to having these clinical experiences
through observations of patients and of different surgical
procedures, she also visited the ART Link Center for HIV/AIDS
and Tuberculosis, a senior citizen’s home, the Shantivan
Leprosy Center, an old age home, charitable hospitals, and
nursing schools. One of the most interesting experiences in rural India was traveling to several different
rural and tribal villages in a mobile medical van. Seung Hee also completed a Clinical Rotation program in
Mumbai by working closely with doctors at both private and government hospitals and nursing homes in
urban areas. She also volunteered at the Society of Education for the Crippled by interacting with
physically and mentally disabled children through art and therapy classes. Overall, Seung Hee was able to
gain a great understanding of healthcare system and various types of global health issues in rural and
urban settings, and enjoyed immersing herself in social and cultural life of India.
Chantel Venkataraman, Summer 2012
Chantel Venkataraman is a junior biology major with minors in global
health and nutrition. During the summer of 2012, Chantel completed her
field experience by interning for Britannia Industries Ltd., India's most
trusted food brand. Britannia is moving toward changing their product
composition and marketing strategies in order to satisfy the recent
increase of health awareness in the country. The company strives to
educate consumers about healthy eating and offers healthy, nutrient
fortified versions of staple Indian snacks.
Chantel conducted research in three cities in south India in order to assess
the level of health knowledge and the current health needs of consumers
from varying socioeconomic and religious backgrounds. She then proposed
product chances based on the information gathered from doctors,
nutritionists, consumers, and retail owners. After determining the
feasibility of the changes with the research and development team, Chantel
presented her findings to the company's brand managers. The research
opened her eyes to the level of nutrient deficiencies in India and to the
effect of culture on health perception.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
KENYA
Julie Mina, Summer 2012
This picture was taken at an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, that
doubled as a rehabilitation program for "street boys". The boys
taught Julie how to snap her fingers in an unconventional way, by
whipping her index finger against her middle finger.
Many children in Nairobi, including the boys in the picture, spend
most of their time begging for food and money in the streets. They
are taught to do this from a very young age, because it is more likely
that a foreigner will give money to a seemingly innocent child than
an adult. This program, titled "RAHA Kids", strives to make a change
in the lives of these children and aims to help build for them a better
future. RAHA Kids stands for Rehabilitating And Helping Abandoned
Kids, and the word "Raha" in Swahili means happiness, joy, comfort,
rest, contentment, and bliss. Julie spent approximately a month of
her two-and-a-half month stay in Africa at RAHA Kids. Here, she taught them hygiene and other basic
subjects like mathematics, science, English, and social studies.
During the rest of her time, Julie volunteered at the Hope Center in Nairobi, which provided for HIV/AIDS
patients. In addition to this, she also shadowed doctors in private clinics in the area and observed
surgeries.
Her field experience has helped her to see the need Kenya, and other African countries, have for better
medical attention and development. She hopes to begin a fundraising program for the RAHA Kids that
she met and all future RAHA Kids. If the program is successful, she would like to expand it to other areas
in Kenya and then other countries in Africa. She is studying to be a doctor, and currently sees her future
career bringing her back to Kenya.
MADAGASCAR
Emma Sheldon, Summer 2011
Emma studied abroad with SIT to learn about traditional medicine and
healthcare systems in Madagascar, one of the ten poorest countries in the
world. This work consisted of meeting and interviewing traditional
healers and birth attendants, hospital executives, Ministry of Health
officials, the director of an American NGO working in Madagascar and
local inhabitants. These interviews provided deep and multifaceted
insight about the health services and care-seeking behaviours that
Malagasy people, healers and doctors undertake, as well as the many
troubling healthcare problems this incredibly poor country faces. Emma
also took two classes at the University of Antananarivo, called Social and
Political Dimensions of Health and Healthcare Practices in Madagascar,
whose class materials were intermingled with and highly related to these
interviews. These lectures were given by a variety of professors and
healthcare professionals, covering topics from the history and political
climate of Madagascar to the uses and conservation of particularly
valuable medical plants that are endemic to the island. One part of Emma's class activities invalid writing
an independent research paper, for which she conducted private interviews with professionals and
inhabitants of a rural village regarding maternal mortality. This program also included time with the
University's graduate Pharmacology Department, whose students became her friends and translators in
different interviews for independent research. She additionally took key Malagasy lessons to help with
her new Malagasy friends and wonderful homestay families.
MALI
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Rye Ri Son, Spring 2012
During the spring semester of her junior year, Rye Ri went
to Mali to study women’s health, gender issues, and
community empowerment with the School for International
Training’s study abroad program. During her stay, she lived
with a host family, which enabled her to have six sisters,
two cousins, and countless aunts and uncles. Everyday, she
went to school and took classes taught by local Malians who
specialized in a particular health or socio-cultural field. As
the program greatly advocated a thorough immersion of its
students, classes were all taught in French—the official
language of the country. Rye Ri was able to shadow a
midwife in a rural clinic for 24 hours and therefore able to witness two live births. She also visited and
talked with local doctors, traditional healers, the Peace Corps, midwives, and women’s empowerment
organizations.
Unfortunately, her time abroad had to be cut short due to political unrest within the country. However,
this experience shaped her understanding of how an individual’s health is the product of many
underlying factors that are not only of nutritional origin, but also of social, cultural, political, and
economic origins. Mali also helped to solidify her passion to work globally in the maternal health field.
MEXICO
Jacqueline Riviera, Summer 2012
This photo was taken during the first workshop of the
Strengthening, Training, and Continuation of Midwives and
Community Health Promoters Program. The majority, if not
all, of the program participants are from local indigenous
communities. Here one of the youngest program
participants practices taking blood pressure.
Jacqueline (Jacky) spent ten weeks during the summer of
2012 in Chiapas, Mexico through Cornell's International
Agriculture & Rural Development (IARD) course, IARD
6010: Experience Latin America II: Chiapas Edition. The
course involved a two-week living experience in Chiapas-tierra rica pueblo pobre (a land rich in natural resources
and yet it's people live in poverty)--during which Jacky and her classmates visited several communities
and organizations; learning and engaging with the various indigenous/non-indigenous peoples, cultures,
environments, ecologies, and development and social issues of the state. Afterwards, students were given
the opportunity to stay for an extra 8 weeks to intern with a local NGO or college on projects related to
their field of interest. Jacky interned at Fundacion Leon XIII, IAP--one of the first NGOs to arise in
response to the Zapatista Revolution in 1994. At the Fundacion, Jacky worked with the health team on
reintegrating an "Area of Nutrition" within the organization's clinic by writing up a work plan proposal
for the program. Her other responsibilities included assisting in the preparation and execution of
monthly workshops for midwives and community health promoters, and organizing the clinic's pharmacy
as well as creating a more organized system for filing patient clinical histories.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
MONGOLIA
Audrey Kingman, Summer 2012
This picture is of Audrey carrying one of the many newborns that she
observed being delivered. During her 8 weeks in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia,
Audrey shadowed numerous surgeons in three different hospitals - the
Shastin Hospital, Mother and Child Research Center, and the Railway
Hospital. She observed a myriad of surgeries, including, but not limited
to, cataract surgery, brain aneurysm clipping, spinal meningimoa
excision, multiple ovarian tumour and myoma excisions, caesarean
sections and even a finger amputation. While she wasn't busy in the
operating rooms, she would fold surgical bandages and gauze. She also
helped prepare intravenous injections and give muscular injections to
patients in surgical recovery. While working in the Mother and Child
Research Center, Audrey learnt how to give cervical exams and assisted in
multiple simple procedures like abortions. Along with other medical
volunteers, she visited numerous museums, including the Museum of
Traditional Mongolian Medicine and gave basic medical on patients at
Dolma Ling Community Center for the poor and homeless. As part of an effort to reduce infection
transmission within the surgical wards, Audrey and a group of medical volunteers initiated a handsanitizing campaign in the Central Hospital to teach the staff and patients about how germs are spread
around a hospital and to emphasize the importance of hand washing. They were able to receive
sponsorship from friends and family to purchase a large supply of hand sanitizers that were passed out
during the presentation. On several weekends, Audrey took full advantage of being in the nomadic
country of Mongolia and had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the countryside with her new friends
to ride horses and camels, sleep in gers (traditional nomadic tents) and appreciate the beautiful
landscape of the Mongolian steppes and desert while eating traditional Mongolian barbecue.
NEPAL
Sarah Shearer, Spring 2011
invaluable lessons.
During her study abroad in Nepal, Sarah spent a month in the rural
district of Pyuthan to study maternal health in the area. Considering
Nepal's recent progress toward reaching the Millennium Development
Goal of improving maternal health, her goals were to understand the
maternal health trends in Pyuthan and see how these trends relate to the
national trends. Sarah also wanted to develop some lessons that policymakers could take away from the situation in Pyuthan. She and her
translator stayed with a host family and traveled to the few health posts
and one district hospital in Pyuthan to conduct interviews. They also
interviewed people in the village they lived in. By the end of their stay,
Sarah and her translator had interviewed 26 women, 7 husbands or inlaws, 9 health staff or volunteers, and 1 midwife. Sarah heard many
stories from incredibly strong women and learned so much about the
issues involved with improving maternal health. Her whole study abroad
experience was amazing, but the research part definitely taught her
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
NICARAGUA
Hillary Paulsen, Summer 2012
Hillary Paulsen spent two months in Nicaragua as a
research assistant for a prevalence study on Chronic
Kidney Disease (CKD) in southern Nicaragua. Data
collection consisted of traveling to a randomly
picked community in Rivas, visiting homes and asking as
many adults as possible to participate. Specifically,
individuals completed a 20 minute questionnaire about
health history, drinking habits, and labor history, as well
as blood and urine tests that she and other samplers
would complete in the field.
A couple weeks into the study, it became apparent that the population we were studying was particularly
useful for a cohort study, so Hillary took on the task of ensuring that they could revisit these homes in the
future. This was surprisingly difficult since a typical Nicaraguan address is "100 meters up from the
church." She became an untraditional cartographer, starting with hand drawn maps from other team
members, and using GPS coordinates, Google Earth screenshots, and photos to create labeled maps and
visual references of participating homes. Hillary hopes that her work helps to motivate and make it easier
for future groups to come down to Nicaragua and continue research on CKD.
PERU
Meredith Burcyk, Summer 2011
Meredith spent 8-weeks interning with the Special Olympics
Healthy Athletes program in Lima, Peru this summer. During
her stay, Meredith had the opportunity to volunteer at 3
different Health Athletes health-screening events, one in
Mexico and two in Peru. At each event, she organized the
volunteers and measured the weight and height of all of the
athletes. In addition to attending screening events, Meredith
created culturally appropriate presentations in Spanish to
illustrate the needs of people with intellectual disabilities and
the lack of adequate health care that they receive. The overall
message of each presentation was to inform others that people
with intellectual disabilities deserve to be treated with the
same dignity and respect as everyone else. Meredith also traveled to Panama City, Panama to the Special
Olympics Latin America headquarters where she learned all about the administrative side of the
program, fundraising and resource allocation.
The largest undertaking Meredith had while in Peru was initiating a research project to investigate the
health status and habits of people with intellectual disabilities in Latin America. Meredith created a
collaboration between Special Olympics and a local medical university in Peru to begin the project. She
wrote-up the research proposal, in Spanish, received ethical approval to begin working with the data, and
wrote all of the research questions to be investigated. The project is currently underway in
Peru. Meredith's experiences in interning with the Special Olympics have solidified her aspirations of
working to improve the health of underserved populations around the world.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Liz Humphrey, Summer 2012
In the summer of 2012, Liz Humphrey traveled for 8 weeks
in Trujillo, Peru on a two-part mission. During the first 6
weeks of her experience, Liz partnered with Nourish
International and MOCHE Inc., along with other students
from Cornell, Yale and University of South Florida to
continue the construction of a health clinic. When
completed, the clinic will serve a developing community by
the sugarcane fields have more accessible and affordable
basic health care services. The team was able to put
finishing touches on two examination rooms, dig more
foundation, and start building a triage room and
hallway. As side projects to help the community, the
Nourish team also painted a colourful mural in a central area of the community and help with reading
comprehension and English lessons at the nearby school. During her last 2 weeks, Liz volunteered in the
triage room of a clinic run by Peru Mission in the outskirts of Trujillo. She was able to assist the clinic
staff as they provided low cost access to a doctor, obstetrician, and dentist, but also by starting patient
health records, taking blood pressure, and measuring the weight and height of patients, she was able to
get a glimpse into the health needs of Peruvians.
Cara Janeczko, Summer 2012
Cara completed an internship with Special Olympics Latin
America in Miraflores-Lima, Peru. During her two-month
stay, Cara learned and accomplished a great deal. She
communicated with Special Olympics headquarters in
Washington D.C. to obtain Special Olympics Healthy
Athletes data for the Latin America region. Through
Microsoft Excel pivot tables, Cara organized a culmination
of five years of data (2007-2011) for the nineteen involved
countries/territories in Special Olympics Latin America.
Through analysis and interpretation of the information, she
created a scientific report for Special Olympics Latin
America. Cara gained considerable knowledge and insight
about the health care needs of Latin America's citizens with
intellectual disabilities and the challenges these individuals and their families face when trying to access
health care services. She was even able to attend surgeries in the Clínica Anglo Americana. In addition,
Cara created a presentation to initiate a Special Olympics Partner's Club in a private school in Lima,
Colegio Santa María Marianistas. Cara also improved her Spanish comprehension and speaking skills. She
helped to translate numerous Special Olympics documents from Spanish to English and English to
Spanish. In the process, she was able to enhance her host family's English speaking and comprehension
skills as well.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Clara Lyle, Summer 2011
This summer, Clara Lyle worked in PERU! She initially
worked in a clinic in Maras. Volunteers arrived everyday at
8:30am and sat with the doctors, usually either observing
check-ups for pregnant women or children. At times, Clara
would help in taking blood pressure or measuring the
mother's baby bump. At the end of the morning, she would
help the nurse to fill out paperwork. Other days, Clara
worked with the general physician seeing babies and adult
patients with diarrhea, cough, fever, and other general
medical concerns. She would listen to the heart, breathing,
and stomach as the doctor directed. Clara quickly began her
own project. Clara began spending two days a week working
on the water filters project. At first, she was mixing the clay and pressing filters, but soon started writing
and organizing a "filters play" about the dangers of unfiltered water. Clara also organized and put on this
play that was videotaped for future use. In addition to everything, she managed to create a sexual health
education PowerPoint highlighting pregnancy prevention, healthy relationships, and sexually transmitted
diseases to show to high school students aged 16-18. She gave one presentation herself and the
presentation is now being used by other volunteers.
Lucy Mehrabyan, Summer 2012
The photo was taken at the Caregiving center for
malnourished children in Cusco, Peru. Here volunteers,
caregivers, parents, and the children are all playing a game
together to engage in active interaction and foster healthy
relationships between each other. It was great to see the
children playing and laughing, having the time of their lives
from a simple game!
Lucy spent 8 weeks in the summer of 2012 volunteering at
the Madre Teresa de Calcutta Caregiving Center for
Malnourished Children in Cusco, Peru. The Center hosted
many volunteers from all over the world who came to make a
difference in these children's lives. Among the various tasks,
Lucy aided in preparing nutritionally rich meals for the children as well as developed recreational and
educational activities for the children. Lucy also helped in recording the progress of the children's
nutritional and health status. Through the constant care, affection, and the meals provided for the
children, through the duration of those 8 weeks she was able to see a lot of progress in the children's
health status- from having color in their cheeks to becoming more interactive with others and engaging in
fun games. Throughout Lucy's field experience in Cusco, she was able to learn about the many social and
economic reasons as to why certain health problems are so prevalent in specific communities. In Cusco,
there was a high number of malnourished children due to the poverty of the people: parents were forced
to leave town for work or work long hours of the day and had to neglect providing care for their children
in order to make earnings. The most unforgettable experience, however, was the love and support shown
by the caregivers for the children, whose parents did not have the opportunity to show, which aided in
the children's healthy upbringing and progress in health.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
Ria Yalamanchili, Summer 2012
During the Summer of 2012, Ria Yalamanchili volunteered
at a local, government-funded clinic in Cusco, Peru called
"Bellenpampa". Her first four weeks were spent in "Topico,"
an equivalent to an Emergency Ward. All the patients were
'walk-ins' and came for suturing, wound cleaning or shots.
Many children would also be brought in with fevers. Ria
usually assisted the head nurse with these procedures and,
also monitored the children with fevers. However, one time
towards the end of her rotation in Topico, she was allowed
to do a wound cleaning on her own! When there were no
patients, Ria helped with various supply tasks like cutting
and making gauze and cotton balls. In the following four
weeks, she assisted in the "Obstetricia," the Obstetrics department. She was able to view six births during
her time there and learn some of the differences in birthing between the U.S. and Peru. On many
occasions, Ria would help clean and dress the baby after delivery. After the birth, she would usually
monitor the mother and baby's temperature and mother's blood pressure, periodically. After delivery,
the mothers would have to stay in the clinic for about 24 hours. Usually, every morning the doctor would
do rounds on the women and babies, and she would shadow him. It was an unforgettable experience that
taught her how important Maternal and Child Nutrition is and now, Ria truly hopes to someday have a
career in this field.
PHILIPPINES
Veronique Vicera, Summer 2011
During the first 4 weeks of her stay in the Philippines,
Veronique worked with the Immunization and Prenatal
Program and the TB DOTS/Rabies Control Program under
Cadiz City's Health Clinic. Here, she primarily assisted in the
daily referral flow of incoming patients. She also helped
conduct a citywide Feeding Program aimed at promoting
nutritional sustenance to the city's malnourished child
population through distribution of free dinner meals, twice a
week, to severely underweight children. While in Cadiz, she
additionally worked with students at the Philippine Normal
University, as they developed research project interventions
addressing various health and social conditions afflicting the
community. The second 2 weeks of Veronique's fieldwork involved assuming the role of caretaker to
some 22 children residing with an orphanage in Bacolod City. As part of her duty, she accompanied the
younger children to school, where she helped teach English lessons. A typical day routine at the
orphanage consisted of waking up at 5:30AM, preparing the children's breakfasts and packing their
lunches, feeding the babies, bathing the kids, and getting them dressed for school, going to school and
helping out with the lesson plans, assisting the children with their homework, preparing dinner, feeding
the babies, getting everyone ready for bed by 8:00PM, and then helping the older teens with their
homework assignments until about 9:00PM. The last 2 weeks of Veronique's fieldwork experience was
spent in a town called Cavite, where she worked alongside midwives in the child birthing clinic at the
Maragondon Rural Health Unit. Her role included cleaning up the just-born infant and checking vital
signs as soon as they baby was born. It was also with this infant clinic that she travelled with the unit's
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
head doctor and several other midwives to a far-flung island accessible only by way of boat to administer
medical attention to the population residing there. Though the team daringly traveled in typhoon rains
to get to the island, the timeliness of this monthly endeavour was of utmost importance since the children
on this island required exact time follow-ups to their immunization sequence. After working on the field,
Veronique spent her last couple of days in the Philippines observing the decentralized healthcare policy
making process at the regional level as well as the national level within the Department of Health
Headquarters in Manilla. This was of special interest to her, since it allowed her to incorporate and apply
everything she'd seen on the field as well as what she's learned in the classroom setting to real-life
policies and programs.
SENEGAL
Victoria Starzyk, Summer 2012
Victoria spent eight weeks over the summer working with
talibéchildren, volunteering at the Red Cross (La Croix Rouge
Sénégalaise) and interning in a local hospital in St. Louis known as
District Sanitaire or in Wolof as Hopital Ousmane Ngom through a
medical placement by Projects Abroad. Her work with the
talibéchildren involved delivering basic medical care to the
children, teaching about hygiene and health to the children in
French, and bringing aid to the children both in the center (Centre
pour Jeunes en Difficultés) and in the daraas where the children
live. She most commonly treated external punctures, cuts, wounds,
and infections like scabies. She also treated many ear infections,
worked to ameliorate the pain of boys with inoperable cancer,
administered antiparasitic drugs, and treated burn victims over an
extended period of time. Skin conditions were the most common
reason for which children came to receive care. After talking with many of the children, and visiting the
locations where they live, it became clear that their open wounds most often resulted from beatings they
had taken from the marabout, and the consequent exposure of their open wounds to the squalor in which
they live. Often she would also teach the children about hygiene in French (with translations in Wolof as
well), giving talks about topics like diarrhea, dehydration, and preventing infection.
In the time she spent at the hospital and at the Red Cross, she started out by mostly observing, and as
time went on was allowed to do simple procedures, and interact more with patients. At the hospital she
spent time in maternity and pediatrics, and with the Red Cross she was working under the umbrella of
general and emergency medicine. Throughout her time in these locations, she was allowed to take blood
pressures, temperatures, heart rates, evaluate breathing, and listen to the baby's heartbeat in expectant
mothers. At the end of her internship at the Red Cross, she was able to give stitches to trauma victims and
treat simple external wounds. In these settings, the prevalence of malaria became most apparent to her
within only a few days of working there. By the end of her time working in theses settings, she was easily
able to recognize the symptoms of malaria in a patient, and helped to diagnose this most often in children
and mothers.
She is grateful for the opportunity she was given to pursue a global health field experience, and she will
never forget the talibéchildren with whom she worked.
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
SOUTH AFRICA
Jessica Horst, Summer 2012
This is a picture of Jessica with 8 of the children she
worked with, along with one of the full time caregivers and
a fellow volunteer.
Jessica spent 8 weeks over the summer volunteering at
Baphumelele Children's home in Khayelitsha, a township in
Cape Town, South Africa. Baphumelele is home to over 100
local children (from newborns to 18 years old) who are
orphaned, abused, or neglected. Many of the children are
either affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS or have other
health issues that are commonly associated with global
health disparities. Jessica spent most of her time focusing
on the development of the youngest children, a group of 14
kids ranging in age from 6 months to 3 years old. She
learned about the social circumstances surrounding many global health issues and the disparities that are
rampant in this area of South Africa.
TANZANIA
Abigail Augarten, Summer 2012
During the summer of 2012, Abigail Augarten traveled
to Arusha, Tanzania with Global Service Corps (GSC).
GSC is working in Tanzania to implement community
development projects, as well as foster relationships
between U.S. student volunteers and the local NGO
staff. GSC created an integrated approach to
development, combining elements of health and
agriculture in its education seminars. Working in
schools in Arusha center and rural Maasai
communities in the surrounding Arusha area, the
volunteers and Tanzanian counterparts would teach
week-long education seminars. The health curriculum
focused on HIV/AIDS and nutrition. The agriculture curriculum was based on a form of biointensive sustainable agriculture to create an organic approach to, primarily, vegetable
gardening. In addition, volunteers work with members of the rural communities to develop and
construct new technologies for improved water harvesting mechanisms and grain storage bins.
The picture is of Abigail and some of her students from GSC’s Day Camp. In addition to the weeklong seminars, GSC’s program also includes a 2 week-long day camp for 13-15 year olds. The
camp focuses on health (including the topics of HIV, puberty and sex education, nutrition and
overall health) as well as life skills to teach students important communication and decision
making skills. The camp gave volunteers time to play, sing, dance, and talk about life with the
students, creating a strong trustworthy bond and friendship. GSC housed volunteers with
homestay families in Arusha, providing an amazing cultural experience. During the weeks spent
teaching in Maasai rural communities, the trainers camped and were hosted by the community.
The weekends provided times to explore Tanzania: going on a safari, visiting Zanzibar, and
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
spending time with their families to gain the real Tanzanian experience!
Jingpeng He, Summer 2011
Jingpeng spent eight weeks volunteering with Support for
International Change (SIC), a non-governmental
organization committed to reducing the impact of
HIV/AIDS in rural Tanzania through education, testing, and
support for HIV-positive patients. With a team of American,
British and Tanzanian university students, Jingpeng taught
modes of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention in two
primary schools and a secondary school in the small and
beautiful village of Shishtoni, just over an hour drive from
the town of Arusha. She also taught other community
members in churches, soccer games, special interest
groups, Mama's groups, and village leader meetings. At the
end of the program, Jingpeng and her team hosted a HIV Testing Day in her village, which offered free onsite HIV testing and counselling. Through SIC's Community Health Worker, Jingpeng was able to visit
several HIV-positive patients in her village. The most memorable case was being able to visit a sixtyyear-old woman who was paralyzed waist-down by AIDS but unable to obtain the funds needed to
receive treatment at the hospital. Jingpeng's team raised money to send the patient to the
hospital. However, the woman passed away a week later in the hospital. Stories like these reinforced the
importance of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and led to a deeper understanding of the devastating
effects of the disease.
When she wasn't teaching, Jingpeng enjoyed spending time with her Tanzanian host family. These
experiences fully immersed her in Tanzanian culture, which she grew to love along with its people.
Kwinoja Kapiteni, Summer 2012
Kwinoja Kapiteni spent 9 weeks of her summer interning
with Management and Development for Health (MDH), a
local health NGO in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She specifically
worked on a project, which aims to increase the prevention
of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT), by
introducing a new drug combination regime for pregnant
women living with HIV and for exposed infants. Kwinoja
spent most of her time at the PMTCT section of Maternal
and Child Health Clinic (MCH). Under the supervision of
health care providers, she assisted in tasks such as
measuring blood pressure, height, weight and fundal height,
opening new clinic cards for women and filling in their basic
information, estimating expected dates of delivery, dispensing medication and assigning each woman a
free insecticide treated net. She also helped in the lab with drawing blood for CD4 count, creatinine, ALT
and HB tests for mothers and PCR for infants, and administering vaccinations to both mothers and
children. Kwinoja spent some quality time with the doctor where she assisted with diagnosis of WHO
clinical stages to determine eligibility of ART and dispensing drugs according to the new protocol of the
project. The whole Internship process was a great learning experience for her. Besides learning about the
clinical procedures, Kwinoja was reminded of the dedication necessary for working in a hospital
environment.
The challenges and frustrations that come with attending to that many patients in one day required lots
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
of patience, great love for the people and passion for the job. She learned how to improvise and offer a
satisfactory service in situations where there were not enough tools. She had to learn the procedures
very fast in situations where there were not enough health care providers. But during all this time,
Kwinoja had great teachers; the doctors and nurses she worked with served as great mentors who taught
her all she needed to know and thus made her experience worth it.
Hayley Lidhal, Summer 2012
Hayley Lindhal is a junior Policy Analysis and Management major,
with a minor in Global Health. This past summer, she completed
her field experience by volunteering for an NGO outside of Arusha,
Tanzania called Support for International Change (SIC). SIC's
mission is to "limit the impact of HIV/AIDS in underserved
communities and to train future leaders in global health and
development." With a group of Tanzanian teaching partners and
other international volunteers, Hayley was responsible for leading
an awareness campaign that targeted a rural ward about an hour
outside of Arusha, known as Bwawani. They led teachings among
community members and within two primary schools focused on
evidence-based, practical information about HIV and behavior
change. In addition to daily teachings, her group of six volunteers
led and organized two separate testing days in our assigned
villages (Majengo and Lucy), and their trained counselors were
able to provide high-quality testing and counseling to around 150
local people. In addition to her time spent in this rural village with
her warm and loving host-family, and unbelievably welcoming
community members, Hayley was able to spend a week seeing
other parts of beautiful Tanzania. She went on a three-day safari covering parts of Serengeti National
Park and the Ngorogoro Crater, followed by a short stay on the island of Zanzibar off the coast of
Tanzania. Her time spent volunteering for Support for International Change this summer was the best
and most meaningful experience she has ever been apart of. She encourages anyone who is thinking
about traveling to a developing country for any type of volunteer work, to reach outside of your comfort
zone and go for it. It is a truly invaluable experience and she is already anxiously awaiting the day when
she can make it back to Tanzania, and hopefully visit the village and family who took her in for 8 weeks!
Yvonne Robles, Summer 2011
This is a photo of Yvonne teaching Biology alongside
Tanzanian teaching aides to a class of Form 1 students in a
secondary school outside Arusha, Tanzania. Yvonne
volunteered for eight weeks with a non-government
organization that focused on community empowerment and
HIV/AIDS prevention through education. The NGO
partnered with local secondary schools and community
leaders to provide educators to teach various school
subjects such as English, History, Math, and Biology, while
incorporating an HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum. In the
community, she helped organize workshops on subjects
such as child nutrition and communicable disease
prevention for local mothers to attend, or went tot heir homes and helped with chores such as changing
babies and cooking as she taught alongside the women who wanted to learn but didn't have time to get to
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
the workshops. She also helped operate a mobile HIV testing clinic that served more that 200 men and
women of all ages during an outdoors "field day" that the NGO sponsored that also included games,
workshops, and an invitational football match to attract families and community members of all
ages. Yvonne also got to work with the doctor at a local clinic to teach a workshop about maternal health
and family planning to mothers seeking this information. In addition, she worked on school
beautification and projects at the secondary school where she taught, planting over 150 fruit trees and
building a fence. Other projects in the community she lived in that were sponsored by the NGP were
laying pipeline for the secondary school to have running water and renovations to the local health clinic.
Morit Segui, Summer 2012
Morit Segui is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in
Biology and Society. Additionally, about a year ago she decided to
take on a minor in global health. The minor classes and field
experience have exposed her to valuable knowledge and awareness
about the world and scope of disease. This summer, Morit was able to
spend 8 weeks working as a volunteer with Support for International
Change (SIC) on their HIV awareness campaign throughout Tanzania.
She worked in the rural village of Bwawani situated about 2 hours
from the town of Arusha. Her job consisted of working in a group to
conduct community assessments and setting up teaching schedules to
meet the needs of the community. After 5 weeks of teaching schools,
mamas, babas and young adults, Morit’s group was able to put
together two different HIV testing days. These yielded about 60% of
the village to be aware of their status and receive counseling on it.
Working with SIC was a valuable experience for her personal growth
as well as academic and career development. Throughout the 8 weeks
spent in Bwawani, Morit was able to develop skills in working in a
group, adapting to a new environment and teaching different
audiences. Most importantly, she was able put much of her classroom training into practice. Learning
about HIV/AIDS in minute detail during orientation (by one leading virologist in the U.S.) also led her to
develop a great interest for virology which she cannot wait to explore further in class.
Laura Stokes, Summer 2011
Laura spent two months implementing an HIV/AIDS
campaign in Tanzania through an NGO called Support for
International Change (SIC, www.sichange.org). SIC's mission
is to limit the impact of HIV/AIDS in underserved
communities and to train future leaders in global health and
development. Upon her arrival, Laura was introduced to
Tanzanian culture, taught Swahili, and allowed time to get to
bond with the twenty other American and British volunteers
and the fourteen Tanzanian college students that she would
be working with for the rest of the summer. Laura and her
peers underwent an intensive orientation during which they
learned the details of HIV/AIDS biology, transmission and
prevention, as well as how to teach life skills and behavior change. They also practiced planning and
teaching lessons, discussing the logistics of implementing an awareness campaign, and working with the
Tanzanian college students, or "teaching partners," who translated the lessons from English to Swahili.
After orientation, Laura relocated to a small rural village called Maruvango (population 4,000) about an
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
hour outside of Arusha, TZ with three other volunteers and two teaching partners. She lived in a
homestay with a wonderful family who she grew close to and very much enjoyed spending time
with. Her group started working immediately after arriving in the village. They met with village leaders
and teachers to create a teaching schedule. The group taught daily to students, soccer players, store
owners, groups of mothers, church congregations, and village councils. By the end of the campaign, Laura
and her peers had taught over one thousand villagers (400 primary school students, 350 secondary
school students, and 300 community members) and witnessed substantial improvements (at least a 50%
increase for all age groups) in their primary and secondary school students' knowledge of HIV as
measured by objective assessments. Additionally, several hundred villagers attended the community and
secondary school testing days, which provided free HIV testing and counseling. Laura looks back on her
experience with a smile and is extremely happy that she chose to do her field experience in such a
beautiful country full of wonderful people!
THAILAND
Narinta Limtrakul, Summer 2012
During the summer of 2012, Narinta spent eight weeks in
Thailand with the Mahidol Vivax Research Center (MVRC)
learning and assisting with research projects on malaria
under the guidance of Dr. Jetsumon Prachumsri and her
team. Narinta traveled to several northern villages in Tak
Province and Kanchanaburi Province with MVRC
researchers. In the villages, Narinta worked in malaria clinics,
helping health workers diagnose patients for malaria,
learning about microscopy as the standard of diagnosis,
observing the drugs given according to the type of malaria,
and seeing how medical ethics came into play as she assisted
the MVRC team collect patients' blood for research studies.
Moreover, Narinta was able to participate in active case surveillance and walk around villages collecting
blood samples and demographic data with the MVRC team. While not in the field, Narinta spent time in
the MVRC field laboratory in Kanchanaburi and main laboratory in Bangkok, where she was able to
experience the research side of malaria. Narinta learned about breeding mosquitoes in the lab, diagnostic
methods, and molecular techniques in regard to malaria. The understanding of these laboratory practices
has given Narinta insight as to how potential vectors are identified, how a more efficient diagnostic test
could be produced, and how a vaccine for malaria could potentially be developed. In her free time,
Narinta enjoyed improving her Thai language skills, eating Thai dishes, and walking through the many
markets in Thailand. She thoroughly loved the whole experience.
UGANDA
Danielle Vitalo, Summer 2011
Danielle traveled to a village outside of Jinja, Uganda in the
summer of 2011. She volunteered with an NGO called AOET
(AIDS Orphan Education Trust) that ran a medical clinic, school,
and orphanage. While working in the medical clinic, she was
able to test patients for HIV, malaria, TB, and other diseases, as
well as observe doctors and nurses, and work in the
pharmacy. The clinic also held multiple outreach events in
which the staff traveled to remote villages and brought the
healthcare to the patients. Danielle attended many outreach
events, which provided an exciting mix of traditional culture and
Student Field Experiences 2011-2012
modern medicine. Danielle's favourite part of the experience was spending time with the children in the
orphanage and conversing with patients in the waiting area. She was lucky to be able to attend a
Ugandan wedding, graduation ceremony, and other traditional celebrations, which got her fully
immersed in the amazing culture.