Student Field Experiences
Bangladesh
Stephanie Leonard, Bangladesh, Summer 2008  Stephanie is riding in a small fishing boat on the Buriganga River in Old Dhaka. This was taken during monsoon season and she had just gotten soaked by a burst of rain. She is wearing a shalwar kameez—a typical dress of women living in Bangladesh.
Stephanie spent eight weeks of her summer in Bangladesh. She worked on a research project at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) under the supervision of Dr. Kuntal Saha. She used data from a large cohort study of pregnant Bangladeshi women to develop an index of maternal enabling factors that could potentially be used as a method to measure care and predict child health and development. She lived in an apartment in Dhaka, the capital city. She enjoyed spending her free time eating lots of mangoes, perusing markets, traveling to different parts of Dhaka and Bangladesh, practicing her Bengali with rickshaw drivers, and meeting many wonderful people and lifelong friends.
Brazil
Annie Kearns, Brazil, Spring and Summer 2008  This picture was taken during Annie's time volunteering at GACC, a Ronald McDonald-type house specifically for children with cancer. On this particular day the kids were learning about indigenous Brazilian cultures, and having a great time doing it!
Annie spent six months in 2008 in the state of Bahia, in Northeast Brazil. Her spring semester was spent with SIT's public health program, mostly in Salvador (Bahia's capital). Through SIT she took part in guest lectures from Brazilian public health experts, helped put on health programs in rural communities, and learned Portuguese. She also spent a month volunteering at an HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment clinic in the northern part of the state, where she helped follow up on patients (and their children) that had slipped through the cracks over time. Back in Salvador for the summer, Annie interned at a public maternity hospital, serving the poorest mothers from in and around the city. She conducted a study to determine why mothers of premature babies, who are hospitalized as long as their baby is, stop breastfeeding sooner than their counterparts with full-term infants. Her results showed that staff at the hospital need to talk to the mothers and families more consistently about breastfeeding, something that will be prioritized there in the future.
Cameroon
Kate McDermott, Cameroon, Summer 2009  In this photo, Kate is employing a Cameroonian teaching method to take a break from some pretty heavy topics and get the students re-focused. She wishes Cornell professors would give it a shot. The whole class stands and is taught a song with accompanying hand motions. Here, Kate and her student Derek spell the word “coconut” out with their bodies.
Kate spent eight weeks in Buea, Cameroon developing and teaching HIV/AIDS sensitization classes and workshops. She traveled to Cameroon through AIESEC, a student-run organization that works in over 107 countries. The AIESECers in Buea matched Kate with the Elyon Rock Foundation, a Cameroonian NGO. Kate and other international AIESEC trainees working for Elyon Rock developing an age-appropriate curriculum for HIV/AIDS sensitization in secondary and high school holiday classes. The leaders in creating these lessons were Cameroonian AIESECers who have developed a sustainable program called ASK (Answers Solutions Knowledge). The program mobilizes international trainees in teaching about health and HIV/AIDS, while exposing them to the global health issues important in Africa. This truly immersive experience opened Kate’s eyes to the fundamental complexities of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: misinformation in some schools and complete lack of information in many more, and cultural norms that complicate health messages. Working with peers from Japan, Germany, Cameroon, and China helped Kate develop as a teacher, especially because each individual’s teaching method and approach to the subject matter were unique.
China
Anna Kress, China, Summer 2009  This is a picture of Anna and two friends taken just before the start of the Great Wall Marathon—a 26.2-mile run encompassing 5164 steps of China’s Great Wall. Anna was running for team Prevention Through Education (PTE); a small non-profit NGO in Beijing, China that works to promote HIV/AIDS education among Chinese children predominantly from migrant worker families. PTE trains university students to teach in migrant schools about HIV/AIDS discrimination, transmission, testing, treatment, etc.
In the spring semester of 2009, Anna volunteered at PTE and helped to raise money and coordinate volunteers for China’s only anonymous online HIV information discussion forum. During the Great Wall Marathon, Anna’s team raised almost $24,000, which will be used to train roughly 2,400 volunteers to teach in migrant schools, allowing PTE to reach over 700,000 Chinese students.
Ginger Golub, Switz, India, China, and S. Africa, Spring 2008  The bazaar in Bangalore, India was loud and crowded, but the owner of a store welcomed Ginger with a blessing and prayer flowers. Such generosity and greetings made the market a less overwhelming and more enjoyable experience.
Ginger spent her semester enrolled in the International Honors Program- Health and Community, a study abroad program that focuses on comparative public health and travels to Switzerland, India, China, and South Africa. In each of these countries, the program organizes homestays in order for students to fully immerse themselves into another culture and way of life. Ginger discovered how close one could get with a family through the use of gestures only, as was the case in her Chinese family. Each of the families welcomed her into their daily lives: taking her to Hindu temple for prayer, to Beijing parks for traditional dancing, and to South African braais (BBQs).
Academics involved guest lectures, site visits to clinics and alternative medicine facilities, and independent case studies in which the students could explore a topic of their choice. Ginger decided to research HIV and prevention education interventions in each of the countries by conducting interviews and focus groups with support groups, doctors, and NGO directors. Ginger extended her stay after the program ended in South Africa, where she worked with an NGO and assessed the conditions of refugee camps established in response to recent xenophobic attacks by holding focus groups and informing displaced people about their rights.
Costa Rica
Ellen Smith, Costa Rica, Summer 2008  This picture, taken at the Hogar de Esperanza (HIV home), shows Ellen (standing far left in blue shirt), other volunteers, some of the residents of the home, and the home’s nurse. Pictured on the ground in front is a volcano that they made and erupted as an activity with
the residents.
Ellen Smith, ’10 spent her summer volunteering with an organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions, in Cartago, Costa Rica. Cross-Cultural Solutions is an organization that offers volunteer and internship experiences all over the world. The organization has a home base in each locale where the volunteers stay and assigns them to volunteer placements within the community. Ellen’s placements in Cartago were in a nursing home and a home for people with HIV/AIDS. She also helped to organize and lead a camp at an orphanage for a week. At the nursing home her activities included helping with the laundry, cleaning the dining room, occasionally assisting with physical therapy, helping feed some of the residents, and doing arts and crafts and socializing with the residents. Some of the social activities included painting nails, making bracelets, and making yarn dolls. At the HIV home Ellen helped with chores around the building, meal preparation, English lessons, and creating activities for the residents. Some of these activities included coloring, origami, and bracelet making. The most fun project was making a volcano and erupting it.
Dominican Republic
Joan Tymon, Dominican Republic, Summer 2009  This is one of Joan’s favorite pictures because it shows her in action
with her gear and notes in the rainforest. In the picture, Joan is on
one of the daily field trips during which she learned about the various
plant species and their indigenous ethnobotanical usages in the
Dominican Republic.
The objective of the fieldwork Joan performed was to collect various
Caribbean plants based upon their traditional ethnobotanical usage and
bring them to the lab where Joan performed several initial biological
assays. These biological assays were done to assess the efficacy of
each plant species in acting as an allelochemical agent, an
antibacterial agent, an antifungal agent, an inhibitor of cell
division, and a cytotoxic agent for potential usage against neoplastic
cells. From her studies, Joan learned that there is validity to some
ethnobotanical practices. For instance, one of the plants Joan chose
to study was Guaiacum officinale, which is traditionally used to fight cancer.
When she tested this plant in the laboratory, Joan found that it did
possess cytotoxic abilities. With additional research, it may prove
marketable as a potential drug to combat cancer.
Ghana
Erica Billig, Ghana, Summer 2008  Erica is visiting schools with some nurses from the hospital. She taught classes on typhoid, malaria, and HIV.
Erica spent eight weeks over the summer interning in Hohoe, Ghana. She spent the first six weeks working at a local hospital and the last two weeks working for a non-governmental organization called Pro-Link. At the hospital, she rotated wards to learn how the hospital was run, and then chose which units she enjoyed the most. She decided to focus her time on the family planning and pre-natal units. She worked with patients finding healthy birth control methods and observed meetings with pregnant women. She also traveled with the hospital to schools to teach health classes. She was able to observe everything from lab work, to births and surgeries. At Pro-Link, she taught HIV education classes at schools around the town and did some HIV testing as well.
She traveled through Cross-Cultural Solutions, an organization that provided her placement as well as living conditions. The program began with two days of orientation. They provided housing with about twenty other volunteers, all food, and security. On the weekends, volunteers traveled all over Ghana. She was able to spend time in many areas of the country, learning many cultural aspects the daily life there.
Guatemala
Ann Yang, Guatemala, Summer 2009  This picture shows primary school children in the village of Estrella Polar receiving de-licing treatments. Ann worked in rural villages in Guatemala this past summer and took part in several health projects with a local medical team.
Ann Yang spent eight weeks in Guatemala, working in multiple towns and villages including Mixco, Palin and the indigenous Ixil Region. She spent the majority of her time with members of a Guatemalan medical team that consisted of three nurses and one doctor. At the Mixco office, she helped translate health information from Spanish to English, and organized an inventory of donated medications and supplies. Her fieldwork in Palin and the Ixil Region involved visiting several primary schools as part of an anti-lice project. As Ann’s team traveled between the different villages, they also made house visits to check-up on ill patients who suffered from conditions ranging from diabetes to skin infections. In several towns, Ann also helped lead a training class aimed at teaching local village leaders and students the basics of anatomical science.
Honduras
Sarah Mann, Honduras, Summer 2008  Sarah Mann and Julie Heier give a presentation about pregnancy and breast-feeding with two other women from the community in La Guacamaya, Honduras.
Through the Cornell club Partnership for Honduran Health, 7 students traveled to La Guacamaya, Honduras for 8 weeks. During the two months, the Cornell students surveyed 300 households, worked in a clinic, and presented educational programs about infant maternal health and dental health. Sarah Mann and Julie Heier gave about 10 different educational presentations about topics like nutrition and vitamins during pregnancy, the importance of breast-feeding, how to treat sore nipples and other problems while breastfeeding, how to prepare to give birth, and information about family planning. Two other Cornell students, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Wagner, focused on dental health education. They went to two elementary schools and taught every student how to brush their teeth.
Sheridan Reiger, Honduras, Summer 2008  In this picture Sheridan Reiger is handing out anti-parasite medications to families in the neighboring community of La Victoria. This community was connected to La Guacamaya until Hurricane Mitch washed the road out. Now it takes a three hour horseback ride or hike to get healthcare to families there.
Sheridan Reiger went to La Guacamaya, Honduras during the summer of 2008. During his eight weeks there he worked in clinical settings, community development projects and helped advocate for the health of the community. The community of La Guacamaya was heavily impacted by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and like much of the rest of Honduras has yet to recover. The clinic in La Guacamaya was built in response to this catastrophe but remained closed for much of the year until this past summer. Members of the summer brigade, including students from the Cornell student group Partnership for Honduran Health (P4HH) and representatives of the NGO Salud Juntos, helped to broker meetings for the local health committee with NGOs and the Ministry of Health in Honduras. What resulted was a contract between La Guacamaya and the Ministry of Health which provides year round healthcare in the clinic. In addition, Sheridan also worked on community health projects with other P4HH members, including maternal health education, dental/oral health and a comprehensive health survey of over 300 households which is in the process of being written up and published.
Kenya
Sarah Zelek, Kenya, Summer 2008  Primary school children at Camp David Centre waiting in line for lunch. Camp David Centre sponsors almost 500 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) throughout Mombasa, including 190 at its school.
Sarah worked in Mombasa, Kenya as an intern through the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD). After a week of orientation, she moved in with her host family and began to work for Camp David Centre, an NGO where FSD placed her. She conducted a needs assessment and streamlined the NGO’s work by assisting the director and his staff, revising their program information and designing brochures, newsletters and pamphlets. With this new information she also rewrote their website content. In addition, Sarah observed the workings of the school clinic, assisted with the social work of the centre, conducted surveys of the living conditions of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the slums and compiled all of the obtained data. For one week with assistance from FSD, she wrote a grant proposal. For the last three weeks in addition to continuing work at Camp David Centre, she worked at Bomu Medical Centre where she observed the OVC department, played with children living with HIV/AIDS, assisted with work in the maternal and child health unit and conducted community outreach with the youth group.
Liberia
Vanessa Coleman, Liberia, Summer 2008  Vanessa Coleman spent eight weeks in the West African Nation of Liberia working at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital. Vanessa worked as a clinical assistant to a obstetric and gynecology specialist in the Japanese Friendship Maternity Center and particularly working at the new Gynecological Cancer program that was started at the hospital earlier that year with physicians from Mount Sinai Hospital. This opportunity to work so closely with a practicing global health provider helped Vanessa gain opportunities in observing surgical procedures including fistula repair and hysterectomy, prenatal care, fistula ward, laboratory testing for HIV/malaria/other diseases, research, emergency room, labor and delivery and routine care exams. Vanessa also was able to work on some individual programs at the hospital such as grant writing for a youth reproductive health education program and implementing a youth and patient education program within the hosptial. Another highlight of the summer was that Vanessa had the chance to participate in a fistula repair and awareness campaign in Liberia which had a march and speaker series.
Nepal
Vaidehi Pidaparti, Nepal, Summer 2008  Often traveling from distant farming villages to seek treatment, these children and their mothers are allowed to stay for up to six months. Though the majority look as though they are not even remotely sick, their CD4 cell
counts tell a different story.
Vaidehi Pidaparti went to Nepal this past summer and volunteered at Manisha Singh Punarjeevan Niwas (MSPN), an HIV/AIDS rehabilitation clinic for HIV-positive children in the Kathmandu Valley area. She taught, played with, took care of the children, and helped out with chores. She also wrote grants to raise money for further development of the center. Vaidehi found out about MSPN through an international organization called Projects Abroad. This group offers volunteering opportunities around the world, and has a special subcategory for projects related to HIV/AIDS care.
Peru
Jessica Haswell, Peru, Summer 2009  Jess spent eight weeks volunteering in the Andes of Peru. The first month Jess spent in Huancayo, Peru through the International Volunteer HQ. When in Huancayo, Jess volunteered at local schools in the morning and an orphanage in the afternoon. Working within the local school system helped Jess explore the nutritional, infrastructural and sanitation needs of the area.
Jess spent the second month in Huaraz, Peru working for a local non-profit called Seeds of Hope. This organization ran a before and after-school program aimed at keeping the underprivileged children of Huaraz off the streets and providing various forms of assistance to their families. When Jess was at Seeds of Hope she served as a tutor for kids ages seven to nineteen and helped with various other tasks: home visits, school feeding, sexual education classes, and mentoring.
During her time in Peru, Jess not only gained insight into a new culture and discovered her passion for working with underprivileged children, but she also learned an incredible amount about various types of humanitarian organizations and how she could get involved, and be effective, in future international humanitarian projects.
Philippines
Melissa Orteza, Philippines, Summer 2008  The only materials needed for cervical cancer screening using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) are speculums, cotton swabs, and household vinegar. Not just any brand of household vinegar can be used in performing VIA as Del Monte Vinegar has been the only one approved due to its clarity and acetic acid concentration.
Muntinlupa City, Philippines was recently chosen as one of three pilot areas in the country to conduct a cervical cancer screening project in all of its municipalities using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA). VIA is a new economical alternative for PAP smear, the conventional cervical cancer screening procedure. It is done by looking at the cervix to detect abnormalities after applying a dilute solution of acetic acid, which is the most common ingredient in household vinegar. VIA is a very practical method of screening as it could detect cervical cancer using household vinegar under a minute and can be easily performed by midwives. The Reproductive Health Unit of Muntinlupa conducts cervical cancer screening in 2 of its municipalities every week, attending to about 30 women per visit.
Since cervical cancer is the second most common female cancer after breast cancer worldwide, there is a need to replicate this set-up in the majority of cities in the country and other developing nations so as to reach more women. This on-going project aims to decrease the mortality rate of cervical cancer in the Philippines as it promotes women empowerment through building awareness and conducting free screening for cervical cancer.
Rwanda
Mary (Molly) Warren, Rwanda, Summer 2008  Fourth year Kagugu Primary School students are observing and participating in a lesson Molly presented for one of the teachers during a teacher-training session.
Molly lived in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, for two months in the summer of 2008. She traveled with a newly developed NGO, The International Education Exchange, and spent her weekdays as a teacher trainer. She worked at Kagugu Primary School, the third largest primary school in Rwanda with over 3,500 students. Wednesday’s were spent teaching various health topics to the students ranging from basic everyday sanitation, to healthy food choices, and to post-traumatic stress disorder with question and discussion time after the presentation. She also spent afternoons once a week shadowing a physician and volunteering at an HIV clinic for HIV/AIDS rape victims and children of rape victims from the 1994 genocide.
Tanzania
Erin Byrt, Tanzania, Summer 2008  Erin getting some hands on experience checking heart rate, weighing, and wrapping up the healthy baby boy she helped deliver before introducing him to his mother.
Erin spent her summer in Mwanza, the second largest city in Tanzania, at the Weill-Bugando Hospital and College of Health Sciences where she lived in the student dorms with Tanzanian medical students. Bugando is one of five regional hospitals providing care for all of Tanzania. Over the course of 8 weeks mornings were spent participating in rounds with Bugando and Weill Cornell doctors and medical students who were performing basic physical exams, patient reviews, and outlining treatment plans. Time was divided between patients in internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology and sometimes the ICU/NICU. Afternoons were spent in the histopathology lab and medical records room researching the incidence of bladder cancer associated with schistosomiasis infection at Bugando for the past 3-4 years, a project led by a first year medical student from Weill-Cornell in New York City. When she wasn’t doing either of these things Erin took the opportunity to attend medical lectures and classes with the Tanzanian med students, observe surgeries, help in the labor and delivery ward, and explore Mwanza.
Cristina Munk, Tanzania, Summer 2008  These women are from a village where the entomology lab conducted field work. They make mkeka’s, or straw mats, which can be found in many Tanzanians’ homes.
Cristina Munk is a senior entomology major who spent 9 weeks in Tanzania this summer. She worked at a malaria research institution assisting professors with projects on Anopheles gambiae, one of the mosquito species which transmits malaria. She conducted one study whose goal was to determine how far away mosquitoes can sense human odors from. She also assisted with a project on using artificial chemical blends to attract wild mosquitoes to traps. She is grateful to have lived with a local family because it allowed her a glimpse into the lifestyle and culture of Tanzanians.
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