The Jamaica Course Blog
“You are so lucky"
15 August 2007
“You are so lucky,” is the most common response I hear when I tell people I help supervise a 10-day field course in Jamaica. I know what they are thinking--beautiful blue oceans, mixed drinks with little umbrellas, resorts and reggae. Up until last summer, when I was able to go to Jamaica to supervise the course in person, I sometimes harbored images of my students and coworkers sprawled out on beach towels feeling sorry that I couldn’t be there. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that the Jamaica Course is serious business. I helped to put together the syllabus, to plan the field visits, and I read the evaluations; there was never any question that our students were getting educational experiences during these field studies that could not be matched sitting in a classroom.
Last summer I was able to come out from behind my desk and go out in the field to help supervise the course in person. The Jamaica Course has evolved over the years to match the shifting tides in public health and the innovative efforts of the Jamaican people. With an emphasis on community based field work, our students are immersed in public health in action and Jamaican culture. Whether an American student on their first visit out of the US, a student with years of public health experience, or a student from Jamaica seeing the work done in their own country, the Jamaica course allows our students to go hands-on into the field, to interact with community outreach volunteers and public health workers, to talk to the people, to trap and identify mosquitoes and to fully engage in public health practice. There is a day on the beach, but the rest of time in Jamaica there is hard work, lectures and learning, dirty hands, full minds, and the fruits of eight years of successful collaboration between UAB, the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and San Diego State University (SDSU).
After months of planning and preparation for the course by the joint-team of UAB (Catherine Lem, Madhav Bhatta, Nalini Sathiakumar, and MarLis Richardson), UWI (Henroy Scarlett and colleagues) and SDSU (Stephanie Brodine and Judy Harbertson) faculty and staff, we are ready to head down to Kingston again with the largest contingent, to date, of U.S. students (22). We will be joined by 15 Jamaican students. I am looking forward to again seeing our Jamaican and SDSU colleagues, visiting the communities of Mona Commons, Portmore, St. Catherine Parish, and Spanish Town, and making Preston Hall on UWI campus home for next 10 days . And, I am most excited about the real world challenges and joys of public health in action that our students are about to experience in Jamaica.
So whenever anyone tells me “you are so lucky,” I tell them “yes, I am.”
Madhav Bhatta
Last summer I was able to come out from behind my desk and go out in the field to help supervise the course in person. The Jamaica Course has evolved over the years to match the shifting tides in public health and the innovative efforts of the Jamaican people. With an emphasis on community based field work, our students are immersed in public health in action and Jamaican culture. Whether an American student on their first visit out of the US, a student with years of public health experience, or a student from Jamaica seeing the work done in their own country, the Jamaica course allows our students to go hands-on into the field, to interact with community outreach volunteers and public health workers, to talk to the people, to trap and identify mosquitoes and to fully engage in public health practice. There is a day on the beach, but the rest of time in Jamaica there is hard work, lectures and learning, dirty hands, full minds, and the fruits of eight years of successful collaboration between UAB, the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona and San Diego State University (SDSU).
After months of planning and preparation for the course by the joint-team of UAB (Catherine Lem, Madhav Bhatta, Nalini Sathiakumar, and MarLis Richardson), UWI (Henroy Scarlett and colleagues) and SDSU (Stephanie Brodine and Judy Harbertson) faculty and staff, we are ready to head down to Kingston again with the largest contingent, to date, of U.S. students (22). We will be joined by 15 Jamaican students. I am looking forward to again seeing our Jamaican and SDSU colleagues, visiting the communities of Mona Commons, Portmore, St. Catherine Parish, and Spanish Town, and making Preston Hall on UWI campus home for next 10 days . And, I am most excited about the real world challenges and joys of public health in action that our students are about to experience in Jamaica.
So whenever anyone tells me “you are so lucky,” I tell them “yes, I am.”
Madhav Bhatta
