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Hurricane Dean Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is a beautiful day, sunny and bright with a little breeze. But things will soon change. Hurricane Dean is category 4 on the verge of being category 5 (so we hear), and is headed over Jamaica Sunday afternoon . As we brace for the hurricane, a flurry of activity is going on around us. Trips to the store for water, toilet paper, food, and other necessities is in full force. We are blessed to be surrounded by classmates and professors who are experts in emergency management. These are seasoned professionals who have seen this type of hurricane before, and are making sure that when Dean hits we will all be as safe as possible. Our buildings were made to survive this type of weather, hard solid concrete, steel slatted windows.

Overall, we are well-supplied and preparing to be hunkered down in secure/non-flood-prone structures on the University of the West Indies campus and will stick it out. We’re taking the situation very seriously, but we hope for the best and optimistically expect to be delayed just a few days returning home. The US Embassy in Jamaica has been alerted to our presence, and we have prepared an phone train to ensure that all our emergency contacts are informed as soon as possible. Our fieldwork went well, but we shudder imagining what will happen to some of the local communities we visited throughout the week. The current task is to maintain calm & order within our group, and to get us to Monday.

We may not be online again until we are back in the USA (end of the week?), and we will send another note then. Until then, wish us luck and we will see you soon, mon.

In-Country Emergency Numbers

Cat Lem: 876 541 3597

Stephanie Brodine: 876 447 8401

Henroy Scarlet: 876 894 0636

Madhav Bhatta: 876 447 8228

Catherine Lem

Program Coordinator

Neeta's Journal - Day 3

Day 3: Monday, August 13, 2007

We began this morning with a couple group lectures, one that focused on Water and Sanitation issues in Jamaica and the other that discussed the recent malaria outbreak in Jamaica that began last winter. It was interesting to learn how important water is in the prevention and spread of infectious disease. More importantly though, was being able to observe what we learned and apply it within a public health setting. In the afternoon, we visited the Mona Water Treatment Plant and the UWI Sewage Treatment Plant. We were able to walk through each step of water treatment, from sedimentation and flocculation, to chlorination. I realized how much Americans and others in developed countries take for granted their access to and quantity of safe, potable water.

Even more appalling though was the sewage treatment system-from which the stench was horrific. And it also seemed outdated, especially considering the growing size of the population that it serves in Kingston. It was hard to believe how several communities are able to live in such close vicinity to this treatment center.

The most entertaining aspect of our field visit was our interaction with the locals. With the help of some Jamaicans, we were able to enjoy fruits from a tree that was native to Jamaica. One young man, who was missing one leg, graciously climbed the tree for us-a feat that most of us can't even accomplish with two legs. For me, this brief interaction represents part of the reason I've come to Jamaica. Because while it is about learning, and about being in a key public health setting, it's also about being out of your element, appreciating what you have, what others have, and what you have in common.

�You are so lucky"

“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