Top Photo: Student Carrie McAvoy takes a break from her field placement work to meet one of the locals--an elephant.

Bottom Photo: Students Sally Altland, Carrie McAvoy, and Lauren Tingey spent six months in India doing field placement work.

STUDENTS HAVE FIELD PLACEMENTS IN INDIA

Several students from the School of Social Work traveled to India for six months to take part in a very special field placement experience. The trio returned to the United States in December.

The School works with Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kerala, India to provide the opportunity that qualifies for course credit.

One of the students taking part in the program was Carrie McAvoy, who wrote, "While in Kerala, we had the opportunity to take two classes in Rajagiri’s School of Social Work MSW program and complete our field placement. We also had the opportunity to travel around the country and visit NGO’s and GO’s working in the field of HIV/AIDS.  

Thanks to CASP (Community Aid Sponsorship Program), where my internship was, we were able to contribute to their agency in a unique way. CASP has the mission to provide funding for underprivileged children so they may get adequate food, clothing, shelter, and an education. The past few years they have expanded this to include HIV/AIDS underprivileged children. The children are given money every year through a non-profit group called Keralyeem. CASP does the management and follow-up visits for the cases on behalf of Keralyeem. Based on a current influx of children in this program, CASP asked that we do a full-out need assessment of positive people, parents/caregivers, agencies and administrations to find the gaps in services/education and build projects targeted to meet those gaps. We got the opportunity to travel through Kerala, visiting the homes of the children infected/affected with HIV/AIDS. We were able to see where the money was going (mostly food and medicine) and what the conditions of the children were. The kids we were able to meet were happy and welcoming, and the caregivers (mostly infected themselves) were amazed to have white people in their house. The stares we got were never rude, just bewildered. I imagine that it could be like what a celebrity would feel like in the US-why are they staring at me? I'm nothing special, but here, it seems I am much more fascinating then I can imagine.

We also worked on some project proposals for a camp for vulnerable children. We were going to limit it to only the HIV/AIDS infected/affected, because during our needs assessment we found that many did not have the psychological or community support they needed. We decided to expand it to all types of vulnerable children, especially those at risk for coming into contact with the disease at some point in their lives (like "street children" and orphans), so we could do some HIV prevention education as well. Besides the fact that those kids have never been exposed to any opportunity for something fun like a camp, it seemed like a good idea on all levels. Unfortunately, the camp had some trouble with the funding, so it has been postponed until further notice.  From our needs assessment and contacts through CASP and the positive networks in Kerala, we got the opportunity to create a seminar on HIV/AIDS Policies and Programs affecting children, supported by UNICEF. The seminar took place in late November and generated not only positive feedback, but concrete ways the grassroots positive networks, the state-run AIDS department, and different NGO’s could impact this vulnerable population.

As a social work student, I can empathize and collaborate to find solutions to existing problems in Kerala, but as an American, I can never fully understand the Indian system or the where and how it came from. This experience has been one that has not only changed my view of social work in the world, but has opened my eyes to the potential of what can be accomplished as an international social work student."

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