im off to reggae island?

I am currently the envy of all other ISP projects.

I went from having no idea what I was going to do after PSA emailed me saying they would have no room in their programs, to now having an excellent and open ISP plan that will work out perfectly. For the next 3 weeks I will be doing research in Sao Luis, the capital city of the state of Maranhao, still located within the legal Amazon. I will be working with the ASP, a public health organization committed to community empowerment with connections to the church. I will be working under Joao-Marie Vandamme, a French sociologist and health researcher who was a favorite professor of Carlos, one of our professors here. Right now my project is very broad and vague: I want to do anything concerning environmental health and community participation/collaboration in order too 1) see how participatory health research can be successful in a environmental context 2) how collaboration leads to better detection and community prevention of environmental health risks and 3) for myself, to gain experience in community based participatory health so that I can return to the US with this skill and use it at home.

I don't know that much about Sao Luis. I will be living in a Seminary, which I am looking forward to as a intense life altering experience amongst 15 or so priests. I leave Tuesday the 11th and return to Belem the 27th, Thanksgiving, in order to give myself a week to analyze and process data and write my report. Overall I have a pretty solid plan of action. Joao is available from Sunday the 9th to the 15th, so from Tuesday to Thursday I will spend my time observing and learning about Sao Luis, the environmental and development related health concerns, and getting to know basic introductions and connections in the community and the ASP organization, learning about how it functions, its aims, and so forth. Thursday night I will submit my updated ISP and ethical review for human subjects application to Gustavo, and the Friday will be the IRB meeting to approve my project. If all goes well I will hear back by the board by Sunday, and can commence research on the following Monday, and still have a solid 10 days to conduct interviews and surveys. Once Joao and I formulate a project that works in conjunction with something they are working on and could use help with, I will have a good idea of the groups of people I will need to interview, and so forth.

It will be amazing. Besides how great this whole ordeal seems to be (I briefly talked to Joao on the phone just now to let him know when my flight will be arriving, he was very nice and generous, I feel bad that my portuguese is crummy and that there is a high chance I came off as rude on the phone), the city itself and the environment I will be in sound even better. Both the Seminary and the ASP are on the same block in the Historic District of the city, which was declared a national heritage site. Sao Luis in general is an island surrounded by beaches, mangrove forests, beautiful streets, coffee shops, and, again, beautiful beaches. Along with a large public library, and areas free of electricity or buildings. Just sand, water, books, small bars, coffee, chill reggae music, a notebook, and me. Or as Carlos said with envy, "some places there you can go to the beach and feel like you are not in the 21st century, but 200-300 years ago". How awesome. I also feel really honored that I am going to be working with Joao-Marie, who Carlos has a lot of respect for. He'll make me work really hard, but that will make this project all the better.

From what I've found so far, Sao Luis has its share of ecologically-based health problems. From the heavy development as elsewhere in Brazil and the Amazonian states, especially from companies like VALE or ALCOA (which is an aluminum mining company from Pittsburgh...what a weird coincidence), there exist a lot of occupational health risks for mining workers, as well as a good deal of water pollution from these extractive industries. I'm guessing some sort of pollution by product will end up being what I focus on, which will be really interesting. The mangroves are also an important buffer to filter many of these pollutants, so while my research would be focusing on health at hand, I could factor such things into an overall discussion of ecological public health, which I am using along with the theories of community health, participatory research methods, epidemiological transition stages, and issues of science and expertise to frame my project around. Either way, this will be a mind opening experience into the worlds of popular epidemiology, community development, and environmental justice. I'm also really looking forward to working with the church association. In general, I think I am imagining this project more as a mini-internship experience more than anything else. In a good way. And while I'll miss my friends while I'm away, I think it's also really good that I'll be alone the whole time.

It just finished the usual afternoon rain here, so of course being in the hammock with my laptop doing some research with the cool post-rain wind coming through the window is pretty great. Also, in case there is any confusion, the pictures I've randomly and chaotically spread through this post are either of Sao Luis looking beautiful or of my friends and I during our Brazilian Halloween party/celebrating Obama's victory by making grilled cheese sandwiches.

Tchau e saudades