Preparations for Grenada
Apoorva Chalasani
Hello everyone! My name is Apoorva Chalasani, and I am a second-year epidemiology student on this year’s student action team to Grenada. The semester has just begun, and at a rapid pace, we have started our preparations for our project.
Through the ever-changing times in public health, I am grateful and honored to have this opportunity to engage in community-focused work. Community-based work has always been the core of my motivation to pursue public health, and while it is never easy, it has always been both grounding and rewarding.
People and their experiences can’t be defined by text alone, and for that reason, I am both nervous and excited. I am nervous to work on a project with a community that I know little about, and yet, as I learn more about Grenada and its history and its people, I am truly excited.
At the same time, with history and current events on the top of my mind, I think more about my identity as a student from an American academic institution and as a member of a diaspora community. I am reminded even more that this opportunity to listen, to meet others, and to hear their stories firsthand is a valuable one.
I have no expectations that this trip will go exactly as planned, and it would be very odd if it did. No matter how much we plan and research, there are bound to be changes and challenges along the way. My only hope for this project is simple: that our work will serve and support the community and its people.
