On the last day of the study abroad portion of our course, everyone met to share their experiences about the trip and exchange ideas about possible social enterprises. It was clear that all of us had internalized many of the experiences from our trip and were ruminating about potential roles we could play in helping to improve some of the conditions we witnessed. Several students were able to articulate ideas they were mulling over and in one particular spontaneous group-think effort were able to design a holistic business model that offered a concierge of mental health services.Needless to say, Prof. Vyas was ecstatic about how beautifully that idea was developed, so quickly and spontaneously by a group of students and I suspect we surprised ourselves with our ingenuity!
To extend the insights from the Salaam Baalak Trust visit on the previous day, our final group class session really reinforced the value of collective experience, immersion in an alternate culture, seeing traditional public health issues through different lenses and through the eyes of others in helping us articulate our own roles in the public health arena as we move forward with our lives and careers. For that opportunity alone, the India Study Abroad and Social Entrepreneurship Course was well worth the experience and one hopes GW-SPHHS will continue to offer such opportunities to more of its students!
With many thanks to the University, Dean Goldman and Dean Reum for permitting our study abroad adventure and to Professors Vyas and Parrish for their foresight in offering the course and for their tireless efforts to make it happen and so successfully at that!
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