Hi! I am Eric G., a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. This past summer, I worked with a nonprofit organization called Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement based in Mysore, Karnataka State in India. I was tasked to write an article about one of their interventions performed after the second wave of COVID-19 swept through India. Specifically, they had already conducted a survey asking people in poor socioeconomic areas, healthcare workers, and drivers about their knowledge and adherence to COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviors (CAB). In order to understand enough about the topic to write an article, I focused my efforts on performing a wide literature review on all of the papers that have focused on the COVID-19 pandemic’s progress through India, CAB, and statistics about the population’s diversity. After this kind of direction, my mentors Dr. Deepak Murthy and Mr. Gururaj were there to guide and talk me through the intervention that they led.
After a lot of consulting with them and talking through the expectations that scientific writing has, I was able to actually start writing. It was a long process with many drafts and feedback given by my mentors, but I thoroughly enjoyed being able to create something that is hopefully going to be used to inform future attempts to promote CAB in other waves of COVID-19 or pandemics. Through this project, I learned a lot about scientific writing, research processes, and so much about India and the pandemic there.
My favorite experience was going to Bangalore and meeting my mentors in person! We were able to visit many different villages and witness the kinds of rural development projects there including computer and phone repair, English classes, and dairy classes! I learned so much from the trip including the importance of ragi in the Indian diet as well as the innovative practices that were being conducted to continue empowering communities despite the COVID-19 pandemic. I loved every other visit, constantly expanding my knowledge of India and the world through visiting temples, nature sanctuaries, and the Mysore palace. This experience has truly changed how I view travel and exploration of a different culture!
