For us, Human Practices was never just about satisfying criteria. The problem we chose to tackle was so close to home, that we could see its effects right outside our campus gate. Leishmaniasis and the people suffering from it have been largely overlooked, and so a major part of our aim was to gain a complete understanding of the disease itself, as well as the ground reality of the situation. We realised the importance of integrating information from several different avenues to make our project as realistic and applicable as possible.

The rationale behind human practices is to ensure a thoughtful and holistic effort while giving back to society, and open several channels of learning and growth for us as well as the community that we interact with. This thought process led us to define three tenets that we followed in order to achieve every aspect of our human practices. These are the three I’s - Imbibe, Inform and Interact.

Imbibe

The first step was to make our project foundations rock solid. We sought out individuals from the scientific community who could help us develop an idea of the disease and ensure that our project was rational as well as relevant. This formed the top tier of our Human Practices, Integrated HP.

Inform

Once we had an understanding of the problem, it was time to bring that knowledge back to society. We wanted to connect to three parties - the at-risk population, high school students, and the scientific community. This resulted in our second tier, Engagement.

Interact

To create a two-way channel of communication, we needed to not only tell, but also listen. And so we made sure we reached out to the affected community as well as the onlookers. This became our final tier, Social Studies.