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Carol Jenkins died at 11 pm on 22nd
January, 2008, in
Bangkok, Thailand, of cancer. She was surrounded by
friends from the four corners of the world, a full moon
shone above, and sweet music was played for her by her two
sons Aaron and Ryan.
Carol was born in 1945 in the USA, but she lived her life as a
citizen of the world. Carol worked tirelessly for the health and
human rights of marginalized people throughout the world, using
her research skills to collect data and document the lives of
people in order to improve their situations with evidence of
what would benefit them. She often asked, "Where's the
data?"
Carol's recent work and publications included a study of life
opportunities for transgenders in
Thailand, a study of rape of sex workers in
Cambodia, and
HIV assessments in the Middle East and North Africa. She
pioneered the use of respondent driven sampling with sex
workers, in
Fiji,
Cambodia and elsewhere. But her first and greatest love
was for her work and her many friends in
Papua New Guinea, from the remote Hagahai to the
street-dwellers of Port Moresby.
Carol’s achievements were not limited to research. In 2004, she
established the Travis Jenkins Memorial Award in memory of her
husband. The Award is presented each year to a current or former
injecting drug user who has made an outstanding contribution to
reducing drug related harm.
Carol loved music, especially jazz, and played jazz guitar. Her
home was a haven for musicians and colleagues from all over the
world. Carol’s door was open day and night to people dropping in
to discuss HIV, health, research, and music.
She is survived by her two sons Aaron and Ryan Jenkins, and two
grandchildren.
Carol was a giant in her field and will be sorely missed.
A blog has been set up at
http://evidenceofcarol.blogspot.com/ and your
messages will be posted to the blog if you send them to
melissa at nomadcode dot com or apnswbkk at gmail dot com.
Written by Melissa Ditmore |
