Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Nepal has a hugely varied landscape considering it’s relatively small size. You have the highest mountains in the world leading down into the best river rapids and finally into the steamy heat of the plains. It is a mecca for adrenaline activities and canyoning, trekking and mountain biking are available all year, but also one for spiritualism; there are amazing temples and world heritage sites with some fantastic architecture and history. Weather often dictates a trip to Nepal, but we don’t think you should restrict yourself…..

DSC03533 150x150 Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

The peaceful lake - good for kayaking / boating

Abby 2011 27 150x150 Nepal – what’s on during your elective?

World peace pagoda - Pokhara's best walk

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The Weekly Question – why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?

Friday, April 6th, 2012

It’s a fact of life; everyone likes to ‘big themselves up’ from time to time! And while we can go on until we’re blue in the face about why you should choose to do your overseas placement with Work the World, the best people to ask are those who did choose us and are on placement right now.

This week we asked students in each of our destinations “why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?” Here are some of the responses…

dental students argentina 150x150 The Weekly Question why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?

Students on placement in Mendoza, Argentina

In Argentina the leading answer was the opportunity for students to brush up on their Spanish with our fantastic week-long Intensive Spanish Course. Amanda Woods, a medical student from Alabama said “interacting with patients in a Spanish speaking company is definitely the best way to improve my Spanish…the programme has everything I was looking for.” Amanda also found us to be one of the only companies she researched offering placements in South America and to include the placement, accommodation, food and in-country support in the total cost.

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Work the World sends two Pampers winners on their elective

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

We’ve just found out some exciting news about the Pampers Student Vision Awards held at the start of the year…. Rachel and Aongola, the first and second place winners are both travelling with Work the World!

pampers student vision 150x150 Work the World sends two Pampers winners on their elective
RCM magazine – January

Rachel plans to go to Sri Lanka in August and told us “It was a lovely opportunity to go to the RCM awards and I was thrilled to have a won the pampers student award.  I’m really grateful to pampers and the RCM for supporting my trip, where I will gain many new and fantastic experiences whilst exploring a new culture and healthcare system.  I’m now really excited about planning the rest of my trip and will fly to Sri Lanka in late August.’

Aongola was just as excited. ““I was amazed, shocked and excited to come as runner up.  The award enabled me to fund my elective placement to Argentina to which I am really looking forward.  Elective placements abroad provide the opportunity to observe services in other countries framed by their culture.  I am excited to be able to observe the provision of midwifery services in Argentina and reflect on the contrasts with services in the UK.”

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Kids and bad teeth….. what can we do?

Monday, March 19th, 2012

We are gearing up for our summer Dental Outreach Projects in Nepal, where we treat thousands of school children that have no access to dental care. In a bid to get in the mood, I switched on to watch ITV’s Tonight documentary “Our Kids Rotten Teeth” last week. It made for gripping, and shocking television!

Children as young as 3 or 4 were having surgery to remove 10, 11, 12 or more of their milk teeth because of  too much sugar and bad oral hygiene and never visiting a dentist. And that is in this country –  where we get reminders to go to the dentist, can easily buy dental aids like toothbrushes, have “flouride varnishing” sessions at school, have flouride added to our water and are regularly told that sweet things are bad for our teeth. It made me think about the realities of young children like those in Nepal, who don’t have the same level of education, have no access to care and no assistance in protecting their milk teeth.

Faye 2010 90 150x150 Kids and bad teeth….. what can we do?

Work the World run yearly Dental Outreach Projects

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Why should I do my elective placement abroad?

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

I get asked a lot why I do what I do and go where I go. Most of the time I like to explain my well thought out reasons. I mean, I am a storyteller after all. But here’s what I think of saying first: “Why not?”

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Students on placement in Sri Lanka

First of all, the world is ever changing. Be a part of that change.

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Pigeon Island – travelling in Sri Lanka

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

As everyone knows, Sri Lanka is an island. But there are few more other small islands around Sri Lanka that are not so well known.

“Pigeon Island” is in Trincomalee, in the the north part of Sri Lanka, a 5 hours journey by bus. It’s long journey but the trick is to travel on a Friday after placement so you save time travelling and have the following day on the beach.

The Trincomalee beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka – white sand with blue water. There are no waves, so you can walk in to the sea for about 500m and still the water will be up to your waist. In ”Nilaveli”, which is about 10KM from Trincomalee, you have the amazing “Pigeon Island” and the best parts of the beach.

In Pigeon Island you can scuba Dive and do snorkeling – it is like the Discovery Channel in front of your eyes, only this time it’s for real…..

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Sigiriya – one of the wonders of the world

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

“Sigiriya” is one of the most recommended places to visit in srilanka.It used to be one of the 7 wonders in the world. It’s a fortress of a king who used to live in Sri Lanka in early days. Most of our students go to visit Sigiriya on a weekday since this can be done during a day. So they can save weekends for more beach time. It’s a 2 and a half hour drive from Kandy. And it’s a 45 minutes climb. If you go in an evening you can witness the Sunset.

Plus you can take some lovely pictures from up there. Even maybe some New Profile Pictures…..

Sigira 150x150 Sigiriya one of the wonders of the world

Sigiriya

On top of Sigiriya 150x150 Sigiriya one of the wonders of the world

On top of Sigiriya

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The top ten…. diseases in Nepal

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Top 10 (Inpatients)

  1. COPD  (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  2. CVA  (Cerebral vascular accident)
  3. Birth asphyxia
  4. PLWHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS)
  5. Septicemia
  6. NIDDM  (Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus)
  7. Pneumonia
  8. MI  (Myocardial infarction)
  9. ADS (Acute Death Syndrome)
  10. IHD (Ischaemic heart disease)

Top 10 (outpatients)

  1. Pneumonia
  2. GE
  3. EF
  4. Appendicitis
  5. COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  6. RTI (Respitory tract infections)
  7. Injury / Dislocation
  8. Hepatitis
  9. Pyrexia
  10. Sepsis

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What it’s like to work in Nepal…

Friday, October 21st, 2011

I worked in the Emergency Department of a a non profit International Non-Governmental Organisation teaching hospital. It was an imposing building overlooking the city of Pokhara and looks expensive (i.e beyond reach for many of the locals). The reality of the fact is that it isn’t, but not many people know that. As a result between the hours of 08:00 and 15:00 – when the regional ‘cheap’ hospitals are open – the teaching hospital ED is remarkably quiet.

In ED we saw the many similar conditions to those we see in the UK. However there was an awful lot more trauma (resulting from RTCs and falls from trees!) and an alarming number of cases of meningitis.

In Nepal, if you injure someone resulting in a disability that stops them working, you have to support them for the rest of their life. There are horror stories of people reversing to kill people that they have run over. I heard stories that it is cheaper to bribe the police when there is a dead body!

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No more disappearing behind a bush on Everest…. toilets are being installed!

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

For the last few years there has been plenty of chat about Everest base camp and the amount of litter that people leave each year. We’ve heard about highways being built to cope with the number of tourists and we’ve seen lots of footage of overly burdened gurkas carrying sack loads of tin cans back from the well trampled route. The Saving Mount Everest Clean-Up Expedition team bring over 8 tonnes of rubbish from Mount Everest and its trekking trails!

rubbish 150x150 No more disappearing behind a bush on Everest.... toilets are being installed!

Rubbish removed by Saving Mount Everest

People and rubbish = a big problem.

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