Tanzania is a great country to visit. Destinations like the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Mt Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria and Zanzibar offer some of the most amazing travel opportunities across Africa and they are all in one country!
The climate is tropical, so some periods are hotter, wetter or more humid than others, but generally whichever month you travel to Tanzania there is something wonderful to see and do!
Safari- available throughout the year
Scuba diving - available all year
At the moment I am planning my elective placement to Dar es salaam as part of my Midwifery course. I am so excited to have this amazing opportunity but nervous that I now have less than six months to fund the trip!
I decided that I would hold a clothes party. I had been to one before that a friend held where people take along clothes and then other people rummage around and go home with other people’s clothes.
Dig out old clothes, shoes, handbags - anything you don't want to raise funds for your elective!
I thought this was fantastic so I emailed friends and spoke to family and asked them would they be willing to donate any unwanted clothes, bags, shoes etc and I would charge a pound an item for clothing and then a donation of their choice for the rest. It became such a huge event that friends of friends were ringing saying they had clothes for me and would they be able to come. This got me thinking that there was no way I could fit everyone into my home. So I asked the local bowling club if I could borrow there club house for the evening. It had a bar so we had a great night. As it was to raise money they let me have the venue for FREE!!! Fantastic start I thought.
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…
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.
How much you take on your placement will probably depend on whether you have plans for after your placement with Work the World. As I was going travelling after my work placement, I wanted to fit everything into one rucksack. I managed to take everything I needed for 8 weeks into one rucksack (which weighed in at 14kg), so travelling light is definitely do-able! Below I have listed what I took with me.
The staff at Kidodi health centre
The most essential item for me (other than my passport and money) was a head torch. This was absolutely invaluable as there were frequent power-cuts in Dar es Salaam, but wearing a head torch allows you to have both hands free while pointing the light in precisely the direction you are looking in. It is the only thing I bought especially for my trip (I managed to borrow a mosquito net) and it was well worth the money. I have also mentioned the ‘list of useful contact numbers/information’ I took – on mine I had phone numbers of family members and friends from home, insurance contact number and policy number (for travel and indemnity insurance), my flight numbers and confirmation/booking reference, the phone numbers given to me by Work the World and their UK office, my passport number, NI number, driving licence number, bank telephone number, card number, sort code and account number and the address of the Work the World House in Dar.
Safari
The majority of our students use public transport to get into town or to travel to their placement. In fact joining the hoards on a busy bus can sometimes be the best way to integrate yourself into local life. Trips to work can also provide some of the funniest travel experiences of your time away. We asked our students “ what is the public transport like in your area” in the hope we might hear about some of these funny and typical travel experiences. We had some fantastic responses from each of our destinations, with real insight into each country.
Starting in Africa;
We get hundreds of students coming to us knowing they want to do a clinical placement overseas, but with no idea exactly where they would like to go. If this sounds familiar then maybe our current students will help you decide…..
Prasanga the caterer and the gardener Uncle
Katie and Clare in Sri Lanka have a list too long to post but here are some of our favourites; (more…)
A couple of weeks ago we had a blog about a typical day on placement in Mendoza Argentina, it proved to be extremely popular so we decided to ask students in all of our destinations how they were finding there time on away.
We try and give you an idea before you head out to your chosen destination what a typical day might be like even though I think we all know, each day can be completely different. Below provides you with an insight into the average day of a student on placement with us.
Kate is currently in Sri Lanka and her day’s starts at 7am sharp with a shower and breakfast before heading out to get a tuk tuk to the hospital for an 8am start
On ward round in Sri Lanka
Student talk, the site provided by the Society of Radiographers, has run a great interview with David Evans, the winner of the Work the World and SCOR competition last year. David provides an amazing insight into what his placement in Dar es Salaam was like, and the reality of studying radiography in the only specialist cancer hospital in the country. Have a read below, or check out the student talk site.
If you want to enter the competition this year, follow the link …. and good luck!
One of the most useful things you can learn before you placement is the Swahili for different areas of the body. Our final lesson for now is on “anatomy”:
Mwili – body
Kichwa – head
Kifua – chest
Tumbo – stomach
Mkono – arm
Mgu -leg
Mfupa – bone
Mgongo – back
Jichi (Macho) – eye (eyes)
Sikio (Masikio) – ear (ears)
Pua – nose
Mdomo – mouth
Ulimi -tongue
Shingo – neck
We thought it would be a good idea to work on “patient interactions”, so here is your next lesson:
Tulia – relax
Kaa chini – sit down
Fanya hivi – do this / follow me
Unaumwa nini? – What is the problem / illness?
Ulianza nini? – When did it start?