Volunteering overseas – are you benefitting the community, yourself or both?

Monday, August 1st, 2011

The Guardian had an article in the papers this weekend about the £6 billion industry of student travel and it’s potential to damage the reputation of Britain overseas.

Faye 2010 90 150x150 Volunteering overseas are you benefitting the community, yourself or both?

Work the World run yearly Dental Outreach Projects

Instead of thinking about what they can offer their hosts, the focus is on self interest – “what can I put on my CV?”, “where can I travel in my free time?” and “how can I make the most of my summer holiday?”. The article quotes 1 in 5 students feeling as if their time overseas did nothing to benefit the local community, but 9 out of 10 feeling that their self-confidence and self-motivation had increased. The argument is that the Brits are exercising a “new colonialism” and that it is actually doing more harm than good.

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Dental Outreach in Nepal – 2011 projects so far.

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Our Work the World house is based in Pokhara city, so each year we try to set up the Dental Outreach Project in the Pokhara valley as this gives us the opportunity to provide free dental care in the communities in which we work. This year though we decided to also set up two projects outside of the valley in Nuwakot, just a couple of hours north of Kathmandu. We thought it would provide an interesting comparison and help us decide where we are most needed.

July 11 131 150x150 Dental Outreach in Nepal 2011 projects so far.

The welcome ceremony at Jurethum

The first camp was set up in Bidhur, a charming hill top settlement that overlooks a beautiful river valley with ancient temples scattered around the main village square. The last dental camp was conducted over a year ago by the rotary club, so it was a good opportunity for us to follow up on the good work. The community screening and the treatments were carried out at the village school with the portable dental equipments brought in from Kathmandu. ‘The Famous Farm’ was our student dentists’ home for 2 weeks – a restored Newari manor house, tastefully decorated with traditional Nepali furniture. The kitchen served wonderful local food and the cook also bent backwards to accommodate our student’s request for some western food!

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The weekly question – What is your favourite in-country fact?

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Natalie Wood Arusha 3 150x150 The weekly question What is your favourite in country fact?

Students on safari

As much as we try and prepare you for your time overseas, there are some things that you simply won’t know until you get there.  As well as the immediate contrast in clinical practice, each destination we offer provides a fascinating cultural experience so this week we asked the students what they have learnt.  We asked them “What is your favourite in-country fact?!”

In Arusha, Lucy learnt that “Fluoride in the water here causes the yellow stains on the teeth.  Before coming to Africa I thought this was caused by tobacco”

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Preparar el paciente para la operación……….ummmm……que???

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Now at first glance you may think “it’s another language, I don’t get it”, but have another look……. it’s not that hard to pick out words, and with just a little bit of initiative most of us would understand that “Preparar el paciente para la operación” simply means “prepare the patient for the operation”. And you thought you couldn’t speak the language!

Making Empanadas 150x150 Preparar el paciente para la operación..........ummmm......que???

Learning how to make Empanadas

Now try another…… “Tiene cancer, que come Usted sabe, es una enfermedad dificil pero se puede tratar”. A bit more tricky, but there are a couple of words that could be guessed……..

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Exploring Asia; My Trip to Sri Lanka and Nepal

Friday, March 11th, 2011

My job at Work the World is to talk to students about the opportunities available to them for their electives or work experience placements. Having travelled to Africa to visit our partner hospitals there, I was desperate to see Asia and so planned a condensed trip to Sri Lanka and Nepal to witness our programmes in action.

P1030609 150x150 Exploring Asia; My Trip to Sri Lanka and Nepal

Negombo beach

The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Sri Lanka was the ease at which I passed through the airport! After my travels to Africa, I was expecting a lot of hassle, taxi drivers grabbing my bags and vying for my custom. Colombo was really very civilised in comparison! It was a breeze, with taxi companies allowing me to approach them for quotes into the city. Sri Lanka is 5.5hrs ahead of the UK and most flights arrive into Sri Lanka at 8.30 in the morning. This means that the first day is normally spent trying to get your head round the time difference and trying not to fall asleep as your body thinks it is in fact 3am!

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The Big Picture – winning photographs from your elective!

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Overall Winner – Graham Stevenson

Prize: £250

Overall Arusha Graham Stevenson 150x150 The Big Picture – winning photographs from your elective!

Graham's winning picture

Again we have had some amazing entries for this year’s competition, but we all agreed that the image that captured the spirit of living in another country was Graham Stevenson’s shot of the wildebeest migration at sunrise.

When we called Graham he had this to say “Corking stuff! I’m delighted people liked the shot. The equatorial sun rises so quickly there are only about 2 or 3 minutes to enjoy that kind of light in the Serengeti, though I feel a bit guilty to have spent it looking through a camera lens. The annual wildebeest migration is a staggering phenomenon and going on safari during my placement in Tanzania I was desperate to see the animals en masse. The picture was taken at about 06.20 in the morning. It was horribly cold. But there the beasts were: from a distance – hump-backed, anonymous creatures, lurching along the same path, at the same rate and rhythm they’d been travelling the evening before. And then we moved in closer….”

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Ghana Dental Outreach Project 2010

Friday, August 13th, 2010
P1000874 150x150 Ghana Dental Outreach Project 2010

Some of the kids

This year’s Dental Outreach Programme in Ghana took place in Jacobu within the Ashanti region of Ghana. It was about an hour’s drive south of Kumasi, which is the second largest city in Ghana and famous for its markets. The project spanned 3 weeks and consisted of seven 4th year dental students as well as (and for the first time ever for us) 5 dental hygienists. All the participants were studying or had finished studying at Cork and were therefore full of Irish vigour and energy!

The project was designed to provide free screenings and treatments to the school children of the local area. We had a bus and each day it would take us to the schools where the screenings were carried out and then bring those children that had been referred to the local St Peters Hospital for treatment. The screening process was immense! Just short of 4,500 children were screened during the project. We were privileged to have the dental hygienists during the screening process, they worked to provide education (of course with translators!) to all of those children that were screened by the dental students. This will enable the good work that took place to carry on after we left so that the children understand the importance of effective oral cleaning.

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Dental Outreach competition winner Fiona prepares to leave….

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Fiona, our dental outreach competition winner, is just two weeks away from her big prize – the chance to join the Kerala Dental Outreach team in India.

For those of you that need reminding, the video competition was launched last year and we had a huge response from people desperate to tell us why taking part in a project like this could benefit their dentistry studies, and why they should be the ones to win the prize. Fiona’s winning movie can be viewed on the facebook groups, or via this link to our youtube page.

With just two weeks to go, we asked Fiona to let us know how she was getting on with preparations for the trip of a lifetime…

Fiona’s blog…… Leaving on a jetplane!

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Dental Outreach – should we hand out coffee instead of toothbrushes?!

Monday, June 21st, 2010

With our dental outreach projects launching today, the report in the Telegraph about coffee helping prevent oral cancer could not have been more timely.

Today’s news suggests that researchers have found regular coffee drinkers were 39 per cent less likely to develop oral and pharynx cancers than those who didn’t drink coffee.

DSC 0021 150x150 Dental Outreach – should we hand out coffee instead of toothbrushes?!

Coffee prevents oral cancer!

In a moment of celebrating the mighty coffee bean, the Telegraph have linked their article to another about how coffee reduces the rate of heart disease. The research team studied tea and coffee consumption among 37,514 people, and followed the participants for 13 years to monitor heart disease and death. Those who drink between three and six cups were 45 per cent less likely to suffer coronary problems compared to people who had less than one cup dail. The researchers believe that the health benefits are down to antioxidants found in both drinks which remove damaging free radicals from the body.

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Dental Outreach in Ghana – the plan for 2010

Monday, June 7th, 2010

By the time you will be reading this piece I will have finished with the dental outreach setup, but this piece will introduce you to my journey in the development of the 2010 project.

The first question…..who can we work with?

2007 Vishal and Grant 236 150x150 Dental Outreach in Ghana – the plan for 2010

The Ashanti region suffers from some of the worst dental care in Ghana

Every year we work with a partner to deliver the dental project – it is important as we must have experienced professionals to supervise and teach the students. We can also rely on their extensive knowledge of dentistry in Ghana  and the problems that rural villagers face. This year, after a long discussion with dental health professionals here and also the team in the UK, we decided to approach Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital(KATH), the regional hospital that serves the whole of Ashanti region. I began the project research with a trip to Kumasi to meet our key contact, Dr. Karikari (the immediate former Chief Executive of the Hospital). I have to say that journeying through the countryside for four hours from Takoradi to Kumasi went very quickly – it was more of brainstorming moment than a scenic drive as there was SO much to think about!

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