Abby, our projects advisor, is always answering calls or meeting students at medical fairs that just don’t know where they want to go.  With such a good range of destinations, all of which have some amazing selling points, it’s easy to understand why it can be almost impossible to choose where you want to spend your time. To help you make your decision, we asked our students “how did you decide your elective or placement destination and are you happy with your choice?”.

Africa is a popular choice

For most, the decision seemed to lie between Africa and Asia as a whole. We had a large group of Chinese students from Hong Kong, who chose Africa and were split between our two Northern Tanzania destinations.  Grace Ng said “when planning my elective, I wanted to find a place where I could be exposed to things that I’ve never seen before. I choose Africa as I believe after this elective I’m not likely to have another chance to experience the medical side of this place again. Besides, I would also like to know and feel more on how people in other parts of the world live”. Wong Ka Wai also felt that as as a student from Hong Kong, “I wanted to go to a developing country to get to know more about their disease and gain more hand on experience. On the other hand I wanted to go to Africa to have a look. I am quite happy with my choice as this is a brand new experience so far”. Rutherford was the same – he has always had an “immense interest in developing countries. It is fascinating to see the people there work their way to the top through diligence and hard work. Tanzania is a place full of opportunity so I wish to explore more of it. I m very satisfied with the choice and am making the most out of the trip”.

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