Ali tours Asia!
Having been a full time backpacker before joining Work the World, I still can’t help but get excited when I land into a new airport in a new part of the world. I flew into Sri Lanka for the first time to set up our brand new destination in Asia – as soon as I left Colombo Airport, the smells, the sights, the adrenaline rush of being alone and looking after myself hit me. Our base is in Kandy, a gorgeous world heritage site nestled up in the hill country. The journey took 3 hours, which felt like an eternity after a long haul flight but once I reached Kandy and was met by our Programme Manager Kavinda, I felt right at home. Kavinda is new to Work the World but possesses all the qualities to be a good Programme Manager – he is not only organised and has a thorough understanding of what UK medical students desires from an elective placement, but also loves music, dancing, cooking and promises to take our girls sari shopping!
There are two large hospitals in Kandy and we visited both to check out the scope for the new Work the World programme. We were welcomed by the main Dr who showed us around the 2,200 bedded Kandy General Hospital, which will be our main partner for the pilot programme launching in June. Despite its size, the hospital was still crowded and we witnessed many floor patients and long queues for the outpatients.