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…)
If you are up for a good trek and want to witness the sunrise in a whole new level, this is the place you should definitely try out. It is a once in a life time experience!
Adam's Peak
It’s a 3 hour Drive from Kandy to Adams Peak and the normal practice is to start trekking at 1.00 am in order to make it to the top to witness the sunrise. It normally takes 3- 4 hours to climb 5000 steps all the way to the top. The higher you go the colder you get!
An amazing sunrise!
It’s that time again…… the Work the World yearly conference is here!
The key reason for the conference is to discuss the programmes achievements (loads) and failings (barely any!) as well as talk about plans for the future. And though the days are filled with seminars and meetings, bringing everyone together naturally brings benefit to each member of the team. We get to learn more about what each person does, what challenges they face and how we can best support the rest of the group.
Last year the UK office and Jay from India headed out to Tanzania for the conference. For those of you that were following the blog, you’ll remember we had an amazing time visiting our programmes in Dar, Arusha and Lake Victoria. At each destination we enjoyed the hospitality of the house teams, with barbecues and dancing, visits to the local sights and tours of the hospitals we had heard so much about. It cemented mine and the rest of the sales and marketing teams understanding of the Tanzania programmes and now when we discuss Tanzania with students, it is with real passion for the destination.
This year it was our turn to host the conference and all seven programme managers were invited to Brighton for a week of fun, frolics and a few meetings. It’s amazing to go abroad, but we were really excited about welcoming the guys (and girl – sorry Nat!) to the UK as many had never been before. A few of the managers had never even left their home country, so Brighton was going to be a huge change for them. Nic put loads of work into finding the perfect house for them, Ali and Rob planned amazing days out in London to show them the sights and Faye slaved over her agenda to make sure we all got time with each programme manager. Simon had the camera on standby and Abby and Amy amalgamated hundreds of student queries about each destination ready to grill the managers. Flights were booked and sandwiches ordered, we were ready to go……
The timetable!
Hi Guys. This is a once in a life time experience you will be able to get. The Train Journey from Colombo to Kandy. We get First Class Tickets (A.K.A Observation Carriage) for our students. This is a two and a half hour train journey which includes a lovely scenic view as you enter the “HILL COUNTRY SIDE”.
The view from the train
The Kandy WTW Palace!
Hi all, my name is Kavinda and I am the Programme Manager in Sri Lanka. I thought I’ll give a little insight about our Accommodation in Kandy.
2011 – New Year – New House. We have managed to expand our student Accommodation in Kandy with a brand new house and new location which is a great location for the Kandy General Hospital.
It’s a New Modern House and it is getting cozier and very homely each day.
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.
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!
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.