Not to be outdone by the Tanzanians, we decided to ask our students for their top tips for Trivandrum. Karina and Samantha gave us a list:
Pouring coffee in the market
Supermarket for food, stationary etc: Big Bazaar
Jewellery store: Bhima, Ayurveda College Junction
Bangles: Niveda, Ayurveda College Junction
To spend 1-2 hours in Trivandrum: Napier Museum
In Lake Victoria, every thursday evening, staff and students prepare some live performances to make the bbq party more lively and funny. Last week the local staff sang and danced the local songs while students performed the western songs. We all enjoyed it!! It was also a good opportunity to ask the students their top tips for tours, restaurants, bars and other favourite places. Here are a few of the things they came back with
LOCAL FLIGHTS: Booking domestic flights locally while in Tanzania with Precisionair cuts cost by up to 50% compared to booking before arrival. Note: There is special rate for students but ID is necessary.
Our Tanzania teams were also keen to share their clinical highlights and Arusha, Lake Victoria and Zanzibar and students have all come back to us with some great comments.
Over in Arusha at Mt Meru hospital, Deborah Adams really enjoyed learning about “sickle cell anaemia on a ward round with Dr Mushi” and Paula – Ann Bailey thought “seeing the neonates in the preemie ward was amazing!”. Angela Charalambous had the opportunity to “observe two births, participate in amassing the mother, including measuring the blood pressure, doing vaginal examination and checking the babies heart rate. The first day was a culture shock, but I am sure I will get used to it!” and Siwan Elliot commented about how much you can learn from placements overseas. “Assisting in labour has to be the clinical highlight for me; in the UK this is not possible for me to do. Spending time in minor surgery also gave me opportunities to aid in plaster clinic and to remove sutures, which is a well needed skill. Ward round also gave me opportunities to learn about differing diseases which aren’t as predominant in the UK”.
Some of team we work with in Ghana
This week I asked our students in Ghana and India what their clinical highlight had been so far. I received some amazing answers! It seems everyone is loving getting stuck in and really making sure they make the most of their elective placement.
Catriona Macdougall wrote her highlight was “watching a ‘chest drain’ being improvised for a boy with an emphyema using a cannula, giving set and urine collection bag. We could see his respiratory distress improve almost immediately”.
The Times published an article this week about the problems of voluntourism and the exploitation of students that sign up to enticing sounding volunteer projects overseas, only to end up disillusioned and disappointed when their placement turns out to be of no real benefit, or is sometimes even deemed detrimental to the community.
Boys playing in India
Although Work the World send out gap year students on specific healthcare placements, and the Times article was focusing on companies that send volunteers to work on charitable projects, the message throughout the article about what students should be careful of when booking overseas trips to work in other communities, applies equally to us.
When Dave and Omar set up Work the World it was partly because they had met so many students in similar situations to those mentioned in the article. They wanted to start a company that actually did what it said on the tin and provided gap year students with an amazing experience, whilst at the same time creating a sustainable project in an overseas base that provided work for locals and was of benefit to the community.
Competition for jobs is reaching an all-time high, something that 2009′s graduating healthcare students are well aware of. Whereas students of 2007 or 2008 may have donned a backpack and travelled for a while to chill out after their studies, the graduating students of 2009 fear that a job may not be forthcoming on their return and are doing their best to secure one of the limited vacancies available asap.
Dental Outreach Ghana
The government have recognised that the situation for graduating students is a bit dire and have set up supported internships and various bursary schemes to help out. They are also keen to communicate one of their key messages – that students can use this opportunity to gain work experience and help themselves. This is a great recommendation because it’s absolutely true! Work experience can not only help you decide exactly what your interests are and add to your skills profile, it can also really add depth to your CV. Relevant and interesting work experience show that students are committed, and also have some understanding of their profession.