My trip to Arusha_Tanzania
Gemma Cooper (Nursing)

I especially wanted to experience the Maasai culture. Ever since I did a project on the Maasai Tribes in my primary school I was fascinated, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get the chance to live in their community and learn firsthand about their beliefs and attitudes to modern health care.  It gave me a fantastic opportunity to appreciate basic community healthcare, and was both an amazing professional and personal experience.

I discovered Work the World, luckily, very early on in my planning of my elective; a company that took all the hard work out of organising this amazing experience, I was sold. I was supported and guided through every step of my elective planning; I contacted Work the World initially via email and never looked back. When travelling to the foothills of Kilimanjaro it helped to have someone there who spoke Swahili and could tailor the perfect placement to make sure I got just the elective I was after. Work the World did just that.

After a tearful send off but full of excitement, myself and two friends boarded the plane dressed in our Work the World hoodies and T-shirts. Touching down eventually in Kilimanjaro airport we were overjoyed to see the legend that is Freddy (programme director for the Work the World house in Arusha), also modelling his Work the World hoodie he was easily spotted through the crowd. After a short taxi ride where Freddy quizzed us on all our learnt Swahili (which wasn't a lot at that stage) we were greeted to a very warm welcome at the beautiful Arusha house. Witness (the chef and possibly the greatest woman in Arusha) poured us a glass of fresh pineapple juice and we sipped and chatted to the others already there. After a quick tour of the main house we were shown to our rooms, our room was in the bungalow (the place to be apparently! And in fact turned out just so).

Our first day was spent on orientation with Freddy around Arusha where we managed to get local SIM cards and phones sorted for that all important first phone call home. We were then shown the local internet cafes, restaurants, post office, book shops, hospitals and the Maasi market; where I developed haggling skills I never knew I possessed! After being treated to a traditional Tanzanian lunch we returned on the dala dala (once experienced never forgotten journey) back to the house where we had our first Kiswahali lesson - with weekly lessons you'll be surprised how quickly you pick it up.

My placement was at Mt. Meru District Hospital where I spent two weeks on OB/GYN and one week on the surgical / theatre wards. The experience I gained here was nothing like anything you would ever experience at home. I learnt how to be resourceful in a hospital with little resources. My biggest achievement was delivering a healthy baby boy, as a student nurse on placement in the UK this opportunity is just not possible. I also learnt how to provide after care for mother and baby and practiced skills such as cannulation, again an experience just not available to students in the UK. I gained confidence in myself and began to believe in the skills I had acquired in my two years of placements in the UK. The week I spent on the surgical / theatre wards were amazing and I saw things you never see in your local hospital;  injury from elephant tusks to name but one - I won't give away all the details, I'll let you find that out yourself!

The weekends were spent either sunbathing on the balcony or being a bit more adventurous. Even though I was only there for four weeks I managed to fit in quite a lot; some of my highlights were going on safari, trekking around the waterfalls of Kilimanjaro, Snake Park and local orphanage visits, batique painting, coffee plantation and brewery tours! All of which the 'oracle' aka Freddy, can organise for you - you really will love that guy.

My last week of placement was spent in the village of Enguruka, in a dispensary treating the surrounding Maasi Tribes. This was honestly the best experience of my life. I'd really settled into the Arusha house and I'd got a bit too accustomed to Witnesses fine food I was reluctant to leave. On meeting Lewis "the world's greatest Maasi warrior" my fears were relieved. After a somewhat uncomfortable 6 hour bus ride we were welcomed to our new home by Namelock my new surrogate Massai mother (who was in fact younger than me) and as it turned out became my friend, we spent many nights lying on the ground with our oil lamps looking up for shooting stars and giggling to our hearts content (and boy that girl loves to giggle!) Our mud hut was much more luxurious than I expected. The bed had a lovely warm blanket, the shower had a bucket and the toilet had a seat! What more do you need in the middle of nowhere! The dispensary was about 20 minutes away from the hut and what a beautiful walk it was, meeting the children of the village en route (my advice is to take lots of sweets - you'll soon begin to feel like the Pied Piper!). You get the opportunity to be fully involved in patient care, histories were translated then we got the opportunity to examine and diagnose and suggest appropriate medication, this became a big learning curve. The afternoons were spent dancing with the mammas, milking goats, making traditional jewellery, visiting the spiritual healer, playing with the children in the hut next door, or if you wanted too, just relaxing in the sun "simba time" as Lewis liked to call it. One afternoon we were treated to a traditional goat sacrifice as a vegetarian of 21 years I was somewhat apprehensive of this, but in fact I found myself fully caught up with the moment and ended up drinking goat's blood with the warriors?!?! Do not worry, you are not at all pressured to do so and I am once again happily a vegetarian but in future years it will definitely be a story to tell the children "when Mummy went to Africa, she drank goat's blood with the Maasai!"

This honestly was an experience of a lifetime and I would recommend Arusha and Work the World to anyone. The support is with you from the start with the lovely team in Brighton all the way to the end. Freddy, Witness, Emanuel and Innocent really all are legends, without them my experience would just not have been the same. I have made some amazing friends and experienced some amazing things with them, memories which will last forever.

I would like to say a BIG thank you to the whole Work the Work team for helping me gain such an amazing experience.

If you're having any doubts, just go - I had the time of my life.