My trip to Mwanza Tanzania
Nicola Shortt (Medicine)

I only recently returned from spending 4 weeks in Tanzania with Work the World. I was one of the very first people to arrive in the brand new house at Lake Victoria, Mwanza. Since my return I have not regretted my decision to go to Tanzania on my elective at all, except maybe I should have stayed a bit longer!!

The journey into Mwanza was the first adventure in itself. I flew from Newcastle to Mwanza via Amsterdam, Nairobi and Kilimanjaro. Nairobi airport is a whole experience on its own (although it does have free wireless internet which is handy when you are stuck there for 10 hours). When we finally arrived at Mwanza airport we were greeted by a not-so-helpful customs lady who refused to let us into Tanzania until we paid for a tourist visa we had been assured we didn't need. Not a fantastic start, but it was soon resolved.

This was also the point I first discovered that nowhere in Africa will accept any US dollar bills that are pre-2006!

After finally making it out of the airport we were greeted by the very friendly and very excited faces of James and Alison who escorted us to our lovely house on the hill. Actually more like a mansion. I think we were all equally amazed by the house at Lake Victoria. Its huge, nicely furnished and the views from our room and balcony over Lake Victoria were just unbelievable. Over the month I was there I thoroughly enjoyed living in the house. Everyone got on really well and there was a very relaxed atmosphere. Bosco (our housekeeper) was fantastic, very helpful and always willing to teach a little bit of African traditional singing and dancing on BBQ night. Diana (our cook) was equally amazing. Food was very nice every night, always a choice of options and always enough for seconds! Not forgetting James, who is always there to help our and advise you on anything from hospital related queries to plans for the weekends.

I was based at Sekou Toure hospital and spent my first two weeks in Obs and Gynae, followed by two weeks in Paediatrics. Both were interesting, although personally I have to say I preferred Obs and Gynae. Where paediatrics was mainly malaria or pneumonia, Obs and Gynae had a much wider range of conditions and had more opportunity for getting involved. During my time I attended gynae ward rounds, clinics, spent time on the ante-natal and post-natal wards and was able to deliver numerous babies on my own on the delivery suite. Paediatrics was definitely good to experience, but as there wasn't as much opportunity to be hands on, I was pleased I had not chosen Paediatrics for my whole four weeks. The hospital itself is very, very different. It has to be seen to be believed really. I wore my white coat over smart-casual clothes, which was fine. I used a lot of my own alcohol gel but needn't have worried about taking gloves as they were well supplied. Work every day was finished by lunch time so we spent our afternoons relaxing and swimming in the pool at the nearby Hotel Tilapia which definitely became our local.

The most enjoyable part of the whole experience had to be our weekend adventures. The first was a safari to the Serengeti over two days which was just amazing. We saw so many animals and the views are out of this world. Our other adventure was a little more exciting. We hired a car and a driver and went for a 5 day road trip to Uganda and Rwanda. Whilst in Uganda we stayed in a place called Jinja and went Bungee Jumping over the river Nile and then spent the rest of the day White Water Rafting down the Nile. This was an experience I will never ever forget (especially the parts where I honestly thought I was going to drown but apparently it's all part of the experience!). Terrifying at times but great fun!

Finally, if you are ever bored and need something to do with an evening, go to Villa Park.  And order some Konjagi! Villa Park is the nearest and best bar/nightclub that we found and Konjagi is the local spirit. When a bottle of Konyagi plus mixers comes to less than £3 how can you possibly not have a good night?

Overall I wouldn't change my trip to Lake Victoria with Work the World one tiny bit. I loved every minute of it, from the house and all the lovely staff to the hospital to the white water rafting. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is thinking of going to Africa on elective!