Village cultures and traditions can vary region upon region, so we provide you with a personal guide who is local to the community. He / she will meet you at the Work the World house on Sunday and take you by local transport to the village. Travelling with locals and watching the scenery change is a great introduction to your week. Your guide will also return back to the Work the World house with you the following Saturday.

You will work most mornings with a healthcare practitioner, but in your free time your guide will introduce you to local healers, help you learn the art of traditional cooking, involve you in local income generator schemes such as palm oil, take you to see local sights and arrange tribal dances and drumming demonstrations.

Your time in the village will be spent with a local host family who will provide you with simple living quarters and food for the duration of your stay. Most villages have no running water, relying on one or two central wells for the whole community, and long drop toilets (which you will get used to!).

Although you will be living as traditionally as possible, students will be provided with a room to share, clean sheets and fresh, purified water.

The same illnesses and issues exist in rural communities but attitudes to healthcare can be very different. There can also be a lack of equipment and facilities to treat effectively. Living and working amongst the locals will help you appreciate limited resources, delivery and understanding of treatment in rural communities as well as provide a huge contrast to your hospital or clinic placement.

A maximum of four people go on each village experience. With limited numbers you can fully integrate yourself into the community and enjoy a very personal experience, which is great for those keen to get away from the tourists and see what it is like to live in the real Africa.

Working in a clinic, dispensary or hospital within a rural village is also a unique opportunity to broaden your appreciation of the delivery of community healthcare in your chosen country. It will help you understand the importance of traditional medicine alongside modern treatment, the development of clinical pathologies in environments where obtaining treatment is difficult and also how practitioners deal with such wide ranging cases using minimal resource.

The Village Healthcare Experience is an invaluable experience, both professionally and personally, and will really stand out on C.V.