Volunteering Abroad

[ralk]

Some fairly strong opinions against the short term medical trips.  I propose that there are some positives both for the student and the local communities. 

 

The ones involving mobile medical/dental clinics do alot of good.   They work in areas that have zero basic medical care in remote areas of Nicaragua or Panama as example.  Most trips are 10-14 days.   They are short , so it is true that there is really not alot that can be accomplished by any one individual in such a short time.    The student does get a taste of the state of (lack of)  medical care in 3rd world countries.  They get to see the dedication and passion that the doctors, dentists, nurses that are on the trip have for their work.  It also makes the student aware of how lucky we are in Canada.

 

The costs of the trips are expensive.   The reality is that about half of the price of the trip goes to funding the mobile clinic.  With 25 students on a trip - it provides $25,000 to fund the clinic for the week.    It pays for equipment, supplies, and partial salaries for the paid doctors and nurses on the trip.  Many of the professional staff are local to the country.  Some come as volunteers as well.    Without the students paying for the trip - the mobile clinics would not occur.

 

The students essentially do all the grunt work such as packing/unpacking, setting up & organizing.  They get to partially shadow what the doctors and nurses are doing and help in the non-medical aspects.  They get to do things like hand out vitamins or parasite medications, record keeping, and basic health promotion.  Students do learn things by observing.

 

In a 10 day trip there may be 5 clinic days which are 12-14 hour days.   The days in between involve travel and some downtime.  The days around the remote clinics include billeting at a local family.  The billeting can be as much an eye opener as the clinic days.  The trips may finish up with a beach day or similar (1 day out of 10).

 

For people who did respond to this thread, have you been on a VIDA or Medical Brigades or similar ?   If you have not, are you in a position to comment ?   Watching a few TED talks  or volunteering in a local Canadian hospital pushing the snack cart is not  the same as what you can see first hand on these trips.

 

For the comments of people who said just go travel instead,  not many people are brave enough to venture to a place like Nicaragua or Ghana on their own - let alone go into a rural area with no water or power.

 

For the skilled professionals like doctors and nurses and dentists that do volunteer for 1-2 month stints in " xx without borders",  did you think maybe they became aware of the need from a VIDA trip in their undergrad years ?

 

So, the bolded part is really the main point I'm trying to make. Most people aren't brave enough to venture to a place like Nicaragua or Ghana and actually see the country - that's why they do sheltered experiences like voluntourism, which give a fairly safe, incomplete picture of the country. Just like voluntourism gives the illusion of helping (without actually helping), it also gives the illusion of experiencing life in a different country (without actually experiencing life in a different country). I agree, going alone might not be the best idea, but who says you have to go alone?

 

I can respect that students going abroad are helping to pay for the work done by actual professionals, though that kind of reinforces the notion that this is a vacation for wealthy students. The main positive out of it is the money - that $25,000 should get the EC on its CV, not the students. I am aware that many individuals do fundraising to pay for these trips and that fundraising is valuable if it goes towards productive means such as funding a mobile clinic, but in that case it should be acknowledged that at least half that money is going to pay for the student's vacation abroad as well.

 

The $1000 it costs for each student to go there for two weeks is comparable to the per capita GDP of some of those countries. You could pay 25 students from that country a couple hundred bucks each to do all the grunt work in those clinics - it would be a financial windfall for some of them and give exposure to medicine to students who might actually make long-term use of that knowledge within the country.

 

As for awareness of needs in those countries, I apologize for being blunt once again, but read a freaking book or something. Heck, you don't even need to move off your computer - try an edX course on global health or social development, there's quite a number of them.

 

Or, as others have put better than I could, do something here. There's plenty that would change your worldview right here at home. I'll do a shameless plug for a charity I care about - Big Brothers Big Sisters is always looking for more volunteers and in some cities the waiting list can be as long as 5 years, particularly for boys. I guarantee it'll make you see the world a bit differently.

[amichel]

Some fairly strong opinions against the short term medical trips. I propose that there are some positives both for the student and the local communities.

 

The ones involving mobile medical/dental clinics do alot of good. They work in areas that have zero basic medical care in remote areas of Nicaragua or Panama as example. Most trips are 10-14 days. They are short , so it is true that there is really not alot that can be accomplished by any one individual in such a short time. The student does get a taste of the state of (lack of) medical care in 3rd world countries. They get to see the dedication and passion that the doctors, dentists, nurses that are on the trip have for their work. It also makes the student aware of how lucky we are in Canada.

 

The costs of the trips are expensive. The reality is that about half of the price of the trip goes to funding the mobile clinic. With 25 students on a trip - it provides $25,000 to fund the clinic for the week. It pays for equipment, supplies, and partial salaries for the paid doctors and nurses on the trip. Many of the professional staff are local to the country. Some come as volunteers as well. Without the students paying for the trip - the mobile clinics would not occur.

 

The students essentially do all the grunt work such as packing/unpacking, setting up & organizing. They get to partially shadow what the doctors and nurses are doing and help in the non-medical aspects. They get to do things like hand out vitamins or parasite medications, record keeping, and basic health promotion. Students do learn things by observing.

 

In a 10 day trip there may be 5 clinic days which are 12-14 hour days. The days in between involve travel and some downtime. The days around the remote clinics include billeting at a local family. The billeting can be as much an eye opener as the clinic days. The trips may finish up with a beach day or similar (1 day out of 10).

 

For people who did respond to this thread, have you been on a VIDA or Medical Brigades or similar ? If you have not, are you in a position to comment ? Watching a few TED talks or volunteering in a local Canadian hospital pushing the snack cart is not the same as what you can see first hand on these trips.

 

For the comments of people who said just go travel instead, not many people are brave enough to venture to a place like Nicaragua or Ghana on their own - let alone go into a rural area with no water or power.

 

For the skilled professionals like doctors and nurses and dentists that do volunteer for 1-2 month stints in " xx without borders", did you think maybe they became aware of the need from a VIDA trip in their undergrad years ?

I'm sorry, but even by your own argument, if students just fundraised and donated the money instead, then twice as many supplies/physicians/whatever could be sent... Well maybe slightly less than twice after administration fees, but still.

[JohnGrisham]

So, the bolded part is really the main point I'm trying to make. Most people aren't brave enough to venture to a place like Nicaragua or Ghana and actually see the country - that's why they do sheltered experiences like voluntourism, which give a fairly safe, incomplete picture of the country. Just like voluntourism gives the illusion of helping (without actually helping), it also gives the illusion of experiencing life in a different country (without actually experiencing life in a different country). I agree, going alone might not be the best idea, but who says you have to go alone?

 

I can respect that students going abroad are helping to pay for the work done by actual professionals, though that kind of reinforces the notion that this is a vacation for wealthy students. The main positive out of it is the money - that $25,000 should get the EC on its CV, not the students. I am aware that many individuals do fundraising to pay for these trips and that fundraising is valuable if it goes towards productive means such as funding a mobile clinic, but in that case it should be acknowledged that at least half that money is going to pay for the student's vacation abroad as well.

 

The $1000 it costs for each student to go there for two weeks is comparable to the per capita GDP of some of those countries. You could pay 25 students from that country a couple hundred bucks each to do all the grunt work in those clinics - it would be a financial windfall for some of them and give exposure to medicine to students who might actually make long-term use of that knowledge within the country.

 

As for awareness of needs in those countries, I apologize for being blunt once again, but read a freaking book or something. Heck, you don't even need to move off your computer - try an edX course on global health or social development, there's quite a number of them.

 

Or, as others have put better than I could, do something here. There's plenty that would change your worldview right here at home. I'll do a shameless plug for a charity I care about - Big Brothers Big Sisters is always looking for more volunteers and in some cities the waiting list can be as long as 5 years, particularly for boys. I guarantee it'll make you see the world a bit differently.

Great counterpoints - I was going to type of a lengthy response, but you covered all my main points!

 

I would second Big Brothers and Big Sisters - a child I work with, has had a big brother for about 5 months now, and there sure has been a difference in his mood, and outlooks on problems that arise. 

[wallaroo]

Poor OP, wanted some concrete advice and instead this thread is full of people making tonnes of judgements about him/her and the friend. Opinions are all valid, of course, but very little people have actually answered the question. 

 

OP, it depends on the type of work/volunteer that your friend is interested in. I would suggest they think about what they want to work in, be it a particular population (homelessness, children, maternal health), particular disease (TB, HIV, etc), or not healthcare related at all. Once they've decided that, then ask around or google it.

 

I actually think that looking within your university provides some good opportunities, and these opportunities also tend to be more personalized. For example, rather than volunteering with a big company like red cross or building schools, where they just want to take the hundreds of dollars of admin fees for 2 weeks of building schools, why not get involved in a club/organization on campus where there's an opportunities to send you to a satellite office abroad to intern for the summer.

 

That's what I did. It was really rewarding, cheaper, and I got to experience more culture because I could afford to stay for longer. Not to mention it was much more personalized, since I wasn't in a "program", I could ask for what I was interested in, and get placed in that environment. I don't know if all universities will clubs like these, but it's worth a try.

[amichel]

Poor OP, wanted some concrete advice and instead this thread is full of people making tonnes of judgements about him/her and the friend. Opinions are all valid, of course, but very little people have actually answered the question.

 

OP, it depends on the type of work/volunteer that your friend is interested in. I would suggest they think about what they want to work in, be it a particular population (homelessness, children, maternal health), particular disease (TB, HIV, etc), or not healthcare related at all. Once they've decided that, then ask around or google it.

 

I actually think that looking within your university provides some good opportunities, and these opportunities also tend to be more personalized. For example, rather than volunteering with a big company like red cross or building schools, where they just want to take the hundreds of dollars of admin fees for 2 weeks of building schools, why not get involved in a club/organization on campus where there's an opportunities to send you to a satellite office abroad to intern for the summer.

 

That's what I did. It was really rewarding, cheaper, and I got to experience more culture because I could afford to stay for longer. Not to mention it was much more personalized, since I wasn't in a "program", I could ask for what I was interested in, and get placed in that environment. I don't know if all universities will clubs like these, but it's worth a try.

I don't think anybody was actually attacking the OP, just some discussion about the topics in general. And lots of people gave advice, they said it would be better to contribute to one's home community or seek a longer term opportunity (as you did). It might not have been the advice people are looking to hear, but it's solid advice.

[Curi0user]

I think it is pretty important for premeds to shut off their cute neurotic premed minds when travelling. This is me standing up for the one thing I hold sacred: exploring the world.

 

Tell your friend that if he/she wants to travel, do it with no ulterior motives. Ultimately, she/he would probably have way more to talk about.