Top Medical and Nursing Volunteer Opportunities Abroad

I enjoyed the orientation week a lot, because we saw the main attractions of Ho Chi Minh City and we got to learn about the Vietnamese culture. The whole week was very well organised and there was not a second when I was bored. I also enjoyed working with other volunteers during the program. You get to meet a lot of different people with different backgrounds who have the same aim, which is helping others. Overall this trip was a great experience for me. You can say it was the trip of my life. I got to meet a lot of interesting people who wanted to help other people. The fact that you can volunteer but at the same time travel around Vietnam is a great thing. I learned a lot about the vietnamese culture and tried a lot of food from its cuisine. I highly reccomend this trip to anyone who loves to travel. By volunteering you get to experience how some days look like for some of the locals. This way you get to know the culture of the country even better instead of just travelling.

It was very hands on and I learned an incredible amount. I also loved being immersed in a Spanish speaking country. I also had an incredible experience taking Spanish classes at Cusco--the class was small and our teacher was so engaging! For the following three weeks I volunteered a 40 min bus ride from Cusco. The staff was incredibly welcoming and I learned so much about the Peruvian health system and the burdens of diseases that affect the area.

I had such an incredible experience volunteering at the Orthopedic and Rehabilitation hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. I had an invaluable learning experience giving injections and bandaging open wounds, but I knew that the hospital had a continuous influx of volunteers from all over the globe. It was apparent that many of the families had become acclimated to the idea that a stranger with any degree of experience would be treating their loved ones. In a culture with an unbelievable commitment to family, loved ones assumed their roles as bedside nurses around the clock; tending to their family members to the point of sleeping on mats beneath their bed. Thus, an overwhelming sense of distrust and helplessness shrouded their faces as they stared at huddles of volunteers to whom they were given no introduction and to whom they were unable to communicate with in order to voice their concerns. Although my Vietnamese language skills were limited, I felt it was my duty to use what I knew to introduce myself and the other volunteers in hopes of easing their clenching eyebrows. The small exchange of words was enough to put a smile on their faces. I took comfort in expressing our keenness to help and relieving the impression that they were specimens at our disposal. My bilingual trade soon gave me a larger significance within the hospital. After my first rotation in the operating room, the senior orthopedic surgeon requested that I join the surgical team for their morning English classes. I was honored to lend a helping hand for something that they were truly eager to learn. Something that would help them enhance their credentials, so that they would be more qualified for a better job at the international hospital and better able to communicate with the volunteers. For three days a week, I arrived two hours early to accompany the surgical team: teaching them, learning from them, and laughing with them. Those moments reached far beyond the gratification of giving my first intramuscular injection. I esteemed the nonchalant air in which they diligently operated during surgery, but during these early hours I felt a sense of humility and a mutual sense of gratitude. When they welcomed me into the family by the end of my placement, I felt as though I successfully made a small mark on the country in which my roots are embedded. I loved getting to know the staff at the hospital and having the ability to go early and teach them english because I really felt as though I was helping them in something that they were eager to learn.