Has anyone volunteered abroad?

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A group of girls in my nursing program are seriously considering going for a 6 week volunteer trip to Honduras this summer. We would be working in a health clinic/hospital in an underserved area. There is a program called Volunteering Solutions, which is the cheapest we've found. It includes housing with a local family, and 3 meals a day. There are lots of testimonials on their website, but I was just wondering if any of you have done something like this, and how was your experience?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Military, PICC Line RN.

I have not "volunteered abroad". I did spend a week in the British Virgin Islands during my last semester as a nursing student. We spent the week doing complete head-to-toe assessments on their primary 5 students (5th graders). I do mean complete - even breast and "private area" exams. We also spent a good deal of time educating parents on multiple things such as proper hygiene, health care, and diet. It was an amazing experience - despite my many years in the medical field it was the first time I ever felt autonomous and had to assess patients so thoroughly on my own. I think just that one week made a huge difference in the level of nursing care I now give my patients and the confidence I have in my assessment skills.

We also were given a tour of the local hospital - what an eye opening experience. I think USA hospitals look more like luxury hotels in comparison. It was a very eye opening experience. I would highly recommend anyone take the chance to visit another country. It will very likely make you a better nurse - and at the very least make you appreciate the American hospital you work in. (I wish some of my patients spend a day in a poorer country's hospital - I know they would be more appreciative of the care and education level of their providers here in the states :) ).

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Yes, spent nearly a year in Bangladesh and India (many years ago). In children's homes, so not hospital nursing, more like camp counselor and public health mixed. It was wonderful. More recently, spent several weeks teaching in a SON in India (took my daughter with me); loved every minute of it.

Paid for it myself, housing, travel, food and all (last trip). If you are going with a group that organizes it for you, get it clearly stated what you are responsible for, and what they pay for, so no surprises. Have a credit card with enough money to get home on in emergencies.

Totally worth it. :redbeathe

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Thanks for your answers, its good to hear that you both had such great experiences! I am so excited and hope it will open my eyes to another culture and get some real hands-on experience.

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I'm a nursing student too and volunteering abroad was definitely worth the money I saved. A priceless experience. I volunteered for a month in Guatemala last summer and it was incredibly rewarding. The other healthcare students and I worked in the clinic serving the rural community, went out with the mobile clinic, and even got to work with a rural midwife. I highly recommend volunteering abroad, as it opened my eyes, I got great hands-on experience, and I got to really work on my medical spanish. While I was there, I travelled around Central America a bit and fell in love with the area. You'll like Honduras. The people are so friendly! Enjoy!! Oh, and a tip: take a journal with you. Even if you're not a journal person, I suggest jotting things down that you see/do. You'll appreciate it in the future!

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Starfish-

I actually found another program that I like better, IVHQ, that goes to Guatamala and am 95% sure that is where I want to go now. Im even more sure now after hearing how much you loved it! What program did you go with? Did you get to do a lot of hands on stuff even though you were not an RN? Like give injections? Any suggestions for where to travel while we're there?

Thanks for the info!

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I'm a nursing student too and volunteering abroad was definitely worth the money I saved. A priceless experience. I volunteered for a month in Guatemala last summer and it was incredibly rewarding. The other healthcare students and I worked in the clinic serving the rural community, went out with the mobile clinic, and even got to work with a rural midwife. I highly recommend volunteering abroad, as it opened my eyes, I got great hands-on experience, and I got to really work on my medical spanish. While I was there, I travelled around Central America a bit and fell in love with the area. You'll like Honduras. The people are so friendly! Enjoy!! Oh, and a tip: take a journal with you. Even if you're not a journal person, I suggest jotting things down that you see/do. You'll appreciate it in the future!

Who did you volunteer with? I would love to do this!

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It was called Associacion Pop Wuj and the website is http://www.pop-wuj.org/. They have a few program options and I did the Medical one- it includes clinic time, as well as daily one-on-one medical spanish lessons. I know volunteering programs can be pretty pricey, but this one was reasonable. As a student, I did triage (basically vitals), health histories (you could always pair up with another student who was better at spanish if you weren't confident in the language skills), assisted/observed the two doctors, and filled the prescriptions and gave instructions to the patients at the clinic's little "pharmacy." I didn't have the opportunity to give any injections or anything like that, but I got to see a lot and still feel that I got hands-on experience. With the mobile clinic, we went out to rural schools and did mostly well-child checks and stuff. And if you wanted to work with the amazing midwife at her rural home/clinic, you got to help with lots of prenatal visits and if you're lucky enough to be there when a woman came in to give birth, see that. Overall, I'd highly recommend it!

Raynbabe07, as far as places to go while you're there, I was lucky enough to do a bit of traveling before I started the program in Xela and here are my favorites: Lake Atitlan (a must!), Antigua (a little too touristy for me, but worth a quick stop), Tikal ruins, Livingston and Rio Dulce area (a totally different culture and very interesting), and the huge Chichicastenango market day.

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Starfish,

Thanks for posting! As a result, I'm looking into traveling to Guatemala to experience Pop Wuj: shadowing the rural midwife sounds like a great learning experience.

I'm currently a first year nursing student.

One of my friends is a long-time RN, and invited me to accompany her on a short term mission to Brazil this summer. However, it was going to cost ~$2600 for only 10 days! But, it piqued my interest in doing SOMETHING in that vein over the break. So, I was researching volunteer opportunities, and came across your post.

Some questions:

1) Did you travel alone or in a group? As of now, it'd just be me traveling down there.

2) Did you do the recommended two weeks 'Immersion' before starting the 4 wk 'Medical' portion?

3) Do you know if the homestay can be extended past completion of the Pop Wuj program? (i.e., I want to buy my plane ticket, but I'm not sure if I should plan to stay in Guatemala an extra week past when my Pop Wuj program ends in case I want to do some traveling after. Oh the decisions.)

Thanks,

Colleen

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Colleen,

That's awesome you're inspired to go abroad. You won't regret it!

I did the program by myself, but made friends with the other volunteers right away. I think when you put students with similar interests together in a foreign country, they're bound to become close. Summer is the busy time at Pop Wuj, so there were about 20 of us in the Medical Program alone. We ended up working every other morning in the clinic and every other morning doing mobile clinic since there were so many of us.

I didn't do the "immersion" portion. I'd taken quite a bit of spanish before, already studied abroad in Costa Rica, and travelled with my boyfriend for 3 weeks in Central America before starting the program. But if you have the time and money, I'd say go for it. Or travel instead to see more of Central America. If you've never taken spanish before, the immersion program might be a good precursor to the medical spanish program though.

They're so nice and flexible as far as extensions and homestays. I'm sure you can stay a week longer with your family if you want, as long as you pay (it's cheap). My mom and grandma actually came down to visit me the last week I was there and they paid to stay in the homestay with my family as well, but didn't do the program at all. If you email Pop Wuj, they're good about answering any questions you may have. Just a suggestion, if you want to travel after the program, I'd recommend leaving Xela and seeing other parts of the country. There isn't a ton to do/see in Xela that you can't cover on little weekend trips. I'd recommend taking a bus and staying in hostels in other areas for that week. But that's just me :)

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Hey All!

I'm late on this post but I was hoping to travel and do some medical spanish. Pop-Wuj was one of the first sites I looked into. I'm living in Georgia, so I'm curious about flights. Were there students from across the country? Was setting up the flight and airport pickup easy? I'm seriously looking into this, but my parents are concerned about safety. Can you shed any light?

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This.is.my.dream. - gosh, I would *LOVE* to do something like this. Hopefully one day!

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