In 2015 we received an application for a Youth Travel Bursary which did not strictly meet our criteria, but nevertheless very worthy of a grant. Here is Rachel Cunliffe’s report:
At the end of June I travelled to Ghana for a month to take part in a mobile medical project that aimed to serve rural communities without healthcare. Ghana is a naturally beautiful country and most of m
y time was spent in the north; it was fascinating to see how the mud huts of villages in the north differed from the modern buildings in Accra, the capital.
Each day we would visit a different community and see up to 150 patients, as a pharmacy student I was heavily involved in the pharmacy we would set up and I found it particularly interesting to see the wide range of treatments we were using. I feel this was an invaluable experience as I had the opportunity to see many conditions that I would rarely get to see in practice here in the UK, such as malaria and snakebites. As part of the project I was also able to spend some of the days shadowing the doctors or helping out with kids work which was great fun but also extremely tiring trying to entertain the seemingly endless crowds of children most of whom had little to no understanding of English.
I learnt more than I could have ever imagined but I think one of the things that touched me most was how happy everyone we met was. From the outside it might not seem like they have a lot but they are thankful for everything they do have which is something I felt I could definitely learn from. Although we were busy with work there was still time to visit some idyllic and unspoilt beaches, a national park and of course sample the delights of Ghanaian cuisine. I could not have asked for a better time in Ghana and it has certainly been a month I will never forget.
Please see our Youth Travel Bursary application form to discover whether you may be eligible for a Bursary or otherwise
