October medical outreaches have now came to an end and our short-term volunteers have already left. They have been here working with us for three weeks, joining our local staff in providing medicines and treatments around Arua, Pakwach and Nebbi districts, being able to reach more than 500 patients per day
They have been incredible, hard-working and very helpful; their energy and positive attitude made the outreaches proceed smoothly and even though sometimes we felt overwhelmed, being all together as part of a strong team made things easier.
I have so decided to collect our short and log term volunteers’ impressions, emotions and feelings about their experience here in Nebbi, to have an insight into their perspectives on our medical outreaches.
Could you please tell us one special moment you have experienced during our medical outreaches?
Kashif-short term volunteer from Pakistan: One of the most memorable moments was announcing the names of patients when handing out medicines. Our attempts at pronouncing the local names often led to laughter from the community and ourselves, creating a joyful and light-hearted atmosphere.
Dominik-short term volunteer from Slovakia: I really enjoyed working in the pharmacy during outreaches especially in Arua. When we had to distribute the medicaments people were laughing every time because of mispronunciation of their names. Even if all these people had difficulties in their everyday life, we were able to make them happy just making our job.
Laura-short term volunteer from Italy: I really enjoyed the first day in Arua. It was the first outreach and I did not know exactly what to expect. When we arrived, there were already people waiting for us at 8 in the morning. As we parked the car they greeted us with a great smile and a local authority from the district welcomed us and gave a speech. I immediately felt that what we would be doing was important and is highly appreciated and needed in the community.
During that day I was working at registration and I was positively surprised by how thankful the people were of our service. I registered patients of all ages and genders, and most of them were showing appreciation and gratefulness with words or with a sparkle and smile in their eyes (when they did not speak English). As the patients came back to our station to hand us the note filled out by the doctor, many of them (especially the women) made a small curtsy and thanked us again. I had the feeling that they were very grateful and I now know that many people in rural areas cannot afford visits to the doctor or medicine, so I feel like the work the organisation is doing has a real direct impact in the communities. This is a great source of motivation for me and hopefully for other volunteers as well.
Chloe-long term volunteer from England: Of course, treating the patients and seeing the people taken care of will stay with me forever, but one of the experiences I will cherish the most is spending the time with the local staff / volunteers. It has been so insightful to understand more about the challenging situation of nurses and doctors in this country, as well as the situation of the patients. Despite this, they always have a positive attitude, are a joy to work with and are just generally very interesting people to get to know.
Could you please now tell us a challenge you have faced?
Laura: A challenge I faced was while working at pharmacy when I had to distribute medicines to the beneficiaries. In order to do this, we had to call out their names in their local language and often it was difficult to pronounce them correctly and the people did not know we were calling their name. However, with the help of the other beneficiaries it was always possible to overcome this obstacle as they would pronounce their name on our behalf. Despite the challenge, it was also fun to learn how to pronounce different names and the reactions of the locals were often very funny as they were laughing at our accents. I felt like they were enjoying our pronounciation rather than feeling annoyed by it. And in a way, we created a connection with the locals once we finally managed to pronounce their names and deliver the medicine.
Elena: During my first outreach I had to work at the lab desk and I had to do HIV and malaria test and I remember clearly that my hands were shacking, because it was my first time to do them and I was scared to hurt the patients or to get something wrong.
Chloe: A challenge I felt was a feeling of helplessness. Although the camps are providing basic care, it is challenging to see that some people need more than just basic care, and I worry for the people who might need a follow up appointment and have no access to it. This experience has made me realise how health underpins everything. Without basic medical support people can not be productive at work, cannot care for their families / communities children can't learn at school and people can't survive properly, so I wish there was more we could do.
What are your emotions and feelings after this experience?
Kashif: I think the outreaches we did so far have an immense impact on the ground. I feel very satisfied and contented after the outreach.
Volkan-long term volunteer from Turkey: I like outreaches and being helpful to the people. After the outreach my feelings are like " okay today we did some good job for community, and i'm up for to do it again soon”. Outreaches are as a new breath for me after some months without them; it’s nice to have some new volunteers coming for them and I really love working on them.
Laura: I feel like I make a positive contribution and I have a big motivation to work during the outreach. I think that the outreaches are a great starting point to tackle the health challenges that people in rural areas are facing. I think outreaches are greatly needed, and I feel like I might have changed someone's life after a coming back after a hard day of work. I hope that the organisation will receive the support needed to scale up its work to have an even higher and structural impact in the communities.
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