ELI Abroad | Medical Internships in Uganda

Between my first and second years of medical school, a friend told me about ELI Abroad. She had used ELI to go to India and I sat down with the website to see if they offered any medical programs in areas I was interested in. I'd always wanted to go to Africa, but I was never able to afford it. Fortunately, ELI's prices were manageable and I was able to get my application done quickly. The turnaround time was super short and before I knew it, I was accepted into the program and given an idea of what I'd be doing.

During my stay, I learned a lot about how medicine is practiced in places where labs and imaging just isn't available. I honed my physical exam skills and got my first introduction to surgery and OB/GYN. I also learned a lot about infectious disease. I worked with doctors and medical students every day and they were very good teachers. They always taught in English, so the language barrier was minimal - the only people who didn't always speak English were patients.

I stayed with a host family during my time there and continue to keep in touch with them. They took me along to weddings and made sure I got to explore the area around me. They were also willing to take me wherever I wanted to go before I was comfortable going places on my own.

The only difficulties I encountered was the language barrier. Though most people are educated in English, they usually chose to speak the local language and thus, you sometimes felt a bit left out.