Volunteering in Nursing and Construction

Hi everybody,

I volunteered together with my husband last September (2011) for 2 weeks. I did volunteering as a nurse and my husband did the construction part.

Basicially we had placement 4 times a week. I started at 7ish whilst my husband started at 8/9am.

My placement took place in different places. I worked in a health centre where i basically did wound cleaning, removal sutures or administered im injections. Specific days like wednesday we would be taking routine vitals and blood samples. I worked within the ER of a hospital and once out to the fields to test the farmers for pesticide contamination.

Throughout my placement I always had someone there to help me with my translations and answer any questions I had.

Apart from being able to help the people of the Surin village the experience taught to be an educational one. I encountered different diseases due to the poor conditions most of these people live in.

My husband on the other hand was basically painting part of the school. He was the only worker there at the time and so it would sometimes get a bit lonely. Nonetheless nearby there we plenty of children being taught by other volunteers so it was nice for him to just see the children enjoying themselves.

During our placement we found lots of help not our regarding volunteering but help with our other travels from the staff at the Starfish office. Plus they were always up for a good night out!!!

Our accommodation was simple but enough! Surin is a fairly quiet area, but a good place to relax and have a good cheap beer!

This experience was also great to make new friends. It was great to hear about other's experiences during their travels and in addition it helps to plan out the rest of ur travels.

All in all the experience was amazing!! We would love to have the opportunity to do some volunteering with starfish again!

I would recommend that if you have more time on your hands, shift through different volunteering placements!!

Wishing you a fruitful experience,

Christianne&Jo :))))))