An Amazing Experience at Mwananyamala Hospital

I went on my five week expedition with Projects Abroad in January of 2015. In Tanzania, I was in the Medicine program at Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar Es Salaam. That experience was what made everything worth it. During the five weeks that I was at the hospital, I rotated through the laboratory, the minor surgical ward, the major surgical ward, obstetrics, gynaecology, and paediatrics. The doctors in most of the wards were extremely helpful and taught us a lot of the medicine that they were practicing. It was a very hands on experience and I not only got to learn a lot, but I got to do a lot as well.

Also while in Dar Es Salaam, we lived with a local family. Being able to eat the home cooked food was definitely another wonderful addition to the expedition. The food was so good that there were days where all I could think about was going home for lunch and dinner. Hearing the stories of those who I lived with for those five weeks was also spectacular.

A really cool thing that they did during the volunteer program was Dirty Days. These days wouldn't be spent doing the normal project, but would instead have all of the volunteers from all of the programs come together and help the community. I ended up spending a day at an orphanage and another day painting a couple classrooms.

Overall, the experience was completely worth it. There was so much support from Projects Abroad that it felt like it was impossible to go wrong.