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Last summer, groups of 3-5 enthusiastic and adventurous individuals alternated months in travelling to the far off land of India to volunteer as medical workers and health educators in the overpopulated and extremely poor city of Kolkata in West Bengal.
Who we worked for:
IIMC (Institute for Indian Mother and Child) is a grassroots NGO non-government organization working in the rural areas south of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It targets women and children with an aim to empower them through provision of skills/opportunities such as education (often via child sponsorship), microcredit, health worker training, women’s cooperatives and women’s peace council. It has built over twenty schools in areas where previously there were none. It also has five rural health outreach clinics whose main focus is primary health care and establishing trust among rural population.
This population has been ignored by mainstream/ government services due to their illiteracy, their rural, isolated location and their 'low' caste and social background. Every month, IIMC takes international volunteers who work with the local volunteers. This provides the organization with both financial and international support, increasing its credibility to the target population.
Dr. Cherie Graziotti worked with IIMC for around 5 years, both as a medical student at the end of her third year and by conducting a child health survey amongst all Australian sponsor children at the end of her 5th year. Following this, she developed the health education idea that the recently returned volunteers piloted this year.
“Health education is by far the most powerful thing that young people like us can offer to the staff and rural population there, so I am very keen to work with the director of the organization to continue sending volunteers for this purpose. We hope to gradually develop a solid health education program for mothers and health workers at IIMC.”, Dr. Graziotti commented.
Where did we go?
This was a rural health organization working with many rural villages, so basically whichever of the surrounding villages they wanted us to go to. The organization is based in the main indoor clinic in a suburb on the outskirts of Kolkota. We’d climb into a rickety old bus with the nurses and doctors and go on breathtakingly beautiful drives over potholed roads through the jungle and rice paddy landscape to remote villages 1-3 hours away. The clinics would be small rooms in a building in some village field, the furthest being on a little remote island.
What we did:
As medical volunteers we basically did ward rounds and administered the treatment of the indoor patients or treated the walk-in patients in the outdoor clinics with the nurses. The main treatments were dressings for skin infections, blood pressure and endless injections. Patients spoke limited English so there was a lot of non-verbal communication or speaking in our limited Bengali which we learnt while over there.
As health educators we taught women, children and health workers through translators about the basic concepts we grew up on including nutrition, family planning and hygiene through posters, skits and interactive songs or games. We also ran a 3 day training workshop for old and new female health-workers who traveled from miles around to stay at IIMC and do some intensive learning.
What did we prepare?
While in Australia we researched and put together a number of lesson plans to teach to different target groups: children, women and health workers. We were given a number of subjects which we divided and each researched independently.
Cost?
About $300 for the program including accommodation. Including flights it cost me about $1500.
Who can get involved?
Undergraduate medical students!!! We want to send another 9-15 students over again. You go for a month over the holidays, December, January or February. You must be able to commit to a meeting every 3-4 weeks after acceptance as preparation.
Want to apply?
Applications will be taken around may. Just email expressing interest, why you want to volunteer, what skills you can bring to the trip and what you hope to get out of it. If we have a large number of applicants interviews may be conducted.
Don’t want to apply but want to help?
We’ll have a number of fundraising events over the year from movie nights to maybe a concert at the end of exams. Keep an eye out and come along, bring your whole family and anyone else who’s interested. If you can help out with something let us know eg. You have a great band and want to play at our concert.
Last year we held a fundraising event called 'Ultrasound' to raise funds towards a much needed ultrasound machine for one of the remote maternity clinics. We got a few small local bands to play at the Camelot Theatre and sold some food and beverages. Together with some generous donations from people who weren’t able to make it on the day, we raised around $3,200. With this help IIMC has been able to purchase the machine and is in the process of having its usage approved and it installed. This will help decrease child and maternal mortality in these very isolated areas of West Bengal.
A final note
The people you meet and work you do will change your outlook on life. This kind of work is why a lot of us want to study medicine and this opportunity for preclinical students doesn’t come often. This is an amazing experience and so much fun. It’s a cheap, easy and safe way to travel and I personally recommend it to anyone with a sense of adventure and fun who wants to try something different and special over the summer.
For more information on any aspect of this article please contact Emi and Michelle.
Dr Cherie Graziotti and Susanna Hoffmann (3rd year medical student)
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