Want to go to Africa?

[MightyMoose]

I wish this opportunity was around last summer (or that I knew about it), but if you're interested, I just got this email at my university account and thought someone, or a lot of you, could benefit.

Here is the email:

Would you like to spend the summer making a lasting impact on community health and development in rural villages insub-Saharan Africa? Have you always wanted to experience and learn about the culture of East Africa? If so, please consider applying to Uganda Village Project's summer program.

Uganda Village Project - a public health and development nonprofit in rural Uganda - is now accepting applications for its 2011 Summer Internship Program.

Our Mission: Uganda Village Project is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that collaborates with diverse partners on the design of sustainable rural health and development solutions through networking, advocacy and project innovation in the Iganga District, a rural area in eastern Uganda.


Interns will spend 8 weeks living and working in a village in rural Iganga District, Uganda, gaining experience in community education and public health while organizing education programs in the villages, assisting in planning and implementing health care and development oriented programs, and working in partnership with local NGOs and community groups which focus on issues such as sanitation, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, orphan and widow support, and reproductive health.


Applications are due January 31, 2011.


Visit the UVP website to learn more about our programs: ..www.ugandavillageproject.org..
Click here to visit our Summer Internship Center!



Uganda Village Project accepts adults ages 18 and over with an interest in medicine, public health, global health or international development. Applicants with previous experience in these areas, with previous experience working in the developing world, or with a demonstrated talent for languages, will be given special consideration. Visit our website and apply today!


For more information, please contact .[email protected].....

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[XeReX]

This is pretty awesome, are u applying?

 

[MightyMoose]

This is pretty awesome, are u applying?

No, it's too late for me. I might do it between MS1 and MS2 years, but probably not. I would have been all over it last summer.

 

[venacontracta]

Despite having had some great and incredibly significant experiences in Africa... I'm not sure Uganda is a place I'd want to even go near right now, considering that parts of the country are dealing with some sort of mystery hemorrhagic fever.

 

[rafflecopter]

Despite having had some great and incredibly significant experiences in Africa... I'm not sure Uganda is a place I'd want to even go near right now, considering that parts of the country are dealing with some sort of mystery hemorrhagic fever.

Hmm. Death rate isn't as high as ebola, but 40% or so is still really high. Scary. Ebola/marburg might be a good enough reason to never go to that part of the world.

 

[Polo423]

I would highly recommend this trip. I recently returned from a volunteer trip in Uganda and it is a wonderful country.

 

[venacontracta]

Hmm. Death rate isn't as high as ebola, but 40% or so is still really high. Scary. Ebola/marburg might be a good enough reason to never go to that part of the world.

You just have to be careful about how broadly you define "that part of the world." It's not Africa as a whole, it's not even broad regions of Africa, it's very specific places. You'd probably be fine going to Uganda as long as you don't go to the remote northern areas where the outbreak is occurring, but personally I'd find it too discomforting to know that I was a few hundred miles or less from an outbreak of what sounds like a novel disease with a 40% death rate.

Now, the DRC on the other hand, that's a place I can't ever see myself thinking about going to, but Ebola is just one of a long list of fun attractions that particular destination has to offer.

 

[rafflecopter]

You just have to be careful about how broadly you define "that part of the world." It's not Africa as a whole, it's not even broad regions of Africa, it's very specific places.

I'm talking countries specific to Ebola/Marburg outbreaks which so far have been primarily limited to DRC, Congo, and Kenya. Guess Uganda can get added to the list.

 

[Polo423]

Ebola isn't something you have to worry about in Uganda. Your main worries are yellow fever and malaria. But you're vaccinated for one and take pills for the other so you're fine.

 

[Wiingy]

It's highly unlikely that this mystery disease is Ebola. Anyways, unless you plan on having significant contact with blood/fecal matter/vomit, or guano, Ebola is not really a major concern...

There's some people in my program who have worked with this organization and enjoyed it, but be very careful of the city it is in - it's based in Iganga which is one of the more dangerous parts of the country (this program has an excellent reputation so safety should not a major concern).

The work is great and don't let fears of Ebola (which has killed maybe 300 people in the last decade, worry more about malaria) keep you from applying if you have any interest.