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There is nothing like travelling abroad to broaden your view of life, both social and professional. One way of achieving these two aims for students and youth is to take up an internship abroad. If you have a profession that you are looking to get into later in life, gaining some practical experience is obviously a great thing but travelling to develop your skills broadens the way you view your profession and yourself in your profession. With this in mind, Tiritose Sustainable Travel created programmes for students from all over the world to travel to Zimbabwe and get different perspectives of the fields they are studying. What a way to put the “broad” in ‘abroad’ right? Here are 5 things you can do to finance a pre-health internship abroad.

If you are planning on going to medical or nursing school, it means you want to be the best healthcare practitioner this world has ever seen, at least I certainly hope so. If that’s the case,  being in a different world throws certain challenges at you that you would never face at home. It is then that you will learn so much about yourself and what type of healthcare practitioner and person you will be in future. Your character will be tested as well as your understanding of the field and everything that you thought you knew. Don’t ever get on a plane with the single thought that you are going to “give back” or rescue the place or the people without getting something in return. What you should be prepared for as a pre-health student coming on a medical internship to Africa is a lot of learning. 

Whether you are going to do this as a solo travel to Africa project or your university arranges a faculty-led study abroad programme, we make sure you get as much education as possible. If you have not made up your mind on whether or not to apply to medical or nursing school, taking an internship might just be what you need because through observing doctors and nurses in practice will expose you to the ins and outs of the job. 

A pre-health internship taken prior to applying to medical or nursing school can be the best thing even for those who have always wanted to be healthcare providers and our medical practice internship is designed to give high school students and other pre-health students a preview of what their medical studies will be like as well as life after graduating. We also tailor-make the programme for pre-health students who want first-hand experience in Zimbabwe’s public and private hospitals and observe doctors and nurses in theatres/surgery. 

The pre-health programme gets you to work in rural Zimbabwe as well as in urban hospitals, including community outreach programmes. As part of our sustainable tourism efforts we always encourage students to buy local goods and services and also practise safe use of the environment. Your experience is a holistic approach to learning everything that helps one become a responsible member of society. But, we don’t just claim to enrich you, we always learn a lot from students who visit Zimbabwe. It’s an exchange of knowledge that we and our local community always appreciate. Lives are changed and friendships born. We won’t just work you to the bone and put you back on a plane, it is our job to make sure you have insane amounts of adventure and fun during your stay in Zimbabwe.

Can I afford to travel abroad for an internship?

We cannot talk about travelling without mentioning the affordability of travelling. It’s easy to just be scared away by the prospect of the amounts of money that people use to travel but let’s see what one can do to raise funds to travel abroad:

• Get a part-time job. Get a summer job or after-school gig at your college waiting tables, teaching online, dog-walking, assisting the ill/disabled/elderly, etc. There is always something that you can do without taking too much of your study time. Becoming a Tiritose Sustainable Travel Campus Ambassador is one such part-time job that involves just 10-hours a month and the result of recruiting a group of students for a programme are an all-expenses paid trip to Zimbabwe, Uganda or Ghana. 
• Save. Many students get allowances from parents, gifts from family or have something that they could sell and make money. All that money is money you can put aside in preparation for the trip ahead. Eat at home instead of going out, watch movies at home with friends instead of going to movie houses, remember that you already have enough clothes or more than you need…think along those lines. 
• See what scholarships there are. Make the internet your friend. If information is not available at your college do as much research as you can because there are scholarships that are there to fund international scholarships. For instance, The Gilman Scholarship Programme for American students who want to intern abroad. You can get many more if you do your research. 
• Crowdfunding. People can be generous if they find your cause worthy. Tiritose Sustainable Travel has assisted an intern to raise funds for their airfare through gofundme. Sell yourself and your story well, and you could get people to assist.
• Parents or guardians/family. I put these last because they are probably already footing a lot of your bills. If not, reach out to them, have your family over for a barbeque and tell them about your plans. If you come from a family background where this is possible they might be happy to chip in. 

It’s always responsible to do a bit of your own hustle though. Adulting is just around the corner for you and there is no better time to start practising like the present. 

We are taking bookings and enquiries for 2021 and beyond. Come and spend a summer in the African sun and among the friendliest bunch of people you’ll ever meet. Visit our website or follow us on social media. Just be careful though, you might not want to return home once you get a taste of Zimbabwe.

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