My name is Charlie Crichton and I am a second year nursing student at Teesside University. I have been given the humbling opportunity to spend a 2 week placement in Cambodia to offer nursing assistance and support to the local residents, alongside the Transform Health Care Cambodia charity team. This trip is very sought after as nearly 200 people applied and only 15 were chosen to attend. The trip will consist of offering not only essential nursing care to patients, but providing crucial health education and training to the medical staff working in the Battambang hospital.

For those of you who do not know much about Cambodia, in 1975 the political leader at the time Pol Pot led the Communist forces of the Khmer Rouge into the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh, beginning a vicious genocidal four-year regime in which an estimated two million Cambodians lost their lives. All intellectuals and educated people were eliminated. It is estimated that at the end of the regime only 45 medical doctors survived, and of those, 20 left the country. Only 26 pharmacists, 28 dentists, and 728 medical students remained in Cambodia. As a result, the health care system was entirely destroyed.

The Transform Healthcare Cambodia charity was established to relieve sickness and to promote and protect good health for the benefit of the Cambodian public. They do this through the provision of training to health care workers, education on the prevention of diseases and hygiene and the provision of equipment and financial support.

This will be a life changing experience to be able to offer what little help I can to the Cambodian people. We take our NHS for granted on too many occasions and it will be humbling to experience the third world health care system in action in order to fully appreciate what we have in the UK. As a student nurse, we are expected to work 37.5 hours per week unpaid and as there is no longer an NHS bursary, the degree is also self funded. On top of this we have to fit paid work in around our studies, placements and assignments in order to pay the bills to be able to continue on the degree. Although this nursing degree is very testing, it is a calling that I can not ignore, and this trip would further enhance my nursing skills and offer an opportunity unlike any other. I will be utilising any savings I have towards funding this trip and any donation (no matter how big or small) would be greatly appreciated and I can promise, very well spent.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please share to as many people as you can :)