My friend and I are currently studying physiotherapy at Cardiff university and will be starting our final year in September 2018. We have both applied for an overseas placement and have been fortunate enough to secure an elective placement in Zambia in January 2019. Zambia is a developing country with a poor, underfunded healthcare system, and we are looking forward to using our clinical skills to support the amputees and burns patients in Lusaka. We will be working alongside other healthcare professionals in local hospitals and community clinics where there will be limited medical facilities and equipment so no doubt we will find this challenging. However, it will be very interesting to see the resourcefulness of the locals and I look forward to utilising these new skills with other professionals to improve the standard of care we provide. Conducting physiotherapy placements in less developed countries such as Zambia not only enhances individual’s quality of life for the time we are there but equips them with techniques to self-mange their health and improve their well-being long after we have returned to the UK.

However, in order to embark on this adventure, we must pay for flights to Zambia, cover the cost if accommodation, pay to travel on public transport to the hospital and buy scrubs to wear whilst we are working. All of these components add up very quickly- amounting to a total cost of £3000 each. We are hoping to rely on some support from sponsors or donations to help cover some of the cost of the trip.