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Galway students raise €150,000 for services abroad E-mail
Written by Lisa Regan   
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
While new figures from the Merchant’s Quay Project reveal that 33 per cent of Irish people are now volunteers, some NUI, Galway students have proven that the percentage could rise even higher in the coming years.

After a long summer of voluntary work abroad the NUI, Galway medical students have returned home from their chosen destinations. This year the group has raised somewhere in the region of €150,000 according to a member of VSA.

“We are not 100 per cent sure of yet but it is in the region of €150,000, we will know the exact figure in mid September” said a VSA member.

The Voluntary Services Abroad (VSA) scheme has been running in Irish colleges for decades and it allows medical students to travel abroad in their sixth year as part of their six-week placement. Each student must raise a minimum of €2,000 in order to go. This money is then used to buy medical and domestic supplies for the people who are most in need.

One group of NUIG medical students travelled to the St Francis Hospital in the Eastern Province of Zambia. Here is a place where 30 per cent of the population is HIV positive. “ It was a very surreal experience, just such a different environment to be in. the people’s needs and lifestyle are just so so different to what we are all used to at home,” said a representative of the VSA.

“One of the most treasured possessions is a plastic bottle over in Zambia, when you have an empty bottle in your had, it is a prized possession. We were lucky we had a shower and got fed in the hospital. Most people over there eat maize for the staple diet. In the beginning it was strange not having absolutely everything you need at your finger tips, but when you’re over there you get a new perspective a different perspective and that is a good thing. It changes you on a personal and on a professional level; I enjoyed the work over there. It was the not knowing what was going to come through the door and we were going to help that person," concluded the VSA member.


 


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