I write to you from the Loreto part of the River Amazon in NorthEastern Peru.  I have just completed an incredible 11 days on a large medical boat with a local Peruvian team. We have been running clinics on ship for free to provide primary health and dental care. Hopping from village to village each day to offer everything from parasitic gut infection treatments to children’s growth checks, dental extractions and fillings to simple analgesia. I was given a translator named Frank, Peruvian and super enthusiastic and my bridge to understanding the consultation as my Spanish is extremely minimal.  Typical…

For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt a deep desire to volunteer in some of the world’s most underprivileged communities. Life, however, had other plans - career, study, and personal commitments took priority. Yet, at the core of my being, I’ve always longed for something greater than myself: a sense of purpose and a way to be truly useful. As a qualified nurse and midwife, I knew that improving lives through healthcare was the most natural way for me to help. So, when a professional colleague shared her experience with Vine Trust, something stirred within me. I visited…

I was keen for my elective to involve practicing medicine in a very different setting to that which I am used to in the UK, and so a medical ship visiting islands on Lake Victoria in Tanzania sounded perfect to me! I had high expectations for the trip, but even these were surpassed. The experience was not only great fun, but I also learnt so much, on both a professional and personal level. The team on the Jubilee Hope are like one big family, and I felt very privileged to be welcomed into such a dedicated team. Every morning began…

In June 2025 I had the wonderful opportunity to spend almost two weeks on board the Vine Trust ship, Forth Hope, sailing up the Peruvian Amazon river from Iquitos to Indianna working in the dental clinic . Having spent over 30 years working as a general dental practitioner and after recently retiring I felt that I should do something with the skills that I learned both as a clinician, VT dental trainer and VT advisor. The opportunity arose when my university friend’s son and his flatmate informed me that they had booked to do their dental elective with the Vine…

Before embarking on my elective with the Vine Trust, I was excited but unsure of exactly what to expect. I had hoped for a valuable learning experience and the opportunity to contribute to healthcare in a low-resource setting—but what I actually experienced far exceeded all expectations. I never imagined I would be given the responsibility of running my own clinic, independently seeing and managing patients with a translator. It was my first time independently requesting for tests and prescribing medications and the first time I truly felt like a doctor. The confidence and clinical insight I gained from this role…

Tues, 08-Jul-25 Final Site Visit Today we had our last visit to the site. It felt very different from the anticipation on the first day travelling to the site not really knowing who anyone was. We had created a very strong bond with the family (Flora, Denis, Justin and Joseph), other children and the Fundi. Watching the house grow throughout our time on site was something that will stick with me forever. Our time on site was short but we made sure to make the most of it; all the children were playing with bubbles, balls and ballon’s laughing and…