Medical Expedition Blogs

Spending 2 weeks on the Peruvian Amazon in July 2024, as part of my medical school elective, was an unforgettable and unique time that I never thought I’d experience as a student. It was a very useful clinical and cultural experience for both my personal and professional development, and one I know that I will look back fondly on for many years. I have always been interested in remote and rural healthcare, alongside a long-term desire to travel to South America, so when I discovered the Vine Trust and the electives they offered, I knew it was the perfect choice…

  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would be delivering a baby in the middle of the Amazon River in Peru!! But I did and I had the most amazing, magical experience of my life while volunteering with the Amazon Hope Medical programme in November 2023.   Initially when my friend asked me to join them on this trip I was very apprehensive as I had never travelled very far and I was scared of most things, planes, piranhas, snakes and spiders!! I knew this trip was going to put me way out my comfort zone,…

The last time I saw Forth Hope, she was departing Rosyth for her epic voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a truly special moment when I caught my first glimpse of her on the Puinahua river as we approached after 3 hours in the speedboat. The contrast of this modern vessel and the surrounding area she serves is striking; she is unique, unlike anything else we saw on the river. Upon boarding you soon realise there is even more to her than meets the eye. The ingenious design of the interiors helps her feel as though she is a…

(By Dr Julia McLean) I have just returned after working for 2 weeks on Jubilee Hope on Lake Victoria in Tanzania which was an amazing and very rewarding experience. There were 3 doctors (including a very experienced Vine Trust volunteer) and a pharmacist from Scotland and as soon as we arrived we were made to feel very welcome on the boat. Before commencing work, we were given a tour of the boat and an introduction to tropical medicine by Dr Simeon, the national doctor, which proved to be indispensable. On the boat, we consulted upstairs under a canopy. We saw…

Vine Trust volunteer, Dr Jenny Langdon, speaks to BBC Radio Berkshire's Anne Diamond about the Jubilee Hope programme on Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Listen to Jenny's interview: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04hd0qm

Like me, you may have worked on board Amazon Hope in Peru and then booked on to Jubilee Hope, Tanzania, with a sense of curiosity about how the programme could work in a different country and culture. I was setting out with a friend who had been with me to Amazon Hope twice before, and 2 others who were completely new to Vine Trust. We had been informed that it would be different to, and much busier than, Amazon Hope. The staff gave us a really good introduction on our first evening on board, although we were all a bit…