SERVICE LEARNING TRIPS
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A Service Learning Trip is a week-long educational journey to Peru, Ecuador, Tanzania, or Costa Rica, where volunteers work hand in hand with the local community on development projects and mobile medical clinics. The trip allows volunteers to understand the realities of extreme poverty first hand, personally connects them with the communities that MEDLIFE supports, and ignites action within them to join the MEDLIFE Movement in the fight for a world free from the constraints of poverty.
The primary role of a Service Learning Trip is to provide resources and tools to the communities we partner with. The SLT is also a crucial starting point for the MEDLIFE Movement, as it provides an educational opportunity for our volunteers to learn more about living a life in extreme poverty and how MEDLIFE approaches the issues our partner communities face.
WHAT MAKES A MEDLIFE SERVICE LEARNING TRIP UNIQUE?
There are many organizations that offer international service trips to students and volunteers. Why should you choose a MEDLIFE Service Learning Trip?
We Provide Patient & Project Follow-Up
MEDLIFE has full-time employees in Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, and Tanzania who dedicate themselves to a follow-up program with our patients and projects year-round. When MEDLIFE sees patients during a Mobile Clinic who require additional services, we make a commitment to return and help them get the care they need. After we complete a project, we make sure it is maintained and serviced long-term.
We Hire Local Professionals
Local doctors, nurses, and dentists have essential knowledge of the language, culture, and existing healthcare system of their country. They are also familiar with the symptoms and treatments of common ailments in the country. All of these factors contribute to local caretakers being able to provide patients with a higher degree of care than a foreign professional would. The same is true for our local architects, engineers, and community organizers. They understand the local systems, infrastructure, and government processes, therefore allowing them to provide better services to the communities.
We Work Hand in Hand With Community Members
Our work during a Service Learning Trip is 50% completed by MEDLIFE and our volunteers, and 50% by community members. We develop relationships with communities we bring volunteers to months before a Service Learning Trip. Before your arrival, a community leader works hand in hand with our local staff to ensure that as many community members as possible know exactly when and why we will be present near their homes. This creates a commitment of collaboration from community members to maintain and support and aid we bring and also gives volunteers the opportunity to work side by side with the locals in the area.