Mu'azzamah Ahmad, November 2020

Image

As a child, I had only left the UK once before to visit my family’s home country when I was eight and never considered travelling alone. Then when I came up to Edinburgh to study Medicine, it was further apparent that I would have no real opportunities to travel as part of my degree until my final year – and five years seemed like an awfully long time to wait back then! This was, of course, rather disheartening, but then I came across the Principal’s Go Abroad Fund, which awarded grants of up to £700 for successful applicants to travel pretty much anywhere in the world provided it was for a learning experience.

I decided that it was worth a shot to apply, and after doing some research I planned an educational trip to Canada because it seemed like a fantastic opportunity to venture a bit further. I came across Nyquest (now renamed Camp Canada), a company providing links to different camps across the country and offering the required training to work as a Camp Counsellor. I followed up by attended a Camp Fair at Teviot Row House and networked with the manager of Camp Merrywood, a site providing personal care and accessible activities tailored to the needs of children with physical disabilities. I was excited to get involved because I had previous experience of working with adults, though I never had the opportunity to work with children specifically – so this opportunity sounded perfect! 

I was able to use the Go Abroad Fund to pay for most of my personal costs: flights, medical and police checks, and hostel stay for the days after camp. I earned a stipend of around £30 a day while working at the camp, and this additional money allowed me to do some leisure travel between sessions. 

I arrived in Canada with a group of young adults from all over the world, and together we spent a week training on manual handling, personal care and using the available accessible equipment (sports wheelchairs, sailboats, kayaks, swim floats and lifts). We also had instructions on some of the conditions the children had, such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and spina bifida.  After that, the children started to arrive!

I spent about two months at the camp, and quite honestly, this experience was one of the best times of my life! I learned so much about accessibility, patience and resilience, some of the qualities most applicable to my future career, and importantly I also had a lot of fun. Every week or so, I had time off from my work to go travelling with my co-workers and I was lucky enough to visit some of the national parks as well as the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. I could not have asked for a better experience. I made friends and memories that will last a lifetime, and I truly feel it has helped with my personal growth in becoming a better doctor in future – so much so, I went back the next year!

You can read in more detail about my experience at the following page:  https://uoeabroad.com/2018/08/29/my-canadian-camp-experience/

Muz

November 2020