Medical Volunteer Program in Ethiopia: Dr. Emmanuel Ehiwe gives an interview
Dr. Emmanuel Ehiwe, a consultant sonographer and public health practitioner from Birmingham, England talks about his volunteer program in Ethiopia. The interview was published on GoOverseas, find the full interview here.
Dr. Ehiwe served in different NHS Hospitals and currently teaches public health with health and social care courses in higher education colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He works as a clinical instructor for reproductive health (maternal and child) ultrasound program for obstetricians and gynecologists.
Why did you choose this program?
I was inspired to undertake this program as part of the need to give back and contribute to human development and society. My experience of working and providing care to patients gave me the inspiration to meet obvious gaps in practice and level of medical training among youths who are future leaders of the African continent.
What did your program provider assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?
The program organizers provided me the forum to meet with some youths who are members of the indigenous communities in Addis Ababa. They helped with local arrangements of lodging and accommodation, as well as guidance on moving around the city of Addis. The organizers also provided me with the training environment.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone going on your program?
One piece of advice I would give to anyone considering this program is to be very open minded and prepare to meet new people. This is because I found the Ethiopian community locals to be friendly and warm towards volunteers and tourists. I would also advise that you make detailed enquiries about the specific roles and duties you would be involved in before you set out for the program.
What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?
An average day in the program was filled with one tutoring activity or the other. A typical day involved helping the kids review their school home work and getting involved in one public health advocacy seminar or the other in the evenings. Each workshop focused on teaching the youths life saving skills in emergency situations where there is no doctor. We also worked on learning first aid treatments for common injuries and accidents amongst other things.
Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?
I did not really have any fears or negative expectations before setting out for this program. This was because I knew and read from the web that Ethiopia is a peace loving and friendly country, particularly when you stay and work within the capital city of Addis Ababa. I had planned and limited my visit to this part of the country.
How can I participate in a volunteer program in Ethiopia?
Find the full detail on our page about volunteering in Ethiopia on our homepage. There, you also can read about the wellness and health program in Addis Ababa.
Emmanuel volunteered on Health Coaching for Children in Ethiopia
Emmanuel enjoyed working on Health Coaching for children and youth in Ethiopa and included first aid techniques as well. Great Job!
I had a great experience volunteering and working with children of the Ethiopian Education Foundation (EEF). It was a grand experience coaching the youths on the basics of health and wellbeing lifestyle initiatives. Everyone involved learnt and practiced basic CPR and resuscitation techniques to save lives in emergency situations where there is no doctor.
The students learned how to handle and respond to various forms of first aid treatments for common accidents. It was also a pleasant experience as various groups explored how to recognize and manage signs of worms, diarrhoea and dehydration in children.
The youths loved it as much as I did as they also helped in showing me around the local places of relaxation at the weekends. Would relish an opportunity to work with the staff and organising team again as they made my experience a fantastic one.
I would recommend Iko Poran and EEF to anyone who would like to consider volunteering in Ethiopia. – Emmanuel
How to volunteer on Health Coaching for the children and youth in Ethiopia?
Join our volunteer program for wellness coaching in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the program you may include yoga lessons, wellness coaching, wellbeing strategy and more.
Since there are several different ways of thinking about health and wellbeing, students will get in touch with these different kind of exercises. Finally, they will find out, what is best for them.
Understanding the benefits of having a lifestyle in accordance with their body, mind and soul is crucial for health and wellbeing. Moreover, yoga, meditation and physical exercises help to achieve and maintain physical fitness and mental stability. This is a positive definition of health and wellbeing.
More volunteer opportunities in Ethiopia
Medical Volunteer Program in Ethiopia: Dr. Emmanuel Ehiwe gives an interview
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Volunteer on Gardening in Ethiopia – Educational Project
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Women Empowerment in Ethiopia: Volunteer Work with the Female Students at the Hostel
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Teaching Visual Arts to Students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Volunteer on Gardening in Ethiopia – Educational Project
While volunteering on the gardening and landscaping project in Ethiopia, you can educate the students at a college in Addis Ababa about nature. Your volunteer work will both benefit the students in Addis Ababa, who can learn from you, and also the local population!
During the volunteer project, you will show the students at school how to grow their own vegetables. So, they will gain a deeper understanding of horticulture. Also, the students will understand the enormous value of their own, naturally grown fruits and vegetables.
Growing Plants: Understanding Nature and time to Relax for the students
Gardening is considered by many people to be a relaxing activity and in these days, it can be a lucrative activity too. This project can motivate the students to pursue a career as landscape architects and/ or garden designers to produce artistically creative designs for private garden spaces as well as public spaces.
In this project your duties may include, but not limited to:
- Teaching how to prepare the soil and finding the right seeds and plants
- Developing organic gardening
- Working with nature, and creating beautiful surroundings
- Understanding weeds
- Teaching integral life values – most notably, patience.
- Maximizing plants propagation
- Taking advantage of amenity horticulture
- Understanding plant care
- Keeping your plants healthy
- How to make the most of your garden
Working in this project you will get to leave your mark and improve the living conditions of people in some of the poorest areas of the city. At the same time, you will get to explore this fascinating country and witness the Ethiopia way of life. This project is for those who have green fingers and like the garden atmosphere.
How to be a volunteer in Ethiopia
Visit our page with all the information about volunteering in Ethiopia, and how to sign up.
More volunteer opportunities in Addis Ababa:
Medical Volunteer Program in Ethiopia: Dr. Emmanuel Ehiwe gives an interview
Read More
Emmanuel volunteered on Health Coaching for Children in Ethiopia
Read More
Women Empowerment in Ethiopia: Volunteer Work with the Female Students at the Hostel
Read More
Teaching Visual Arts to Students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Read More
Women Empowerment in Ethiopia: Volunteer Work with the Female Students at the Hostel
If you want to stand up for Women’s rights, volunteer on women empowerment in Ethiopia with Iko Poran!
Volunteer on women’s empowerment in Ethiopia with Iko Poran! You will be teaching life-skills and English to the hostel female students, to allow for them to grow personally and professionally. You will make it easier for the young women to access education, and help improving their future emplyoment opportunities.
Teaching Life-Skills to Young Women
With this volunteer placement, you will be working in the fields of awareness, counseling and empowerment of the young female students. With your volunteer work you will also help to provide sustainable development opportunities to the hostel female students, who consequently will pass what they learned to their colleagues, friends, mothers, grandmothers and other female family members – through education and motivation.
Raising the Awareness for Women Empowerment in Ethiopia
There are regular rallies and marches to help raise awareness among women about their rights & justice. Seminars are organized to raise voices against domestic violence, eve-teasing (cat-calling) & harassment. Counseling surveys can be done to serve the purpose of the programs. There are regular classes to educate these women to make them self-independent. In Ethiopia most of the women bear violence and harassment because of dependence on their husbands and fear for their families. So becoming self-dependent is the first step to stop all violence and harassment.
Some Ways, you can Help Women In this Project:
- Assisting the instructor in special activities organized for women like sewing, stitching
- Teaching the women English and general mathematics
- Teaching them about culinary hygiene & educating them about women rights
- Helping the females in exploring the new ways of earning money & becoming financially independent
- Teaching them about preparing a Hostel Budget
- Helping the students in documentation
- How to build self-confidence and overcome shyness
- Educating them about how to obtain a loan to start their own small ventures
- Built self-esteem and providing emotional support
This is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside strong and effective women, helping in the process of improving the social position of the women and raising awareness of the importance of feminism in a country where many women are still very much treated as inferior. During your stay, you will get to explore this beautiful country and the Ethiopia way of life. This is your chance to make an impact in someone’s life. This project is perfect for anyone who believes in equality.
Do you want to empower the young women at the hostel in Addis Ababa?
Find the full information about volunteer work in Ethiopia on our Homepage Iko Poran, and also how to sign up for the program!
Teaching Visual Arts to Students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
By working as a volunteer on the visual arts project in Addis Ababa, you can pave the way for your students to learn about the visual arts. With you they will both develop their own creativity and learn the techniques of photography, drawing and sculpture. You will empower students technically and artistically, and thus improve their chances of growing into a future profession. At the same time, you will get to explore this fascinating country and witness the Ethiopia way of life. This project is perfect for anybody willing to explore the whole range of creativity!
This project is a great opportunity for the students on the EEF education program to develop their inner creative skills. Learning about visual arts – painting, sculpture, etc, as well as photography, and being taught to come up with the ideas for a great piece of art work are as important as the art creation itself. This project can give the students an opportunity to pursue artistic vision. Whether they want to tell a story, sell a product or just capture the beauty around them, the project will fulfill their creative vision. Art and photography changes the way you see things. It’s actually quite an incredible transformation to experience. Suddenly you notice light, shapes, colours, textures, people, buildings, trees, flowers… Everything looks different around you when you start seeing the world as an artist.
For photography, volunteers would need to bring their own equipments.