The Beginning

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the idea of travel. Seeing different countries and cultures, enjoying different foods, and learning about different ways of life have always been infinitely interesting to me.

As soon as I began thinking of “what I want to be when I grow up”, the ability to work abroad and use my skills to help people has been critical in my decisions. With my first degree, in physiotherapy, I had planned among other things to visit countries where land mines are common in order to help people learn how to function after amputations, to help with their rehab and to teach skills that are common in modern medicine but may be lacking in less developed healthcare settings, or where access to healthcare is less democratically available. This plan didn’t work out, and nor did my next plan of returning to Afghanistan with the army to work in a more development-focussed role (this element of British operations in Afghanistan had been ended before I got the chance to re-deploy).

However, after moving to Australia and becoming a citizen I was able to go back to university to gain Australian qualifications, and upon being accepted onto the Master of Social Work Studies at the University of Queensland, I was really excited to discover that there were overseas placement opportunities. Right from the start I aimed to apply for an overseas placement, and I worked hard throughout the first year of my course to do everything possible to make myself a good candidate for the grant that was available to 2 masters students for their second placement.

When the time came I applied for my preferred option of a placement in Nepal – I have several Nepalese friends and I have travelled there previously, so I know a little background about the culture and so on. I was ecstatic to get the good news that I had been successful in my grant application, and while I was initially disappointed to not be going to Nepal, I was once again feeling very positive and excited when I heard about the opportunities on the placement in India.

So, now I am heading off to a place I have never been before, to learn new ways of working and to experience a new culture, and hopefully greatly enhance my social work skills for future practice!