Bushman Clinic and Medical Project Namibia

This programme is perfect for those with an interest in the medical or paramedical fields who would like to take part in a challenging project working at a large medical practice and also a small, rural Bushman clinic in Namibia, Africa.

Project Age Limit
Minimum 18 years, maximum decided on potential participants health

The Volunteer Programme
This programme offers a great combination of medical training at a large medical practice, volunteer work at a rural Bushman Medical Clinic and working with Africa’s fascinating wildlife. You will be spending 14 nights at a Wildlife Sanctuary just outside of Windhoek, working with the wildlife and taking trips into Windhoek to assist in a large private Medical Practice, whilst receiving training to ensure you are ready for work at the Bushman Clinic. Once the project team are happy that you are ready, you will be moved to where you will spend around 14 days assisting the nurse at a very basic clinic for bushman people.

1) Medical Practice and Training: The first element of your programme will be spent at a Medical Practice in Windhoek. During this time you will be receiving comprehensive training within the largest medical practice in Namibia, learning basic skills that will be a great help to you once you are at the Bushman Clinic project.

Staffed with 8 full time doctors and 2 smaller satellite practices, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to gain great medical experience and training for your work later on in the programme and for the future.

Your training will be varied and you will rotate between stations to get involved in the following:

• Observation station: You will learn how to carry out practices such as urinal tests, pregnancy tests, glucose tests, ECG etc
• Nursing station: You will spend at least 3 hours a day carrying out observational work on pregnant women with the nurses and assisting in wound dressing
• Consulting with the Doctor: You will be allowed to sit in on some consultations with the doctor and their patient
• Pharmacy station: Here you will learn about the medications used at the clinic
• Eye Scouts: Training on eye cataracts
• You may also get the chance to attend theatre cases
• In the afternoons you will travel back to the Wildlife Sanctuary where your accommodation is based.

Please Note: Please take time to learn and read as much as possible during the time you spend at this medial practice: At the end of your induction phase you will get an evaluation test to see if you are ready to depart to the Bushman Clinic. Should you not pass this test we cannot send you out to the clinic, as you will be more of a liability than an asset to Nurse Daries. The evaluation will consist of a written paper and 1 or 2 practical stations.

The time you spend at the Medical Centre should be considered as serious time for evaluation, to then be transferred to the Bushmen clinic so please pay attention and dress appropriately.

2) Rural Bushman Clinic: Once the project team is satisfied that you will be an asset to the nursing staff at the Bushman Clinic, a transfer there will be arranged for you by road: this is a long way, so you will need to wake up early. You can opt to travel by light aircraft, at your own cost, should you wish to. Please note that the clinic is located in a very remote area of Namibia so you must be prepared, as you will be living in basic conditions for 2 weeks.

In the past there had been evidence of severe medical negligence for the Bushman people and it was identified that something had to be done to improve the health service for them. The team running the largest private medical practice in Namibia decided to take action and started to donate medicine and hold informal clinics for the Bushman people. It soon became evident that the need was far greater than they had initially thought. It was decided that a permanent facility was needed so that they had a permanent base to do their clinics. After finding a building in Epukiro town and after fundraising campaigns and generous donations, they finally had the funds to turn the building into a fully operational clinic.

Once a month, doctors would visit the clinic to provide medical services and on some days they would see up to 100 people in total. In 2005 they received further funds so that they could employ a fulltime nurse at the clinic for a year. The nurse, Anna, has now been at the clinic for two years and she has much experience of working in the rural areas of Namibia and will support you throughout your time at the clinic.

Volunteer Activities
You will be assisting the nurse with the daily duties at this clinic, which is very basic indeed. The nurse will take you with her to assist with the following:

• Primary Healthcare: Observations, reassurance to patients, treatments and emergency referrals
• Observations: Pregnancy tests, and urine tests for patients and recording findings
• Weighing babies and recording growth charts
• Blood pressure recordings
• Glucose testing and recording
• Malaria tests, ultra sounds and X-rays
• Wound dressings and cleaning of wounds
• Help in the pharmacy: Stock control, packing medicines and new orders
• HIV and AIDS counselling, family planning and substance abuse counselling
• Financial record keeping and data capture input
• Go out with the nurse into the community to carry out procedures
• General maintenance and cleaning of the clinic
• Help with projects around the clinic such as the vegetable garden for self-sufficiency

If is often found that volunteers have special skills that are invaluable to the clinic and they are encouraged to use them. We want you to use your skills in the best way possible so always feel able to ask if you can carry out new activities that you feel the project will benefit from.

The last few days of your project will be spent back in Windhoek at the Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can participate in the wildlife rehabilitation volunteer project. This is optional and should you prefer to stay at the clinic, then you can discuss it with the project team in Namibia.

3) Namibian Wildlife Sanctuary: During your spare time in the first 2 weeks of your programme and for those wishing to volunteer for 8 weeks, you will have the opportunity to work alongside the wildlife of Africa at this unique wildlife sanctuary. This is a well-known welfare centre for the care and protection of animals; mainly big cats. As a guest farm, it provides employment and hence social and economic growth to the local community and instils a sense of value in the conservation of their natural heritage among the local people.

The main objective of this new sanctuary is to be an initial rehabilitation station for orphaned, injured and problem wild animals that previously found their way to a local wildlife sanctuary. These animals are now facing the exciting prospect of becoming released into large enclosures, which encompass their natural environments around the farm. This development will not only free the orphaned wild animals physically but also be a benefit financially, as a sustainable income can be generated from low impact tourism.

So far, the project has:

• Big cats: 5 lions, 2 leopards, 2 wild dogs and 3 tamed cheetahs
• 5 baby baboons, which are being hand raised and you will help assist in this
• A pig named ‘Babe’ and a talking African Grey parrot
• 2 mongooses and 3 Meerkats
• 7 baby tortoises and a warthog named Otterjasie
• 7 dogs and 2 catsThe farm is also home to all kinds of wildlife living in their natural environment, roaming freely on the land. This includes: Game, wart hogs, ostriches, caracals, jackals, vultures, eagles and other various bird species…the list is endless!

Volunteer Activities
During your stay at this project, you will be responsible for a number of different activities, which are all part of a daily working animal rehabilitation sanctuary. You will need to expect to work physically hard on this project with a dedicated team and the local African Bushman supporting you.
The typical activities you will experience during your time on this project are:

• Food Preparation and feeding of the animals
• Bottle-feeding the baboons
• Grooming, de-ticking and caring for the animals (especially the cheetahs)
• Enclosure Patrols, Night walks and camping in the bush at night
• Building and Maintenance work of the surrounding land
• Fun activities available at the project, including horse riding