During the first half of 2017 things were quite busy for TReND’s Volunteering Program. Seven European researchers visited Universities in Sudan, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia, and more projects are one the making! Below you can read what some of our volunteers thought about their experiences.
If you get inspired and would also like to spend some time teaching in Africa, apply to our Volunteering Program now!
Anna Bennis
PhD candidate Dept Clinical Genetics, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Volunteered at the University of Freetown, Sierra Leone, between mid-February and mid-April 2017
“Creativity is such an important part of science. I am very happy with the effort of the students and so proud of them! And also I had a really good time teaching and talking with them”
“I really enjoyed discussing research with the students. I remember the amazement and enthusiasm about sheep Dolly and the possibility to clone, and all the questions that came up. We talked about what makes a cell a cell: what does it consist of, what makes a neuron a neuron and a skin cell a skin cell when the DNA is the same in every cell”
Dr. Luisa Vigevani and Dr. Domenica Marchese
Post docs at the Centre of genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain
Volunteers at the University of Khartoum, Sudan, in April 2017
“What mainly rewarded us from this volunteering experience was to see that students were very curious and excited to learn, but also very eager to show and discuss with us their projects and results. This, in fact, was an interesting occasion of professional growth also for us!”
Carolina Thieleke Matos
Former postdoc at Postdoctoral Researcher at Imperial College London and University College of London, London, UK
Volunteered at the IMTU University, Tanzania, in January 2017
“When IMTU University asked me to join them for a couple of months I could not believe it. Luckily I was able to take that opportunity and in six months I was flying on my way to Dar es Salam to teach parasitology. I can tell you that I ended up learning more than teaching. Thanks to Trend in Africa organization, this kind of exchange is now possible and everyone that has the chance should do it!”
One of Carolina’s students said:
“It was really a great honour and privilege meeting Madame Carolina and spending a few months with her, apart from her friendly nature it was very eye opening and encouraging for me to learn more about what is really out there and she has only just increased my curiosity to keep on striving to attain new knowledge and information only to apply them in my home town and try making it a better place…”
Click here to learn more about TReND’s Volunteering Program now
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