Gap Year Volunteer Trip

A Little About Me:

I am a recent graduate from Ithaca College with a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a concentration on Pre-Med studies. I have taken the MCATs and am applying to Medical School so that I can eventually earn a medical degree that will allow me to work with various nonprofit organizations (like Doctors Without Borders) that provide free medical assistance to people in underserved parts of the world. I am taking a gap year before medical school, and I believe there is no better way for me to spend that time than volunteering. I will be working for part of the year to save for the trip, but due to the various loan repayments and medical school application fees I need to worry about, I need your help to raise the funds necessary to help me help others.

What I Want to Do and How I Will Do it:

I want to spend 5 months next year traveling through parts of Africa and Asia and volunteer with medical clinics, women's shelters, orphanages, schools, and disaster stricken areas.  I will be doing the volunteer work through Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) in Kenya and through International Volunteer Headquarters (IVHQ) in Tanzania and Vietnam. Since I will be traveling through Asia to get between these various countries, I will be meeting with the respective branches of Helping Hand to provide my assistance where needed.

Why You Should Help Me:

In the past, I have done medical volunteering in Costa Rica and Nicaragua (through VIDA volunteer travels) and relief work in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (through HHRD) and both experiences helped me realize that I want to dedicate my life to providing medical assistance to those that cannot afford or access it as easily as I can. Unfortunately those previous trips I took cleaned out my bank account each time, and those were only one to two weeks in length. Not only will you help me realize a dream I have been working towards for many years, but you will also receive the blessing for every person I was able to heal thanks to your contribution. I'm sure you can agree that this cause is an unselfish one that will benefit numerous people all over the world, so please help me make it a reality and play a part in lessening the suffering of this world.