I need Africa more than Africa needs me

von Lustenberger Sophie

When you ask a medical student why he wants to become a doctor he answers that he wants to help people. Sometimes students want to go into regions where people are poor, the health system is completely different and doctors are in short supply. It is seen as very courageous to do so: Helping the poor, making a difference, changing things?
But what are you really doing as an elective student? Is it not selfish and unfair to go abroad and train on the very poor without proper supervision and control you would have at home? Are you of any help at all?

Sophie Lustenberger has been an elective in one of the poorest countries in the world and has raised those questions to herself. She writes about her experience in a self critical and mind opening way and illustrates this with touching pictures. She provides an entertaining mixture of facts, advices, as well as anecdotes and makes the reader more familiar with the life and culture in Malawi. The book enlightens one about the difficulties medical students are confronted with. It addresses general prejudices that people tend to have about third-world regions. This book shows a different, original view on students volunteering and wishes to contribute to less prejudices and more effectivity!