My Nonprofit Reviews

I participated as an intern this winter, in December 2015. We begun in Dr. Detrano and Shan Shan's home in Dali and travelled to Yuxi for clinic and the pediatric training programme.

Coming from a non-health background, I remain very grateful for the experience. Dr. Detrano made every effort to teach and share his life experience, whether it be in cardiology, working in China, his path towards medicine, public health research, and running a non-profit in two countries. The sheer amount of work we did in two weeks was also inspiring, and allows everyone to see a very different and (often hard to access) side to China. ChinaCal's strong connections within Yunnan with administrators, doctors, government officials is a very special network that is the result of their good work, dedication and devotion to Yunnan's children. I left the trip very satisfied with the work and the people I met and the experience that I had. I felt like I had made a direct contribution to the program and the people we saw.

One thing I would note is that I did feel the trip could benefit from more participation aside from the clinic work. While I enjoyed the former immensely, I feel that volunteers could also be better used during the training sessions (though difficult for non-Mandarin speakers). If there is a way to also train the volunteers in "training" that would also be a beneficial experience. I would have also enjoyed learning more about methodologies in public health research. I personally had more room to do more with my time and effort.

All in all, I would highly recommend this experience. ChinaCal's own story is an inspiring one and will leave you thinking/rethinking about your own priorities and how you can best help others. I have a better understanding of Yunnan, China and my interests in medicine more generally.