Magazine – Focus areas

Healthcare 2018-06

June 2018 – The Charity Work Program continues at BCK and BMC

The students of Università Cattolica will once again have the opportunity to participate in the UCSC Charity Work Program in Uganda this year. Every summer the programme, promoted by Università Cattolica, sends numerous students to various countries across the world to carry out voluntary work. After the positive experience of last year, the BCK students can’t wait to meet the next set of teachers that will spend a month with them this summer. The children don’t know them yet but Sara, Giulia and Vera are already getting ready to make the most of this experience. We met up with them to tell them a bit about the context and the activities and they seemed really on the ball. We would like to introduce them to you too, using what they wrote in their presentation letters: Sara Giuliani, a graduate in Education Sciences and now enrolled on the Master’s course in Education Consultancy: “I decided to work for the Charity because I believe it will be a unique experience that enables me to test myself and discover my limits as well as my resources. I can’t wait to leave and experience the joie de vivre, the happiness and the love of the people I meet!”; Giulia Gafforio, 23, graduate in Education Sciences: “I am really happy to be involved with the Charity in Uganda. Voluntary work has always been a part of my life and through my experiences I have understood my real vocation: to help others. For me the Charity is a chance to put the things I have learned during my studies into practice, but also to learn more about myself and understand what I want from life”; Vera Brunelli, 21, Education Sciences student: “I chose to go to Africa because I hope to broaden my horizons, to experience new cultures. I hope I can help the Ugandan children with my teaching skills and knowledge, conscious of the fact that their school system is very different to the Italian system. I want to put myself to the test both as a teacher and on a personal level”. Six medicine students from Rome’s Università Cattolica will have the chance to work alongside the doctors in our hospital. They will experience a very different scenario where food, treatment and prevention are all lacking. Where perhaps the recognition they receive from patients will be their most vivid memory. We are certain they will open their eyes and hearts like never before! This is what some of them think on the eve of their departure: “Going to Africa – explains Alessandro Petracca – has been an ambition of mine since I was a teenager and one that has got even bigger during my studies. For me the Charity is not just a professional opportunity but a chance to grow as a person. I hope Uganda opens my eyes!”. Marta Vacca also believes that the Charity could be an opportunity to put some of her professional skills into practice in a different context from Italy: “I think that going far away from home and your comfort zone is the best way of growing and I am convinced that it is also a good way of changing your perspective of reality. Finally, I am really excited by the idea of coming into contact with a new culture and learning all about it”. Sara, Giulia, Vera, Francesca, Anna, Simone, Alessandro, Marta and Virginia: we wish you a positive voluntary experience that helps you grow as people, teachers and doctors.