GoSCORP 2018 – Taiwan

It was such an amazing opportunity to be able to join GoSCORP 2018 in Taiwan! GoSCORP-Taiwan 2018 is an interactive volunteering program which was held by SCORP Taiwan. It widened my perspectives as a medical student and showed me possibilities to contribute to our worldwide society. It was held in August, 12th-26th 2018, two weeks program that is divided to academic and volunteering week.

In the first week, we conducted our academic program in National Taiwan University. Basically, this was the week when we prepared everything for the volunteering program in the second week. In the first day, we got a standard patient inquiry practice. The topic was about to conduct a patient’s history taking. We were divided into groups to do the practice to patients. Then, we got volunteering preparatory session to discuss about the distribution of work that we should do for the second week. At the end of the day, a welcoming party in a Chinese restaurant was held. It was such a good moment for us to learn to get to know to each other since we had to work together for the rest of the weeks.

The next day, we had lecture about traditional medicine. The doctor demonstrated the acupuncture method to one of our friends. It looked scary at first, but then our friend said that it was not as scary as we thought it was. It did not hurt at all. The doctor also brought us some herbs that commonly used in the therapy. Later at night, we went to Shihlin night market for dinner. On the third day, we got psychiatry training and visited Museum of Medical Humanities. There we saw lots of collections of Histories about NTU Department of Medicine, human specimens, tropical medicine, laboratory apparatuses and instruments.. We also got the chance to do laparoscopy procedure simulation. It was so tricky but most of us were able to complete the challenge. Yeay!

In the second week, we moved to another city from Taipei to Taichung. This week, we did the volunteering program, teaching children about certain topics. We settled at Feng Gu Elementary School that located in Wufeng district, Taichung. On the first day, we introduced ourselves to the children and taught them about oral hygiene and sport injury. We used dental mannequin and toothbrush to demonstrate how to brush their teeth properly. They also learnt about sport injury, how to apply basic medical treatment if they happened to get injury. On the second day, we got drama performances about recycling plastic bottle into a pot, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and the next activity was followed by “around the world” session. The participants were asked to present their home country in front of the children, so the children will get more knowledge about countries around the world.

The next day, the children were asked to tell us about their dream jobs and drew it on a piece of paper then presented it in front of the class. We had language exchange program. Each one of us taught the children about our national language and of course, we were accompanied by the Organizing Committees to translate the words. Due Grandparent’s day celebration, we encouraged them to make books by using craft papers and wrote their feelings for their grandparents. To end the day, we got lecture on gynecological disease that was, somehow, interesting and remarkable!

It was such a wonderful experience to join GoSCORP Taiwan 2018, meeting other people from different countries, getting chances to spend time with the children and the Organizing Committees. We learnt a lot from each other and had a good time together, hoping that one day, there will be a chance to meet this lovely family, again.