Global Health course part 1

After my around the world trip in 2008 I felt that I've done enough sightseeing and travelling around just for fun for a while. Instead of being just a bystander and a spectator I felt that during my next travel I would like to somehow be a part of the local life, learn something new and actually maybe be to some use. So when I heard about the Global Health course I immediately applied and luckily enough I got accepted.

The first two weeks in the Philippines has gone by in a mere blink of an eye. The Global Health course has been very interesting, but we've had quite long days - up til 10 hours of lectures and workshops per day! Which apparently isn't very much here in the Philippines, but for us Finns it sure feels quite exhausting, especially when you're supposed to be sightseeing in the evenings ( that is if you want to see more of Manila than the university and our hotel).

During the course we've been comparing the differences between healthcaresystems in the Philippines, Finland and other countries such as the US and the UK, the causes of poor health in developing countries and the history if primary healthcare among other things. It's been a real eye opener. I don't think I've quite realised until now what a cruel place this world really is. Those who want t hear more can just ask me when we meet...

Manila itself turned out to be a positive surprise. It's a city with 12 million inhabitants and all the problems that come with it: slums, traffic jams, pollution etc. But despite that I didn't think it was too bad. There are quite a few nice spots, like Malate where we stayed for the 2 weeks. But I don't think I've ever seen such disparity anywhere: the rich people drive fancy big cars and go shopping at the malls while in the same city the less fortunate live in sheds without proper water and sanitation and not enough food to go by...

During the weekends we wanted to escape the crowds of Manila and visited some nice smaller cities for some sightseeing and relaxation. One of the highlights was a canoeride to Pagsanjan falls where we had the chance to swim at the falls. Awesome experience! And of course we also had to try out the local nightlife. Among other things we found a bar which is open for 24 hours... Manila surely is a city of many faces. Despite some of it's flaws I actually enjoyed staying there for a few weeks. Malate where we stayed was a really nice area with a lot of good restaurants and cool bars.

After a bit more than two weeks in Manila I really started to look forward to the field work part of the course which would take me out to the countryside to see all the things we'd been talking about for the past few weeks.

---

Part of trip: Global Health course in the Philippines and South East Asia vacation

---