Danielle O’Neill - Tanzania trip HIV & Aids Awairness
John Marsom with Danielle O’niell a Manx Resident Medical Student who through the help of The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal will be traveling to Tanzania to help teach awareness on HIV and Aids. The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal has helped Danielle by providing her vaccinations, malaria tablets, a rucksack and travel insurance for her trip. Good luck with the challenge and don’t forget to pop in and see us to let us know how you are getting on!!
To listen to an interview with Danielle please click here.
A Success Story from The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal,
Manx Radio enters Tanzania
We here at Manx Radio pride ourselves on working within the community. Keeping the Manx public up-to-date with the latest news, community-based stories, Tynwald sittings and a varied selection of programmes ranging from, interactive talk shows to more specialised shows such as The Opera Hour, The Folk Show, Triple Gold and Carnaby Street etc.
As part of our community work we created the Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal. Its aim is to provide “gifts” to deserving causes across the Isle of Man. The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal is a totally independent body and has been formed to administer fund-raising activities and give consideration to requests for support from charities, organisations and private individuals.
Recently The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal supported Danielle O’Neill, a third year medical student from the Island. Danielle applied for a back-pack, innoculations for yellow fever and rabies, travel insurance and anti malaria medication. This would enable her to travel to Tanzania to gain valuable experience towards her medical degree by working at local hospitals and educating rural villages about the dangers of HIV and how to protect against it.
Danielle first heard about the Tanzanian programme as she has a passion for global health with a special interest for HIV. Because of this she enrolled with Support for International Change, which is a charity based in the UK, America and Tanzania. The charity raises awareness about HIV and other global health issues. The application process involved a series of interviews and a written application in order to gain one of the limited places available. Danielle was one of four people picked to go out of the many people who applied and was also the only Manx resident to achieve this fantastic opportunity. Once selected Danielle was informed that to be able to go she would have to raise £2000 to support the charity. The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal was more than happy to help and supplied everything she applied for.
Whilst in Tanzania Danielle kept Manx Radio up-to-date with all her experiences along the way. She lived with a host family, sharing not only a small room but a bed with another student for 8 weeks. By living with the host family she learnt about the culture, language, food and everyday life of a village person in a rural village in northern Tanzania. She taught in schools, churches, community areas such as water pumps and market places, with the goal of increasing local knowledge and also running a HIV testing unit. These offer free confidential testing services with pre and post counselling. When receiving the free test the patient only has to wait minutes for the results. If a positive result was found the Support for International Change then linked the patient up with health care workers and support groups to enable them to receive the free medication they were entitled to.
So how did Manx Radio enter Tanzania?? Well we donated pens, torches, balloons and a Manx Radio material shopping bag. Danielle said “By then end of my trip the whole of Malula village was writing with Manx Radio pens. The balloons helped me in my classroom teachings as they provided a visual aid to help the children understand the immune system”.
The Manx Radio Dream Catcher Appeal and Manx Radio would like to wish Danielle all the best with her future studies and hope that she continues her hard work within many more communities. Let’s hope that this experience has not only given her an insight into a different culture but has also given her valuable life experiences to enhance her career in medicine.
