After working for two years as an Occupational Therapist in a rehabilitation centre Neurology Department in the Netherlands, I decided to take a year off. I always wanted to work in a developing country and I felt that the time was right for me to go. I contacted several volunteer organisations and in the end I got in touch with CRP. Most of the information I got was taken from CRP’s web page. I also contacted another OT volunteer who was present at CRP at that time. She told me I was going to lecture Neurology and gave me a lot of valuable information which helped me during my preparations.

Finding an organisation which wanted to fund me was quite difficult. In the Netherlands most volunteer organisations ask for a commitment of at least 2 years (eg. VSO). Because I didn’t want to commit myself for that long, but I still wanted to do volunteer work, I decided to cover most of all the expenses myself. Luckily CRP could arrange for me to be funded by Friends of CRP in the U.K. (FCRP-UK). This included my accomodation and food for half of my stay. With this half funding it became easier for me to cover the 6 months.

There I was, safely arrived in Bangladesh, entering a whole new world: a new culture, new environment and new tasks!

I started my time in CRP teaching Neurology to the 2nd years OT students - about Cognition and Perception focussing on the treatment of stroke patients. A new topic for both the students and in CRP itself. For me, this was a challenge since it was, and still is, my favourite subject while giving treatment to stroke patients in the Netherlands. I also lectured the first year OT students in OT and Upper Limb. With so much teaching I realised that I missed the clinical work, the contact with the patients. After all, I am not a teacher from origin, but a practical occupational therapist who was used to working intensively with the patients. After talking to the OT course coordinator and the Head of the OT department I began supervising the OT interns in the out-door department, a job I combined with my already existing lectures. The combination of teaching students, supervising interns and treating patients worked out fine for me. I was, therefore, quite busy sometimes. But in the end I managed well.

At the beginning of November 2002 I went for one month with five 3rd year OT students to Sylhet, setting CRP-Gobindapur, supervising the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) placement. Community Based Rehabilitation aims to provide access to community services for disabled people. The aim is to promote equal access opportunities for disabled people in society. The CBR programme at Gobindapur is still in its initial phase but we tried to do whatever we possibly could.

Before we could give treatment to the disabled village people, we had to find them. We got the necessary information by doing a house-to-house survey in a specific area. The total survey time took about 5-6 days where we walked for miles passing the rice fields, muddy houses, waterbuffalos, cows, chickens and a lot of curious people on the look-out for the disabled.

In total, we found many disabled people with conditions varying from hearing problems, spinal cord injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, etc. Some people never went, or had the opportunity, to see a doctor, so there was no diagnosis. We could only give treatment to15 patients (5 students with 3 patients each). The demand for help was unfortunately much higher. The students gave daily therapy to their patients in their homes. Some patients were advised to go to CRP-Gobindapur or CRP- Savar, depending on their economical conditions. As part of the placement every student had to make at least one modification or adaptation during their treatment. This could be a modified bamboo toiletchair, or an adapted spoon with an angle, for example. Also every student had to organise and present one awareness programme. This is to raise awareness among the people about topics like: disability, stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral pasly. They had to choose their own topic, localization, audience and had to arrange it all themselves.

The students worked really hard and they were enthusiastic and motivated. The majority said they gained a lot of knowledge and were happy to have had this opportunity, especially because some among them had never been in a village before. Several students came and told me that they wanted to work in the community as soon as they finish their education. At this stage there are no posts in the community, so we have to support the students and try to find a way to make OT (and PT for that matter) more accessible in the community. The reality is that the majority of the disabled people in Bangladesh do not live in big cities but in the community, where there are less medical resources and opportunities.

When I look back at my stay in CRP, the time in Sylhet was personally for me the most memorable one. I believe it is a “once in a life time experience” for a foreign occupational therapist to learn more about village life in Bangladesh. I realised how hard life is for disabled people in the community and in general in Bangladesh. I hope we made an impact on the lives of the people we treated, whether it has been just a little bit or a great difference.

After the CBR placement, I continued lecturing Neurology to the second years and also started teaching them the topic Adaptation and Design. In the mornings I went to the Mental Health Institute in Dhaka to co-supervise (together with another OT from England) the 3rd year students in their Psychiatry placement. This was quite exciting, especially because I had never worked in this kind of setting before.

I can say that my overall feeling of my stay in CRP is good. Of course there are always things to improve and sometimes things just work out differently than you expected. But a positive way of thinking will certainly help. It is good to have a critical view. That is how we can change and improve things for the better.

I look back at an enjoyable time where I gained a lot of inspiration and life experience, professionally as well as personally, which I will never forget.

CRP is a remarkable place and has given me a great opportunity to work as an occupational therapist in a developing country.