International Service Learning: Experiential Education

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Serving the world can feel impossible when you’re short on time, money, or confidence, so we start somewhere smaller: a hello. Stephanie joins us to share how everyday kindness, real curiosity, and simple human connection can become a personal practice of service that travels with you anywhere. From chatting with a gas attendant to greeting someone in their language at a coffee shop, we dig into why being “seen” and “heard” is not soft, it’s foundational.

Stephanie also walks us through stepping outside her comfort zone in a big way, moving to Taiwan in her mid-30s and building a life as an educator while adapting to a new culture and language. We talk about what actually helps when you’re living abroad, from practical tools like maps and translation apps to the deeper skills of humility, flexibility, and cultural respect.

Then we get into international service on the ground: volunteering with the SALT collective to cook meals for unhoused people in Taipei, and organizing a Black Lives Matter support rally in Taiwan that raised roughly $10,000 USD and funded causes across Taiwan, Africa, and the United States. We close with her best advice for anyone considering volunteering abroad or international service learning: “lose yourself,” show up ready to learn, and you’ll discover we’re more alike than we are different. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more people find the show.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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If you’ve ever wondered whether a short-term medical service trip can really matter, Kendra Ho brings the kind of detail that makes it real. Kendra is a University of South Carolina neuroscience major with a business minor on the pre-med track, and she joins me to talk about serving in the Dominican Republic through a service learning clinic that combines travel, hands-on care, and experiential education.

We walk through what the days actually look like: early mornings, setting up a mobile clinic in a church, going door to door with a community guide, practicing Spanish, and then shifting into triage, vitals, history, and patient conversations before a local physician evaluates and prescribes. Kendra shares what she sees most often in underserved communities including hypertension, diabetes, chronic headaches, and why antiparasitic meds come up so frequently when clean water and food safety aren’t guaranteed. We also talk about what it’s like to learn from doctors who teach generously and explain the “why” behind each diagnosis and medication.

Some of the most powerful moments are the hardest ones: patients who delay care for years, a blood pressure reading that signals a crisis, and the frustration of leaving without the follow-up you’d want in any healthcare system. That leads to our big takeaway for global health and for future physicians: education and communication may be the most sustainable care you can offer, especially when access is limited by distance, work, childcare, or cost.

If you care about global health, cultural competency, healthcare access, and becoming a better clinician, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s on the fence about service learning, and leave a review with the lesson you’re taking into your own community.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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You can spend a lifetime in healthcare and still get shocked by what “no resources” really means. We talk with Dr. David Gray, an emergency physician and lifelong mentor, about the moments that shaped him: learning medicine the hard way in Guadalajara, helping build a new style of ER practice back home, and then stepping into global health where he spent decades in medical service work across Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and parts of Africa, where electricity, supplies, and referral options can disappear overnight.

We trade stories from medical mission trips and international service learning in Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya, and even a teaching visit to Costa Rica that revealed how much emergency systems depend on training, not gadgets. Dr. Gray explains how teams “make do” when customs steals donated supplies, when regulators block medications, and when you face cases you cannot fix because surgery, transport, or follow-up simply are not available. We also dig into what responsible short-term service looks like: training local aides, building trust year after year, and treating patient education as the part that lasts.

Along the way, we come back to a simple skill that travels anywhere: human connection. A hand on a shoulder, eye contact, and a calm voice can change what a patient shares, how they cope, and how a team functions, especially in resource-limited settings where the history and physical exam matter more than a barrage of tests. If you’re a student, nurse, or physician curious about global health volunteering, this conversation offers practical guidance and an honest look at the emotional cost and the deep rewards.

Subscribe for more stories from international service and experiential education, share this episode with a colleague who wants to serve abroad, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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A short-term global health trip can feel like a drop in the ocean, until you hear what “no access” really means from someone who lives it. We sit down with Dr. Ciro Calderon, a Guatemalan physician in Antigua who runs his own clinic, collaborates with the Peace Corps, and mentors visiting service learning healthcare focused teams in rural and indigenous communities where resources can be scarce and the need is constant.

We talk candidly about Guatemala’s centralized healthcare system and the sharp gap between urban care and nearby villages that may still lack consistent medical coverage. Dr. Calderon shares what it’s like when a visiting clinic becomes the only chance a patient has to see a doctor, and how students must navigate language barriers, interpreters, and the ethics of being treated like “the doctor” before they’re fully trained. The message is clear: cultural humility, clear communication, and teamwork matter as much as clinical knowledge.

We also dig into the big health issues he sees most often; maternal and child health challenges, child nutrition and education, and the mental health stigma that keeps people from asking for help. Along the way, Dr. Calderon explains why patient education is the most sustainable intervention, why access to affordable medicines can be the hardest barrier, and how "presence" ... the simple human connection of touch, a smile, eye contact, and a listening ear can change a patient’s experience of care.

If you care about international service learning, experiential education, ethical medical mission trips, or global health in Guatemala, this conversation will give you practical perspective and a reason to reflect. Subscribe, share this with someone considering a service trip, and leave a review with the biggest question you’re still wrestling with.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

A garbage dump is not just a place where trash ends up. In many developing nations, it becomes a workplace, a food source, and the center of a community where families sort plastics and metal beside medical waste just to survive. That’s the world Mike Tenbush has spent the last eight years fighting for as president of International Samaritan, and his stories are impossible to shrug off.

We talk about what life looks like in unregulated dump site communities, why the health outcomes are so brutal, and why “help” has to be more than a one-week project. Mike explains how International Samaritan started in Guatemala City and evolved into a scholarship-driven strategy that helps children of recyclers stay in school, reach trade programs or college, and pull entire families out of the cycle. We also dig into the practical questions listeners ask about nonprofit transparency and responsible giving, including how to vet organizations and why their US overhead is covered separately so donations can flow directly to in-country work.

From there, we unpack a better model for international service learning: Learn Serve Grow. It’s built around a 52-week partnership where teams learn together before travel, serve with the community rather than “to” the community, and return home committed to fundraising that fuels long-term change. Mike shares moments that define the mission, from a child who didn’t understand the concept of “dreams” to urgent medical needs that can be solved with timely support.

If you care about global health, poverty alleviation, ethical volunteering, or service-learning trips abroad, listen through to the end and then take one step. Subscribe, share this with a friend who wants to serve, and leave a review so more people find the work.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

The next pandemic problem is already here, and it is not just a virus. It is a system that fractures on impact. When a crisis hits, we send waves of institutions, NGOs, universities, and volunteers into the same space, often without shared situational awareness, shared data, or a unified plan. Dr. Meunier joins us to explain why global health has become an inefficient network of silos and why “reform” inside agencies will never be enough without real transformation in global health infrastructure. 

We dig into what the public health workforce decline and frozen development budgets mean on the ground, and why volunteer healthcare organizations and international service learning programs end up filling the void. Then we get practical: consolidation versus cooperation, how Ministries of Health can support coordination, and why bottom-up collaboration may be the only realistic starting point when there is no top-down orchestration. Dr. Meunier also challenges us to think about early warning systems, rapid data sharing, joint outbreak response capacity, and the uncomfortable reality of hidden agendas that can undermine humanitarian health work. 

We go deep on preparation for medical mission trips and global health volunteering, including cultural competency, avoiding saviorism, and the ethical pressure of practicing in resource-challenged environments where doing nothing can be deadly. Dr. Meunier shares a real public health success story from Papua New Guinea built on data gathering, water and sanitation, malaria control, nutrition, and community training, plus clear advice for future clinicians: be curious, be empathetic, stay cool, and keep your serenity. If you care about global health security, health equity, and making international service actually work, subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

*To learn more about Dr Yann Meunier and his global efforts ... simply do a google search or check him out on LinkedIn as he is publising articles almost weekly!

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

Serving abroad sounds inspiring, until you hit the real-life barriers: limited money, limited time, and the fear that you cannot help without speaking the language. Dr. Patrick Hickey sits down with Nancy, a University of South Carolina public health graduate on the physician assistant track, to show what international service learning can look like when it is done with structure, humility, and respect for local care teams.

Nancy shares her journey from being born in Alexandria, Egypt to growing up in South Carolina, and how that immigrant perspective changes the way she sees patients, culture, and community. We also talk career direction, why she moved from nursing to public health, and how the PA pathway connects to her desire to be hands-on in surgery. From there, she walks us through two global health service learning experiences: her first trip to Costa Rica working alongside local providers in underserved communities, and her second trip to Belize where she steps into leadership, helps plan logistics, and builds a women’s clinic education focus for women and teens.

We get honest about the hard parts too: screening applicants so trips are not treated like “resume tourism,” navigating limited resources in a different healthcare system, and the post-trip doubts about whether a one-week clinic truly makes a difference. Nancy’s answer is clear and practical: education and human connection scale long after you leave, and local professionals are the best guides for sustainable care. If you care about global health, experiential education, cultural humility, and ethical service, this conversation will give you a grounded place to start. Subscribe, share this with a future healthcare professional, and leave a review, then tell us what kind of impact you want to make.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

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You can learn a lot about medicine from textbooks, but you learn something different when you have to earn trust in a place where healthcare is hard to reach. We sit down with Rachel, a newly graduated pre-med student headed to medical school, to talk about what changed for her after a short-term international service learning trip to Guatemala and why that experience still sticks with her.

We start with her path at the University of South Carolina and the moment she realized “pre-med” does not have to mean only lab science. Medical humanities and women and gender studies helped her see the social determinants of health up close, and her honors research on informed consent during childbirth led her to explore the idea of obstetric violence and what respectful care should look like in any healthcare system.

Then we get practical about global health and experiential education: building a pop-up clinic in a mountain community, meeting patients where they are, and facing the limits of what a temporary team can provide when chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes require long-term access and prescription meds. Rachel also shares the story she will never forget, fitting donated eyeglasses until a woman’s face lights up when she can finally see clearly, plus a challenge to create sustainable impact through simple programs like collecting and distributing glasses.

We close on courage and what comes next: Rachel’s solo Camino de Santiago trek before medical school, her interest in an MPH, and advice for anyone on the fence about service learning trips or global health work. Subscribe, share this with a friend who cares about health equity, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

You can have the biggest heart in the world and still fail in disaster relief if you ignore the people who know the community best. That’s why Larry's approach hits so hard. Larry is a US Army veteran, a Rotarian, a longtime financial advisor, and the co-founder of Disaster Aid USA. After Hurricane Katrina, he discovered he had a knack for high-stakes problem solving and humanitarian aid, and he’s spent years responding in places where logistics break down, timelines slip, and the need is immediate.

We talk candidly about what international disaster relief really demands: staying calm when plans collapse, learning patience in “hurry up and wait” environments, and building trust through local partnership and cultural adaptability. Larry shares what it’s like to be the first American some communities have ever met, and how compassion can change perceptions on both sides. He also explains why language is rarely the barrier people think it is, and why a reliable local interpreter can protect your mission from misinformation and scams.

For healthcare listeners, this conversation goes deep on global health realities. Larry calls medical professionals the “precious metals” of humanitarian work and explains why there are never enough nurses, doctors, EMTs, and paramedics in the field. We cover international travel vaccines, using CDC guidance, and the outsized impact of basics like clean water, including a story where small water filters dramatically reduced a clinic’s patient load.

If you’ve been thinking about volunteering locally, nationally, or overseas, let this be your push. Subscribe, share this with someone who serves, and leave a review so more people find the practical path from good intentions to real relief.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort! 

Send us Fan Mail

She planned to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for a cause, then life stacked the odds higher. Tiffany Jones is a veteran teacher who gets funded for an Africa adventure, is diagnosed with breast cancer weeks later, and still chooses to train, show up, and travel, with her doctors’ support, because she needs something she can control when everything feels uncertain. 

We follow the full arc from “I’ll do that someday” to “I’m buying the sneakers today,” including the locally prescribed altitude lessons of "polay polay", the emotional weight of turning back before the summit, and the moment a setback becomes a new calling. Instead of a neat ending at the top of the mountain, Tiffany’s fall sends her into Moshi, Tanzania, where one classroom visit changes everything. She spots the overlooked person in the corner, the teacher, and asks the question that makes international service learning sustainable: what do you need? The answer is not glamorous, it’s books, materials, and tools that make daily teaching possible. 

That question becomes Patchworks, a growing nonprofit effort rooted in experiential education, ethical volunteer travel, and long-term support for global education. We talk about building trust with local partners, bringing practical supplies like projectors, refurbished phones, and laptops, and expanding service beyond classrooms through women’s skills and health-focused support. We also get concrete ways to serve if you can’t afford to travel, starting with the basic items teachers in your own community buy out of pocket. 

If you care about international service learning, sustainable education, Tanzania, or turning hard moments into useful action, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a teacher or traveler in your life, and leave a review with the next small step you’re ready to take.

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to "share the voices of international service" with you! 

As a 50+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that it is the hands-on experiential experiences that are most meaningful in life! I hope that by hearing these voices you too can become involved in service, whether it be locally, nationally, or internatioally. 

Feel free to check out our website at www.internationalservicelearning.org, follow us on Instagram @islmedical, or send me an email at                                      [email protected] if you wasnt to learn more about international opportunities for yourself, your school, your church, or any other cohort!