I entered Nursing for one reason: to work in places where people needed healthcare the most. I spent my days in Nursing School (sorry, teachers) dreaming of which continents I would visit, and what I could do.   

When I graduated, I remember my first day in Rwanda, teaching one of the first nursing cohorts since the Genocide, spending 2 hours teaching this super passionate class about basic hygiene and aseptic technique, when I stopped and asked the class for feedback. A stunned group of 40 to-be nurses looked at me, and one timidly put his hand up. “Sir, you speak too fast, we didn’t understand a word you said.”

And from there, I was hooked. Northern Canada in Indigenous Communities, Thailand researching Tuberculosis control, London to get more schooled in Public Health, the refugee crisis in Greece, Liverpool for a Diploma in Tropical Nursing.  

It was in South Sudan though, working in Batil Refugee Camp Hospital, for Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) that I realized I may need something different. I was seeing one of our adult patients, admitted with severe malaria when a bullet tore through the corrugated metal roof and landed in-between me and my patient. I ducked under the bed, emerged a few seconds later, and finished my consultation, bullet casing still smoldering in the corner. I knew, at that level of disconnectedness to risk, that I would take a break from that type of work. 

So when the amazing humans at Ventura Medstaff asked me if I would like to help nurses & therapists travel internationally, I saw it as an extension of my dreams, way back in nursing school. Maybe instead of creating my own adventures, it’s time to help empower others to do the same. 

Travel is transformative, and practicing your craft in a foreign land, allows you to grow in so many ways you don’t get in your own neighborhood. 

We’ve got life-changing adventures in the Middle East, Australia, and the United Kingdom – reach out to me at rjaipaul@venturamedstaff.com or stop by when you are heading through London; I would love to connect and swap some tales!