Internships are an important part of what we do here at Reach Beyond.  Every year we recruit bright young adults to spend weeks serving in places like Ghana, Africa and in Ecuador.  What they learn and take-away influences them for the rest of their lives! 

This is especially true for those who served in Ghana over the summer in our medical internships! Every year we pick 7-8 interns who aspire to go into the medical field. For 3 weeks these interns travel with Reach Beyond medical doctors to some of the most remote places in Ghana to help conduct medical clinics. Often the people they help treat have never been to a doctor before.  Some of these interns for the first time learn how to take vital signs and assess needs.  Sarah Larson was one of those interns this year.

Below is her account of her time in Ghana in her own words.

Week 1

All of the villages we go to are ones that have never received a free clinic before. When we get to the village, we step up a vitals station, a doctor visit and a pharmacy. Each day we see between 100-150 locals who have been very sick and hadn't received health care. I have loved getting to really care for these people. 

My favorite memories have been getting to pray with the mothers of children who have high fevers from malaria. I have also loved playing with the children from the villages. We don't speak much of the same language but we don't need to, to be able to have fun for hours!! 

Week 2

We spent six days running clinics in three different villages and saw about 150 patients each day! It's so incredible experiencing the hospitality and love of each community as we come in as strangers. Each time we leave I feel I am leaving friends. I have gotten to pray with at least two patients a day and have gotten to experience the powerful spirituality of the locals as well. I am learning so much from the people here. Especially about how to better live out my faith with conviction, love and trust. 

Week 3

This week we had some hard moments because we saw quite a few patients with really serious diseases that we could only refer them to specialists for. With each case it was easy to feel hopeless as there was no guarantee that they would go to the specialist or even then that they could pay for the treatment. Each time though, we gathered and prayed for a long time for their health and wisdom in what to do next. In some ways it was healing for the people even just to give them.

Worldview shift 

This experience has changed my views on what is needed for contentment and what is means to be holistically healthy. If you are planning on going to Ghana on the medical mission trip, prepare for your life to change. I loved that on this trip, we really were able to help the patients that we encountered. Reach Beyond is so great at connecting with great local ministries and villages to make sure that we are seeing those who are in most need and that we are able to help many. I was amazed that we saw about 1815 patients and that every time we left a village, I felt I was leaving friends.  The Ghanaian people captured my heart through their love, joy and hospitality. I felt called to a higher concept of what it means to live a life marked by the Fruit of the Spirit as exemplified by these people. As you go on this trip, expect to be humbled. Though we offered medical help to these people, they had so much to offer us in how to live for Christ. You may not always know what to do in regards to medicine, the new culture or what to say but if you let yourself live and love humbly and let God lead, God will do much more through you than you could have ever done on your own.

Do you know someone who has a passion for serving and is looking for an awesome and exciting internship this summer? Now is the time to start looking!  Check out our summer internships for 2017!

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