Mikaela’s Postcard from Pune

Mikaela Price is a Bachelor of Biomedicine student at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Pathology. Over the summer she completed the Global Health and Development virtual program delivered by IFSA Butler from Pune, India.

Can you tell us about your program and why you chose it?

I chose to do the program because I was interested in public health and not being able to do much over the summer because of Covid, I thought it was a good way to get a subject done.

We did two weeks of classes every afternoon studying Hindi language, Public Health and Development which was intense but helped give context to what we were doing. For the second two weeks we did a placement, mine was with Deep Griha society and I ran exercise classes for students in disadvantaged areas in Pune.

We were given different tasks and I worked with a school to run different virtual activities similar to a PE class including strength exercises. During the pandemic, I coached gymnastics on Zoom so I had some relevant experience and was able to use some of the things I had learnt coaching.

That was a good thing about the program – I was matched to a really good placement that was specific based on my resume. I was nervous about what placement I would be given, as I had no experience in public health at all, but with this placement I knew I could do something positive and share knowledge.

What was the biggest culture shock moment?

When I was running the classes, it was really hot here in Australia and I was wearing shorts when I was demonstrating the classes. I was told I had to put on pants and that was a big shock for me. I was happy to do it, but because of the virtual setting, you didn’t see everyone else around you to get the vibe, so it was hard to know what others were thinking.

What was the highlight of your program?

Running the classes, seeing the kids and receiving their feedback. I did simple activities, but it had such a big impact on the kids as they never did physical activity as part of school, so that was definitely the best thing for me – to see how much impact I was able to make.

The way the program is set up with the placement and theory is really good. I was lucky to be able to do it, as we don’t have any placements in our degree and it was good to get some life experience.

What is the one piece of advice or tip you wish you had known before your program?

It goes so quickly so fully embrace the experience. It’s such a unique opportunity so don’t worry about doing things perfectly, just try to fully immerse yourself in the experience and do all the extra activities too.

One of the extra activities was to do a documentary research project with the other students in the program who were from all over the world. We had to research about different things in our country and come together which was super interesting. We also did yoga, learnt about cooking and different food and got to ask plenty of questions.

What is next for you? 

The experience has made me realise I enjoy practical things and interacting with people, but I am definitely still in the discovery phase of my career. I’m majoring in pathology and plan to do a postgrad course in healthcare after maybe taking a year break to work and travel after finishing my degree.