Blog
October 2025
International Volunteering—What to ExpectBy Rebecca Udman, Bastyr University Graduate Student |
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I LOVE to travel! I’ll go anywhere and am always up for a new adventure. I am passionate about nutrition education and empowering people to make great choices for their health. And, as part of my program at Bastyr, I need 150 hours of volunteer hours focused on nutrition. International volunteering seemed like the perfect way to combine both passions and accomplish a school requirement. I had the privilege of spending two months of my summer of 2025 volunteering in Arusha, Tanzania. It was a beautiful summer full of fantastic experiences and learning. This blog post provides an overview of my experience and information to help you determine if an experience like this could be a good fit for you. My trip was split between volunteering at two organizations. The first three weeks were spent working with a dietitian at Mt. Meru District Hospital. I worked in different areas of the hospital, including the diabetes clinic, post-partum, and the NICU. In this rotation, I interacted directly with patients, learned about the healthcare system in Tanzania, and witnessed how medical professionals practiced with resources different than those in the U.S. My second placement was at WEHAF Foundation, which supports women in need, provides food and nutrition packets, teaches skills-based courses and entrepreneurship, and provides health and wellness education. In this rotation, I felt like I helped enable women to provide for their families in a self-sufficient way. This rotation was very emotionally demanding for me in seeing and hearing the deplorable circumstances facing these women, but it is among the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in my life. |
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What to Expect/Tips for Success
Ready to volunteer? I started my journey by looking at https://www.volunteerworld.com/en. This site is for all types of volunteering from wildlife rescue to many healthcare-related fields. You can filter by project type and/or country or region of interest. I filtered down to Nutrition and Food and found one for a Nutrition & Dietitian Assistant with MediTrip. There are other organizations that others I know have used – Plan My Gap Year and Health Volunteers Overseas are two of them. Make sure to use a well-established organization. Not ready to travel abroad, but want to make an impact? There are plenty of meaningful volunteer opportunities in our own backyard. You can find opportunities across different sectors and in different communities at the following sites:
Another meaningful way to make an impact is to learn about available social programs and how to apply for them so you can refer patients to them. If you have any questions or want to hear more about my experience, feel free to reach out to me at Rebecca.udman@gmail.com. Rebecca Udman is a second year student in Bastyr University’s Master of Science in Nutrition/Didactic Program in Dietetics program. |