TWO John of Gaunt students took the trip of a lifetime over the Christmas holiday and volunteered at a hospital in Tanzania as part of a work experience placement to get into medicine.

AS-level students Morgan Blake, 16, and Zoe Mattacks, 17, made the decision to join the Gap Medics trip last year after hearing about the work through a teacher and had to raise £3,500 each in order to go.

Morgan said: “It’s really difficult to get work experience in a UK hospital and so it was the opportunity to see a hospital in a different country.

“The whole trip was definitely worth it and I would go again, without a shadow of a doubt.

“We need to say thank you to everyone who contributed and helped, like the Lions in Westbury, and Morrisons, as well as our friends and family who help raise the money with us. It would have been impossible to get that sort of funds without their help.”

The pair flew out to the Morogoro Regional Hospital on December 18 and returned on January 3, in time for their exams.

While there, they were able to carry out a number of roles in various departments at the hospital including outpatient work, and also observed surgical procedures.

“We chose the weeks we wanted to go out there and we thought in a holiday, we would appreciate the work more which I think we did,” Zoe added.

Zoe said: “We are both looking at medicine and we know it is a competitive field so we knew we would have to do something to stand out, and working in a hospital in a Third World country definitely gives you the experience.”

The students, who are both taking chemistry, biology and maths A-levels and aim to go on to study medicine at university, feared the trip would be put on hold as there was a cholera outbreak just weeks before their flight but by the time they flew it had been cleared.

Looking back on the once-in-a-lifetime trip, the pair said being able to witness live surgical procedures was a highlight and Morgan said that helping one child in particular is something that would stay with him forever.

“I think the highlight for me was this young girl called Carolina who had osteomyelitis and was just eight years old," he said.

“Her mother had saved up all this money for an operation to get rid of the infection but it didn’t work and she was penniless and the dad had died.

"I couldn’t watch her die and so I put the money towards antibiotics to get rid of the infection.

"It only cost me £15 but it saved her leg, because it was a life or death situation.”

Visit www.gapmedics.co.uk for more information