Prosthetic technician seeking work
Andy Smith
I received this a week ago – and forgot to put it up. Sorry.
I signed up to this forum years ago, when, as a film maker and writer, I was working on a screenplay for a political thriller based on a true hushed-up scandal in the Dutch military, concerning a defective anti-personnel mine of Dutch manufacture. I knew little about mines and did extensive research. Ever since, I have been sensitized to the devastating effects of land-mines and cluster-bombs on local populations, and to amputees in general.
Fast forward, several film projects and a political thriller (book) later, and reaching an age where a it is now-or-never for a career change, I found myself at a crossroads: another book, another isolated, solitary few years writing in my house in France, while the world is in turmoil? Or the opposite: engaging, getting involved, helping people who have lost a limb regain their mobility.
I chose the latter. I studied at the Tanzanian Training Center for Orthopedic Technologists (TATCOT), accredited by the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and am currently finishing a 6 month internship in Namibia, in the Orthopedic Technological Service of a big government run hospital in Windhoek.
My next step is to find a rehabilitation project where I can put my skills to use. My goal has been to work on humanitarian projects, preferably with victims of land-mines and ongoing conflicts. I have sent out a great many mails to international organizations, NGO's and projects specifically asking for volunteers, but only two have taken the pains to answer and one, a contact I had who works for the ICRC, told me that the ICRC only sends out people with a bachelors degree to supervise and train local technicians. It is quite disheartening when one keeps on reading about the lack of qualified prosthetic technicians in low income countries and the enormous number of Syrian (and other) war refugees in need of a limb.
So I am reaching out to the members of this forum who might have contacts with rehabilitation centers, projects, ideas, anything that could help. I am not looking for a well paid job. All I want is to be able to put the skills I've learned to use to help people who have lost a limb to walk again.
For my CV and motivation letter – please contact me direct: marisk...@gmail.com .
Kind
regards,
Mariska Mourik
Robert Keeley
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