Growing up in a multi-cultural environment and having the possibility to travel to countries
quite different from Norway, international health has always been a topic that caught my
attention. Throughout my bachelor in Nursing I used every possibility to do my internships
abroad, something that gave me the opportunity to work in an intensive care unit in Poland
and in home based care for the elderly in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
This interest in international health brought me into contact with Tromsø Mine Victim
Resource Centre (TMC) and their work with war victims and mine accident survivors in poor
and oppressed countries in the South. Their work interested me because it is sustainable and
involves the local communities’ knowledge and uses this in how their projects are
constructed.
When considering topic for my master thesis in Public Health I was clear quite early that I
wanted to write about international health. I contacted Hans Husum working in TMC to figure
out if they were working on any interesting projects that I might be able to do some research
on for my thesis. He introduced me to Trauma Care Foundation Cambodia and their work
with mine accident survivors and war victims. With the support of TMC I travelled to
Cambodia and met with the people working with self-help groups for mine accident survivors.
Their work interested me and I decided that this was the perfect project for me to write about.