Project Description
Year: 2022–2026
Amount: €4,000
Where: Jayapura
In Papua, there is a great need for doctors who speak the language of the people, understand their communities and are able to build trust. That is exactly what motivated Isak to study medicine at Universitas Cenderawasih in Jayapura. Since 2023, he has received a Hapin scholarship.
Isak has worked hard to reach this point. In November, he completed his medical degree. His clinical placements in general practice and psychiatry taught him a great deal. One encounter with a psychiatric patient made a deep impression on him. The young man, like Isak, had lost his parents at a young age and had pushed himself very hard in order to move forward in life. As a Papuan, you often have to fight that little bit harder to get ahead. In that moment, doctor and patient understood each other well. For Isak, being a doctor is not only about knowledge, but also about closeness and understanding.
After graduating as a medical doctor, the government requires students to complete an intensive one-year programme: six months in a community health clinic and six months in a hospital. Isak hopes to do this programme on Biak, where he is from. He will receive a salary and will be able to gain experience close to home.
Once he has completed this programme, Isak may officially call himself a general practitioner. But his ambitions go further. He would like to specialise as a gynaecologist, with a focus on the health of women and families. In recent years, the government has been providing more scholarships for this kind of further specialisation.
On behalf of Isak, we would like to sincerely thank you for the support you have given him. His long-held dream has become reality — and Papua now has a new doctor with a heart for his people.
