Episode 1 : Destination Congo | M6 | Va voir ailleurs

When ordinary people have an extraordinary experience They are farmers, taxi-drivers, fishermen, market gardeners, doctors or nurses. They are fine, experienced, hardened professionals who have been working in France for years. They thought they knew everything about their professions. But will they be able to carry out that profession on the other side of the world in countries where the environment, living conditions and mentality are so different? “Go and see elsewhere…” will give six French people the opportunity to take a trip that could change their lives. For a period of two weeks they will travel and discover a country they don’t know, meet foreign colleagues and share unforgettable experiences and moments… and be confronted with a reality that is basically very different from their own. Destination Congo Maria Mandon, 30, doctor at Caen. Aged 30, Maria Mandon is married with two children. She’s an intern in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and has just received her Doctor’s certificate. For her, being a doctor is a vocation. Described by friends as a determined woman, she is nevertheless sensitive and curious to discover new experiences. In the Caen hospital she works under ideal conditions, in a brand new, well equipped maternity department. For her it is unthinkable to compromise on matters of safety and hygiene. For two weeks she will accompany Doctor Alain Bikindu, who has been travelling the country for more than ten years going out to meet a population that has no access to care. Maria will be faced with diseases that she has never treated and which disappeared centuries ago in France. Among the pygmies she will discover that people still die of leprosy, even though the treatment costs only two Euros. She will carry out operations in extremely risky conditions and have to do without all the technical comforts of her modern hospital complex. She will cover thousands of kilometres by 4WD and canoe as she crosses the country to reach the most remote populations. At the end of her journey, Maria will become aware that she works in privileged conditions and will realise that being a bush doctor is a work of devotion.