I want to start my reflection with a personal touch. The following entry is from my journal that I started to keep around the age of 14:
“The world is a perfect chaos. Some parts are good or effective; in other words, it would not mean anything without this chaos, however, there are parts that make you feel empty, morose, and sometimes even angry. The real question then is how do I fix part of this chaos? What can I do to repair or mend this chaos that makes me and others feel bad? How do I change this world, or at least my world (the world that includes all the thing, activities, and people that I love?) I want to find a “cure” for this perfect chaos; I want to change the world.”
Although I don’t keep a journal or diary anymore, I still ask myself this exact question. “How do I change the world, or at least my world?”
On August 9th , 2013 I, along with a group of students from Wayne State University, traveled to Honduras for a medical mission trip, which is part of Global Medical Brigades. GMB is an organization that focuses on bringing together students from different universities and encourages them to gather as many medical supplies and provide basic health care needs to people in developing countries, like Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Ghana. As any other pre-med student, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to observe or shadow medical professionals. I remember my first day at the medical brigade, where I was so focused on getting the blood pressure of the patients; perfectly record the chief complaints, and asking the doctors any question I came up with about a certain patient or a certain condition or illness. That first day though served as a kind of revelation. I was on my break time, and I started talking to one of the women waiting outside the OB/GYN clinic. With my broken Spanish, we somehow managed to understand each other. She started talking about her family, and although I might not have understood most of what she was saying, I did understand the words, “mi hija”, which meant my daughter. She kept rubbing her belly, which to me indicated that she was pregnant; smiling like the whole world belonged to her, and repeatedly said, “Gracias.” I smiled, gave her a hug, and started thinking, why is she thanking ME? I’m not a doctor yet. It was at this moment when I had that “cheesy Aha moment.” Most pre-med students think that a doctor is someone who has the answers to a person’s problems, or is supposed to cure the patient. Yes, in a way that is the doctor’s job, given the many years of education he/she goes through, however, being a doctor means being a human being- someone who improves the quality of life of another person (doesn’t necessarily mean a patient). In a sense, everyone can be a “doctor” because everyone is capable of lending a hand, an ear to listen, put a smile or make a person laugh, and simply make someone feel appreciated.
The next day I had the chance to visit a family around the community and see the conditions that they lived in. The family lived in a poorly built house, had five children, the husband worked as a farmer, and the wife as a sowing lady, and made around five dollars a month (and that was considered to be a good month). I have seen similar conditions because I was born in Albania, also a developing country. Now although I expected those kind of conditions, what struck me the most was the dignity, the grace, and optimism the woman (wife) carried herself with. “Although this house is not much, this is what God gave me, and I’m very proud of it….I wish/hope to see my children dressed in professional clothes someday just like all of you.” Particularly the last thing that she said affected me emotionally. She reminded me of my parents. My parents left Albania with the hope for their daughter (me) to have the chance to wear those professional clothes. And although as an immigrant I have dealt with many struggles including discrimination, and have badly wanted to return to my country, my parents have always been that rock that has blocked me from giving up and has given me optimism from going forward. At that moment, that woman became my parent, became my hero.
As our visit ended I realized that no matter who you are or what you do, you have a suitcase. You have an invisible suitcase that you carry along with you wherever you go; it contains some good things and some ill things (which we all like to call baggage). We live in a country where we are driven to display an identity or a persona that is very competitive, or are forced to think that we have to be on the top in order to reach whatever we are trying to reach for. And sometimes, while we are in this journey we tend to lose touch or tend to miss the chance to form a personal relationship with people. In other words, we do not share or peak in each other’s “suitcases.” This is problematic because you can’t expect to help a person or improve the quality of life of that person, if you don’t know them. The people in Honduras gave me a gift that goes beyond money or anything materialistic. They gave me the sense of being humane, they shared with me things from their “suitcase” (which is really hard to do for some people, even me), and they made me appreciate what I have-all the opportunities that are given to me- and motivated me to share whatever good that is given to me with other people. I don’t feel bad about having better conditions, like the chance to complete my education and have more opportunities, I actually feel good because in that way I have more to give. The more I give the more they gain, and in that gesture I’m improving my world or trying to repair that chaos that disturbs me. I strongly encourage everyone to have some time and reflect and really ask yourself: what can I do to change my world, what can I contribute to the world that would make someone’s life just a bit easier or happier?
“The world is a perfect chaos. Some parts are good or effective; in other words, it would not mean anything without this chaos, however, there are parts that make you feel empty, morose, and sometimes even angry. The real question then is how do I fix part of this chaos? What can I do to repair or mend this chaos that makes me and others feel bad? How do I change this world, or at least my world (the world that includes all the thing, activities, and people that I love?) I want to find a “cure” for this perfect chaos; I want to change the world.”
Although I don’t keep a journal or diary anymore, I still ask myself this exact question. “How do I change the world, or at least my world?”
On August 9th , 2013 I, along with a group of students from Wayne State University, traveled to Honduras for a medical mission trip, which is part of Global Medical Brigades. GMB is an organization that focuses on bringing together students from different universities and encourages them to gather as many medical supplies and provide basic health care needs to people in developing countries, like Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Ghana. As any other pre-med student, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to observe or shadow medical professionals. I remember my first day at the medical brigade, where I was so focused on getting the blood pressure of the patients; perfectly record the chief complaints, and asking the doctors any question I came up with about a certain patient or a certain condition or illness. That first day though served as a kind of revelation. I was on my break time, and I started talking to one of the women waiting outside the OB/GYN clinic. With my broken Spanish, we somehow managed to understand each other. She started talking about her family, and although I might not have understood most of what she was saying, I did understand the words, “mi hija”, which meant my daughter. She kept rubbing her belly, which to me indicated that she was pregnant; smiling like the whole world belonged to her, and repeatedly said, “Gracias.” I smiled, gave her a hug, and started thinking, why is she thanking ME? I’m not a doctor yet. It was at this moment when I had that “cheesy Aha moment.” Most pre-med students think that a doctor is someone who has the answers to a person’s problems, or is supposed to cure the patient. Yes, in a way that is the doctor’s job, given the many years of education he/she goes through, however, being a doctor means being a human being- someone who improves the quality of life of another person (doesn’t necessarily mean a patient). In a sense, everyone can be a “doctor” because everyone is capable of lending a hand, an ear to listen, put a smile or make a person laugh, and simply make someone feel appreciated.
The next day I had the chance to visit a family around the community and see the conditions that they lived in. The family lived in a poorly built house, had five children, the husband worked as a farmer, and the wife as a sowing lady, and made around five dollars a month (and that was considered to be a good month). I have seen similar conditions because I was born in Albania, also a developing country. Now although I expected those kind of conditions, what struck me the most was the dignity, the grace, and optimism the woman (wife) carried herself with. “Although this house is not much, this is what God gave me, and I’m very proud of it….I wish/hope to see my children dressed in professional clothes someday just like all of you.” Particularly the last thing that she said affected me emotionally. She reminded me of my parents. My parents left Albania with the hope for their daughter (me) to have the chance to wear those professional clothes. And although as an immigrant I have dealt with many struggles including discrimination, and have badly wanted to return to my country, my parents have always been that rock that has blocked me from giving up and has given me optimism from going forward. At that moment, that woman became my parent, became my hero.
As our visit ended I realized that no matter who you are or what you do, you have a suitcase. You have an invisible suitcase that you carry along with you wherever you go; it contains some good things and some ill things (which we all like to call baggage). We live in a country where we are driven to display an identity or a persona that is very competitive, or are forced to think that we have to be on the top in order to reach whatever we are trying to reach for. And sometimes, while we are in this journey we tend to lose touch or tend to miss the chance to form a personal relationship with people. In other words, we do not share or peak in each other’s “suitcases.” This is problematic because you can’t expect to help a person or improve the quality of life of that person, if you don’t know them. The people in Honduras gave me a gift that goes beyond money or anything materialistic. They gave me the sense of being humane, they shared with me things from their “suitcase” (which is really hard to do for some people, even me), and they made me appreciate what I have-all the opportunities that are given to me- and motivated me to share whatever good that is given to me with other people. I don’t feel bad about having better conditions, like the chance to complete my education and have more opportunities, I actually feel good because in that way I have more to give. The more I give the more they gain, and in that gesture I’m improving my world or trying to repair that chaos that disturbs me. I strongly encourage everyone to have some time and reflect and really ask yourself: what can I do to change my world, what can I contribute to the world that would make someone’s life just a bit easier or happier?