I'm both sad and excited to be leaving. There's a lot that I've learned and many changes and new adventures await me in the coming weeks, months, and years. The trip went by way to fast, and I can really hardly believe I'm leaving for Chicago so soon. I'm glad I was able to get this flight changed to earlier, even for a nominal fee, as I will be able to finalize some of the complications with my residency paperwork. I've heard some of the Michigan residents have had to delay a month because the paperwork is so finicky in that area.....so it really is a blessing to get back a couple days earlier. I would have just been sitting in Brazzaville otherwise with pretty much no access to internet, which would complicate a few things more.
Upon my arrival to Chicago I will have a week to get things in order. Jason and I will be giving a presentation on Thursday regarding our time here in Impfondo, and hopefully will be able to inspire more medical, physician assistant, and nursing students, along with residents and physicians, to get involved in global health experiences around the world. I think we will mainly show a glorified slide show and talk a lot about what we've experienced and learned, and what they might expect on a similar adventure in their near future. After that I have to meet with the PR team from Rush to discuss the National Award for Excellence in Public Health, and hopefully can focus a lot on the development of the organization, the great need for medical service work around the world, and maybe sneak a bit about how God is on the move throughout the world. Friday I meet with the Rush Camera Crew to record my acceptance speech as I will not be able to attend the award ceremony. My parents will accept the award on my behalf, but at least they will be able to play the video for me and hear my thoughts on what this means. I'm still working on the best way to say what I want to say, but essentially, awards mean very little to me unless they glorify something bigger than one person. I don't view this award as recognition of any achievement that I've done, as I've done very little to make all this happen. Instead I hope to 1) give the glory to God as it is through him and by him that this all happened, 2) show the desperate need for access to quality health care around the world and how addressing that need addresses the needs in our own communities in the United States, and 3) draw recognition to all the health care professionals who have dedicated part or all of their life to serving the underserved around the world, especially the long-term missionary types I've encountered on this trip, as they really are the ones giving it all up to help those in the greatest need. If I can accomplish that, then I think the award is worthwhile and means something. If it simply draws recognition to "work" I've done, then I have failed.
Saturday I celebrate the wedding of a good friend and colleague, who has been with me since we interviewed for medical school. I'm excited to see this new chapter in his life. The following day I head off to meet up with my friends in California, where we will then set off for our adventure in Asia. We fly into Taipei, Taiwan first, where we spend a week. Then off to Okinawa for a few days, then fly to Tokyo. After a week there I will be heading back to Taiwan where I intend to hike in the mountains for a couple days (alone, yes, so excited). It's a pretty fantastic opportunity and I'm excited to have some rest, relaxation, and real vacation. I hope that it revives my spirit and my body and enables me to be prepared to continue my service work.
I will be going to Honduras with a team through Global Brigades. My mentor, Dr. Liza Pilch, will be the lead physician on the team, and I will be working as a licensed physician in Honduras providing all the paperwork went through ok. Mostly a team of pre-medical students from Illinois Weslyan University, so I'm sure I'll be doing a bit of teaching as well. Hopefully I can open their eyes to the public health needs of the communities more than anything else, as they will learn medicine, but very few learn public health.
Then, the most challenging and longterm part of my missionary work begins: Detroit. I view my residency as an opportunity for serving the people of Detroit and continuing the work that I've started. It is a broken, desolate town in great need of health, both physical and spiritual. I don't expect to necessarily change much in 3 years, but it is a mission field and I can make a difference in the lives of the patients that meet on each shift.
This trip to the Congo has changed my life more than I expected. As I have mentioned several times it has confirmed that I want to spend more time in places than the really short term amounts I've done in the past. How long? I'm not entirely sure yet, but that's part of the adventure. The medical missionaries I spent time with as well were truly some of the most amazing people I've ever met, and I look forward to seeing how our paths cross again in the future. Sarah told me before I left, "Be careful, they say Africa gets into your blood." She's right. I've had longterm correspondences with African children growing up through Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child, and my nephew Isaac is adopted from Ethiopia, so there's already a draw to this continent. Being here, living and working with the people, experiencing their culture first-hand, eating their food, seeing their struggles, watching them live and die, trying to save their children, having successes and failures, and understanding that there is often very little we can do secondary to lack of resources -- Africa is in my blood. There is no doubt about it. My veins are coursing with the desire to come back and serve the communities here. I want to influence change, I want to give them the health care they deserve, I want to love them and show them Jesus, and I want to see the oppression that exists from all different angles on this culture lifted -- lofty goals, and too impossible for one man. But that is the point. "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples." - Mother Teresa. And that is my hope. We have already started to influence change in India, the Philippines, Peru, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Congo, South Korea, and many more to come. Small trips for now sure, and maybe the change is more in us still than in the places we work. But I've talked about the ripples, and if you've been reading maybe you've started to believe in the impact they can have. I'm going to keep trying, keep fighting, keep praying, and keep working until the change happens or it breaks me. Not sure which will happen first, but Africa is in my blood, and I can't stop now. The problem with anything getting into your blood is that it's the end, there is no going back. You would have to drain the life out of me to eliminate the passion now. Maybe it's the Congo again someday, maybe back in Impfondo, I don't know. But I'll be back to Africa. Maybe it's Ethiopia and even bringing my nephew when he's grown, maybe it will be Malawi or Sierra Leone, places I've sent letters and support to. Maybe it will be Gambia with my friend and colleague Abdoulie, where he is from. Maybe it will be all of those places and more. All I know is that Africa is in my blood. It's hard to think that it will be several years before I can come back. Residency doesn't allow for much freedom outside of your training. I will have some opportunities to do electives, and global health is a definite possibility for an elective. It will depend on multiple factors, but it will still be years before I'm back, and that's hard. But I sense that the desire will only grow as the years pass, and when I do finally return it will be like finally giving into an addiction that has plagued all your senses as you writhe in withdrawal. Africa is in my blood, and the only option is to return.
Thanks for reading my blog during this trip. It has been a tremendous opportunity to share with you all that has happened. To pour my heart and soul onto paper (or virtual space) and share with you my thoughts. I will continue to post each time I travel, and my next trip to Honduras will be June 1 - June 8, so if you would like to hear about it, check back then. Please also check out the other blogs from the various trips happening around the world at www.makeachangeinternational.org/blogs. Also, consider helping to support the health care professionals that are giving their time and resources to bring medical care to underserved communities all over the world. If you are able to donate resources, supplies, money, etc. please contact us. You can find all the information you need at www.makeachangeinternational.org.
Thank you for your support. I will post a quick update when I've arrived back in Chicago to let you know that I've made it safely, but otherwise this will conclude my blog for this trip. I will post a whole bunch of pictures, so be sure to check back for that as well, both here on the blog and on the website. I hope someday you have the opportunity to go to Africa and live with the people, but if you do, just remember to be careful, they say Africa gets into your blood.
No comments:
Post a Comment