Making a Difference

The medical brigades offer a wide range of free services to remote communities who do not have regular medical access. People may come for eyeglasses, blood pressure check ups, to get vitamins, parasite medication or just to ask for food and clothing.
I truly enjoyed everything about this experience. It would be hard to pick just one thing that I liked the most. I liked being able to make a positive difference in some of their lives. It is very gratifying to give someone the ability to see for the first time in years with a pair of glasses, or to give a 12 year old child their first pair of shoes and see them racing around the yard.
Spending time with the children by painting their nails, putting their hair in ponies, playing soccer or getting mobbed by them for more stickers was very fulfilling.
The thing I liked the least about this experience, was that it had to end. Although I missed my family, I was not ready to come home. We ran into a few frustrations of running out of certain medications and not having clothing and shoes to fit everyone. But the most heart wrenching was turning people away in line because the day was ending, there was never enough time.