Have I ever done something like this before?

While I was in an undergrad studying nursing in 1981, I went with a 'medical team' organized by the campus minister at my school, DePauw University to Port Au Prince, Haiti for three or four weeks. We 7 undergrads were poorly prepared to do much medical service. We brought a physician, a nurse practitioner and a dentist with us and they were able to provide service. To round out our group, we also had a Catholic Priest and DePauw's ROTC officer. We brought donated medications (mostly samples.) Prior to going to Haiti, we had spent weekends organizing and getting these ready to transport. The medications weren't very helpful. Medications that need any monitoring such as blood pressure checks or blood testing were not useful in the context of those clinics. We brought some purchased medicines which our hosts had specifically requested (antibiotics and vitamins) and those were received with thanks.

We worked in clinics and programs run by the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's order.) We saw poverty. The most common problems could not be fixed in a clinic setting: children with malnutrition or diarrhea, and scabies related to little access to bathing. Clinically, it was interesting: the doctor thought he found man with leprosy, he suspected tuberculosis in others, and he treated one case of typhus. We saw young people who had signs of surviving polio. I helped the physician drain two large abscesses. The dentist coached each of us on pulling teeth when he needed to give his shoulder a rest. I had some opportunities to do basic nursing in both the hospice and children's home that the sisters managed. I realized I was learning more than I would be helping and I accepted that fact. The term 'service learning' had not yet been coined, but that is what we were doing.

The other students and I had interesting discussions with the sisters about the needs of their neighbors, the poorest of the poor. We Americans wanted to fix it. We wanted to make plans. We needed to be doing something. The sisters did not have a goal of eliminating poverty. Their aim was to make someone's life better for today. They worked hard and they worked cheerfully. It was really wonderful to see their contentedness in the face of the poor side of Port Au Prince, Haiti.

I also expect to learn more than I can give this coming month in Puerto Escondido. I am excited at the prospect. I hope that I can also help make someone's day better.