Just People Helping People

We’ve completed our time in the clinic as of Thursday, and it kind of breaks my heart a little bit; we’ve all fallen in love with the beautiful people of Guatemala. While I choked up as we pulled out of the clinic the very last time, the beautiful, kindhearted, hilarious, and brilliant people surrounding me kept me from shedding more than just a couple of tears. I’d like to share a few of the incredible moments I experienced both in and outside of the clinic.

I’ll start with our very first morning in the clinic. Both Adonis and I were assigned to shadow Dr. Richard. It is hard to express the plethora of information we absorbed in the five hours we had that morning. I will share three things I learned that morning that I will never forget. First, never do anything if you’re not going to do it right. Second, listen. Simply sit down and take the time to listen. Third, a bit more scientifically related, gout is a product of elevated Uric Acid levels most often determined by genetics. Shadowing Dr. Richard refreshingly redefined what it meant to shadow; it was the first time I ever felt involved in the diagnosis process or even understood the complexities of many common diagnoses.

Another incredible moment in the clinic occurred towards the end of the week while I was working in the glasses rotation. It is here where I felt the difficulties of participating in a medical service trip. After distributing dozens of glasses each day, we were running out of certain glasses that could help each patient because our supplies were limited. It was very difficult for me to tell the patient the best glasses we had for her weren’t going to perfectly improve her vision; I wanted to be able to provide the best to her because she deserved nothing less than the standard anywhere else. It is at this moment that the woman stood up and grabbed both of my hands in hers, looked me in the eye and thanked us for being here and doing what we were doing.

Even though I still wish we had a better glasses prescription for her, this woman demonstrated the understanding, gratefulness, patience, and humility of the Guatemalans we met throughout the week. José Rolando, our contact in Guatemala and an incredible community leader, said it best during our last reflection, “What you came and did wasn’t a mission trip; it wasn’t even a service trip. You were just people helping people this week.”