Hello World,
Yes, I know. I’ve been neglecting the blogging life for quite awhile, but here I am again! I wanted to tell you all about the amazing organization I’m part of here at USC. It’s called Global Medical Brigades. To be honest, here at USC we have all the branches of the global brigades; that is, business, architecture, water, public health, etc.
But, seeing as I am pre-med and extremely interested in the medical fields, I applied to go on the Global Medical Brigade to Honduras. Thankfully, out of the many applicants, I was chosen to go on the Winter Break community service trip. Applications were due spring semester of the year before, so those chosen have plenty of time to fund-raise for the costs of the trip.
The organization is extremely helpful when it comes to individual fundraising, but there’s also club-wide fundraising in order for the Global Medical Brigades to supply medicines to the Honduran people.
After months of preparation and anticipation, we finally arrived at the airport with our meds and our suitcases all ready for the week ahead! Many students had already been on a brigade before, and for some, it was their last brigade as seniors. But it was my very first and hopefully not my last!
The week was more inspiring and eye-opening than I had imagined it would be. We worked two communities, two days each, and spent the rest of the day med-packing and preparing. Though my Spanish was based on telenovelas and some training by GMB, it was surprisingly easy to communicate with the people of Honduras, since they were so patient and eager to talk to us.
I was able to shadow not only physicians but also dentists and a gynecologist as well. Together, our team at GMB helped a total of 824 patients in the span of 4 days. Though I can only hope we helped change the lives of the patients for the best, I can guarantee that they helped changed my life for the better.
I recommend everyone to join! Any brigade that interests you will be a life changing event, I am sure of it.
P.s. This picture was taken after I had personally given my pair of Toms shoes to this little old lady who had walked barefoot all the way from her house to the clinic, all in order to get some medical attention. One of the highlights of my life, by far.