Sunday, March 8, 2009
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Follow this blog along with other University of Nebraska SAGH sponsored medical trips. Find out whats going on in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Winnebago Reservation and Mexico.
Ruminations
"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
In 5 days, 7 hours, and 22 minutes I, along with 25 others, will be boarding a plane. We will be on our way to Falmouth, Jamaica. We are a group of doctors and students from the University of Nebraska Medical Center eager to find ourselves thrust into a continuity clinic nestled in this northern shore town 18 miles east of Montego Bay.
A quick rummage through the annals of Google and I learn that Falmouth historically served as one of the busiest ports in all of Jamaica. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it's thriving sugar cane industry brought money, boats and people- African slaves. Today it is considered to be one of the Caribbean's best-preserved Georgian towns. I know Falmouth only through the stories of fellow students, past participants of this annual service trip. The picture many paint is one of a bleak, shanty town overrun with poverty manifesting itself in gangs, lucrative gun trafficking and poor access to the most basic health care needs. But also, they talk about a community that remains dignified in the face of incredible hardship.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller
Next week, our group will be participating in one the community health clinics that is manned throughout the year by different foreign medical personnel, and often by student groups from medical schools. I imagine a multitude of reasons each of us has for deciding to participate in this trip. Some have come in the name of service; others for the medical training, some of us because we love to take on new adventures, still others for the challenge, or for the sun. For some of us this will be the first time outside the United States.
I expect we will all be greatly challenged on this trip. Challenged medically, as we begin to integrate our medical knowledge in a clinical setting without many of the usual resources. But also challenged by the complexity of our surroundings. I hope that each us will come away with a broader understanding of the world, with a new openness to different ways of life than what we are accustomed to, and that each one of us has the opportunity to question and reflect on our roles within the our own communities-- as global citizens, in the medical community, or in Nebraska.
We are all preparing for our exams next week, and it is easy to get caught up in the routines of medical school. But in the back of each of our minds, ruminating and stirring, are thoughts about this imminent adventure. We are all so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn so much medically, but also to discover things about each other and ourselves not yet known, and hopefully to meet some wonderful new friends in Falmouth, Jamaica.
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard
5 days, 5 hours and 59 minutes and counting.
In 5 days, 7 hours, and 22 minutes I, along with 25 others, will be boarding a plane. We will be on our way to Falmouth, Jamaica. We are a group of doctors and students from the University of Nebraska Medical Center eager to find ourselves thrust into a continuity clinic nestled in this northern shore town 18 miles east of Montego Bay.
A quick rummage through the annals of Google and I learn that Falmouth historically served as one of the busiest ports in all of Jamaica. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it's thriving sugar cane industry brought money, boats and people- African slaves. Today it is considered to be one of the Caribbean's best-preserved Georgian towns. I know Falmouth only through the stories of fellow students, past participants of this annual service trip. The picture many paint is one of a bleak, shanty town overrun with poverty manifesting itself in gangs, lucrative gun trafficking and poor access to the most basic health care needs. But also, they talk about a community that remains dignified in the face of incredible hardship.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller
Next week, our group will be participating in one the community health clinics that is manned throughout the year by different foreign medical personnel, and often by student groups from medical schools. I imagine a multitude of reasons each of us has for deciding to participate in this trip. Some have come in the name of service; others for the medical training, some of us because we love to take on new adventures, still others for the challenge, or for the sun. For some of us this will be the first time outside the United States.
I expect we will all be greatly challenged on this trip. Challenged medically, as we begin to integrate our medical knowledge in a clinical setting without many of the usual resources. But also challenged by the complexity of our surroundings. I hope that each us will come away with a broader understanding of the world, with a new openness to different ways of life than what we are accustomed to, and that each one of us has the opportunity to question and reflect on our roles within the our own communities-- as global citizens, in the medical community, or in Nebraska.
We are all preparing for our exams next week, and it is easy to get caught up in the routines of medical school. But in the back of each of our minds, ruminating and stirring, are thoughts about this imminent adventure. We are all so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn so much medically, but also to discover things about each other and ourselves not yet known, and hopefully to meet some wonderful new friends in Falmouth, Jamaica.
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard
5 days, 5 hours and 59 minutes and counting.
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