Final Thoughts

This will be my final entry until I get back to the states. I am having some difficulty articulating exactly how this experience has affected me. Once I have had some time to digest what has taken place, I will add more pictures and a better "final thoughts" section.

Having said that, this has been a fantastic experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to come to India and observe medicine with limited resources, interact with a culture 180 degrees different from ours, and to develop a new definition of "poor."

CMC is both a magical and scary place. Magical in a sense that they deliver amazing health care to a population that otherwise would never be able to see a doctor. People's lives are changed every day here. Physicians at CMC are amazingly resourceful and cunning with what they have. Their mission, "not to be ministered unto but to minister" is definitely lived out and not just a statement on some plaque. When it is not possible for a patient to get to the hospital, the CMC goes out to the villages and gives their best. It is the way medicine should be at its heart...outreach to a people who are in need....

It is scary in a sense that their resources are in their constant thoughts. Supplies are limited, and physicians do their best not to use them up. Coming from a world where physicians simply know what they want to do, then do it without even thinking, "wait, how much more of that do we have?" I am awestruck at the limitations, and their abilities to work within it. Their task of combating social issues from hygiene to such a population that cannot understand simple hygiene--or even have access to hygienic methods--to cultural and religious practices that lead to the detriment of health and mind seems an impossible task, and yet they take on the fight with an other-worldly grace to change their world.

India's people are beautiful in simplicity and heart. I have seen gratefulness extended toward myself and the physicians beyond anything I have ever received elsewhere. They are deeply devoted to hard work and family, sacrificing often for their families' sakes. I have seen poor on an entirely new level, and their great need, in physical, mental, and spiritual, has only redoubled my heart for mission field.

" You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
--I Peter 2:9

"So many people here need the Lord. We must hurry. The End is soon!"
--A. Collin, Chaplain, CMC