Take this moment to put your life into perspective. You wake up, go about your daily routine, eat, sleep, and start all over again. Do you ever stop to think about how your life would drastically change if you didn’t have potable water, healthcare, safe electricity, infrastructure, a large police force, a stable house, a quality education, a bathroom, or a car? The list could go on and on. We live in a country that offers us so many opportunities and most of us, no matter how little or how much we have, have so much more than people who reside in countries that are not as developed. Our lives are so rushed and we are always so occupied that we rarely take the time to think about the less fortunate people that we share this planet with.
Pamplona Alta. This shantytown is located in Lima, Peru’s capital. Countless dogs and cats freely roam the rocky, dirt roads. Colorful, rundown box-like houses sit on the steep mountains. Rusty tanks lie on the edge of the road with the only source of drinking water available. The smell of smoke permeates the air as flames rise from the burning of garbage. Black-market electricity wires run dangerously into homes. No matter where you look in Pamplona Alta, this is what you see. People call this place home. Yet, amidst all of the poverty you see children, smiling and laughing while playing with the few toys they have. People wave and greet you as you pass by. This underprivileged community in the nation’s capital is where I volunteered for a week with an organization called MEDLIFE along with other TCNJ students in the MEDLIFE club.
MEDLIFE provides Medicine, Education, and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere. It’s important to note that the many problems that the people in these communities face are intertwined. With a lack of funds, there cannot be development of infrastructure and education. These two deficiencies lead to increased diseases because with a lack of education, the people do not have the necessary knowledge to protect themselves and stay healthy. Lack of funds, education, and development all result in a need for medicine. This vicious cycle will only perpetuate if nobody steps up to help. This is where MEDLIFE comes in. MEDLIFE relies on donations and volunteers to help set up medical clinics all over Pamplona Alta. These clinics have a triage tent as well as an education tent where the people learn about infectious and sexually transmitted diseases, pap smears, and hygiene among other topics. There are also doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and gynecologists at the clinics to treat patients. Moreover, there is a station where children learn how to brush their teeth and where fluoride is applied to their teeth. From volunteering at the stations, I got a sense of the problems that the people had. All of the children had parasites and the majority of them were malnourished. Almost everyone had decaying teeth and periodontitis. Other issues among the population include infectious diseases and malnourishment due to their diet.
Aside from volunteering at the clinics, all of the volunteers participated in a big project of building 2 sets of concrete stairs for a community called Buena Vista in Pamplona Alta. You’re probably thinking, “Stairs? Why stairs?” In order to get water or food for their families, the people need to climb up and down the rocky mountain without a ledge or railing while carrying heavy jugs of water and bags of food. An older woman approached me and told me that she fell down the mountain once while carrying water and lost her job due to the injury. Being able to change people’s lives by simply building a set of stairs is remarkable. The people in the community of Buena Vista in Pamplona Alta were thrilled and so incredibly thankful for our help and even celebrated the completion of the stairs with music and food. I cannot describe the feeling of accomplishment and gratification that all of the volunteers felt; it was priceless and unforgettable.
Interacting with the people of Pamplona Alta was the most rewarding part of this experience. Being bilingual helped tremendously (although you do not need to know Spanish to volunteer with MEDLIFE!) because I got to hear their personal experiences. It’s amazing and heartwarming to see how an area that seems so desolate and poor can have the happiest and most loving people. Meeting and talking to the children was one of the most heartwarming parts of the trip because they are so content with so little and have hearts and dreams that are larger than life. These children are living proof that money can’t buy happiness.
It is challenging to put this experience into words, but the MEDLIFE brigade was life changing and inspired me to put things into perspective and appreciate everything that I have been given in life. The MEDLIFE brigade not only allowed me to spend time with native Peruvians as well as the other student volunteers from colleges across the nation, but it immersed me in the culture and way of life of the Peruvian people.
I highly recommend anyone interested in the medical field, global healthcare, or volunteer work to consider this trip and to join the MEDLIFE club on campus. One person can make a difference and by working together, in just one week, we helped over 2609 people.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” We all have the social responsibility to give back to those who have less, but together, we can touch lives, one person at a time.
If you are interested in signing up for a brigade check out the MEDLIFE website.