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Today something to share with you from Vol. 6 Ed. 1 of the MSF (Doctor without borders) newsletter:
Dr. Wei Cheng sharing his experience in Monrovia, Capital of Liberia, with excerpts from emails written to his wife, Dr. Wei Cheng, a paediatric surgeon, was sent on an emergency mission for 3 weeks to Liberia.
Sept 7, 2003
"As I expected, the immediate surrounding is much calmer than what's on the news. The plane is piloted by 3 seemingly inebriated pilots. The young chap seated next to me works for some sort of suppliers to NGOs, making money out of the humanitarian crisis. Here in Liberia we landed. No problem. The welcome committee at the airport consisted of 16 trucks of soldiers (about 500 of them) with AK47s. That did not worry me except I don't like the sight of the weapons...."
Sept 14, 2003
"I have already been here for more than a week and the workload is quite overwhelming. Today is really the first opportunity I have had, to sit down and write something, which is important as I fear I am rapidly becoming desensitised to life around me.....
The hospital was looted but it is still functioning even though the local hospital staff has not been paid for 2 years. The local medical school has been closed for more than a year, however there is a 3rd year medical student, called Fallah, day in day out, he came to the operating room, offering to carry the patients and scrub for the operations. He does everything from cleaning the floor to suturing the wound. He then goes home and reads up about everything he has seen. It is so easy to let go and feel despair in these circumstances, and yet, he refuses to give up. To me, this is truly inspirational !"
Sept 17, 2003
"I will be leaving Monrovia in just over a week. Amazing! In a way, I am getting very good experience. On the other hand, the health care here is very basic. People are dropping dead like flies and yet, we don't know what they die of. There is no basic biochemical test, there is no microbiological test, the x-ray is working but produces very, very poor quality film. You simply don't know what you are treating...."
After reading some of the excerpts just felt the courage of this people going overseas and the things they see day to day are so realistic and yet so unreal to our imaginative world, how can this world be like this....can't imagine this is actually happening. Medicine should be affordable and not a prestige, shouldn't be a diamond...it should be easily accessible. Human life is so fragile....untimely death...every minute the clock is clicking. However, TO SURVIVE, we need INSPRIRATION, the 3rd year medical student FALLAH, what a guy!! someone we need to learn from really, Something to remind ourselves and keep in our mind: COURAGE!! CONSTANT LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE, KEEP LEARNING AND IMPROVING MORALLY, NOT WASTING OUR LIFE MOMENTS and USE IT MEANINGFULLY, NOT TO GIVE UP EASILY FOR GOOD ETHICS AND VALUES that UPHOLD OUR QUALITY TO QUALIFY US AS HUMANS.
This might not be the happiest article you read, but is a good reflection and a reminder how lucky we really are!! To be contented, don't waste our energy in non-meaningful matters.
HERE ARE FOR MORE INTEREST READING:
Mechanics of Malnutrition: How Can You Die of Hunger? What Happens in the Body? etc...
for details: (please refer to Pg 11 of ARTICLE:CLICK)
May we all find quality in our life by increasing our own moral cultivation.
With Great metta (loving kindness)
mei chin.
