i returned to work today. after having spent the first half of the month in burundi visiting various health care centers, malnutrition centres, talking to people who live there and just watching their lives i was overwhelmed by our excess. walking through the doors of the hospital, knowing i was going to have everything i needed to care for patients and to teach students, was harder than i thought it would be. why? it makes no sense but i am changed and i must respond.
during one procedure i was assisting a coworker and i contaminated a package during the sterile set up. it was everything within me not to pretend i hadn't contaminated it...it felt so wasteful to discard the contaminated item...images of cots with no mattresses went through my head.
what do i do with the emotions inside of me? how do i respond? i do not have an answer...but i do know it is my responsibility to feed the poor, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned and to love the lovely and unlovely alike. that is my calling and that will be my life whether that is within the borders of Canada or to the farthest reaches of the world. it is my everyday.
1 comment:
This blog is a huge encouraagement to me as this is what I am writing about today. Many times seeing overwhelming poverty and difficulties can cause us to shut down and harden our hearts. I think this happens to many people. I think God wants us to wrestle with these issues even when we know that there are no easy answers. And there are definitely no answers apart from the grace of God. Your experience in Burundi proves my thesis that STM experiences can give participants a worldview that changes their everyday lives and decisions. But usually this only happens if the participants want this before their experience. Your experience and your reaction to it is an indication of your attitude going into it... And God is pleased with that and will help you sort out what to do with that in due time.
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