Village Doctors

My supervisor at Cheshire Home used to travel with this group quite a bit when she was working in Sandakan and when the opportunity arose for her to join them on this excursion she invited me along. We started out early on Saturday morning and started the long drive through windy roads in the mountains to a small remote village. Here we got busy right away. There were tables set up, in what appeared to be the villages meeting house, to see patients and distribute medicine. It was a fantastic event to witness and be apart of. We spent all day Saturday meeting the villagers and distributing medicine, food, toys, and clothes. At first it was

very overwhelming for me because I had no idea what to expect and what needed to be done. The group I was with had a pretty solid routine and they each had their duties to complete. When asked to do something I gladly pitched in otherwise I was left to observe, visit,

and learn. Let me tell you, I learned a lot on this short trip. There was one doctor with us and he was very willing to teach me about the conditions of the village and what sort of things they usually encounter. If memory serves me right he called

me over and said, "Sit down and learn." So I did. I learned about arthritis, asthma, malnutrition, lice, and much more. Watching all the people come through our little makeshift clinic was eye opening to how different the world can be just two hours away from your own home. In the village it was hard to get to a clinic of any kind for medical help. Through many conversations with different volunteers on this trip I was able to learn that they try and do these village runs as much as possible. Some will try for the minimum of once a month but organizing enough people to go and getting the supplies in is sometimes difficult and they are not able to go. When asked how often a doctor, themselves or others, come to each village they said it might be once a year. It is just amazing to think that many of us can drive 15 minutes and see a doctor and others wait a whole year.

After a busy day a group of us gathered up our bags and followed the local kids down to the river for a bath. We thought the kids were just going to show us the river and turn around and head back up but that is not how it went. As soon as we reach the waters edge they stripped down and jumped in! The joys of being a kid in a village. No worries, no shame.

Just the joy of swimming in the river with friends and in this case a few strangers. The rest of us were a little more modest and either wore a swimming suit or our clothes. After our bath it was finally time to get some food. So we all headed back up to our base camp and through our bags in their respective spots and

got ready for dinner. The night lasted a long time with visits from the head of the village (and a group of boys that hung out with me for a long time), sharing stories and songs, and having many discussions. It was a great end to the day. All that was left to do was sleep. We were very blessed and offered a place in the main area of a house. It was very kind of the village and they went out of their way to make us comfortable.

The next morning was a blur of goodbyes and loading into the large 4X4 trucks to carry us home. The weekend was one of the best weekends I have had and it allowed me to see so much more of what Malaysia is made of. It is one weekend I hope can occur at least once more before heading home.