Rotary Medical Caravan

11.14.2008

Hello again! Finally, I am happy to report that I have been able to truly contribute to the benefit of some Egyptians that actually need it. My Rotary club, Cairo Capital, every so often, assists a team of doctors in a medical caravan to remote parts of Egypt. This particular caravan was bound for a farming village just south of Alexandria, in which a large Coptic Church was being constructed and was to be used a base for treatment. Now, if you were like me at first, you are probably wondering just what exactly is a medical caravan. What it is nothing more than true giving of unrestricted aid, attention, and service to those who need everything that comes their way.



The medical caravan that I was fortunate enough to help with, was a group of forward looking doctors, who donate their time and talents, at no cost to those they help. This team provides medical attention and corresponding treatments to Egyptians that are well below the poverty line and are hindered many times over by physical illness or disability. The caravan consisted of 6 doctors who covered a large breadth of medical services i.e. dentistry, OBGYN, general practitioner, dermatologist, optometrist and pediatrics. In addition to this team of docs, several members from Cairo Capital Rotary club as well as myself, two of my friends, Jessica and Graham, and another Rotary scholar Nathan. We all played a supporting role of managing the large crowed of patients that have come from far distances around and using our limited Arabic skills to find out which ailments they were afflicted with. We would then record the ailment, in general terms, and designate a particular doctor in which they would see. Furthermore, we would go back and forth between the mobile ambulance, that the docs traveled in, to retrieve the particular pharmaceuticals needed by the doctors.

I have to say that this was not an easy task, for many reasons. The first being the language barrier, the second the dialect, and the rest for being just utter overwhelming humbleness in which we all felt, seeing our standard of living compared to those that needed treatment. Now, Jessica, Graham and I, are learning Fusha, which is the Modern Standard form of Arabic, used in Media and diplomatic circles, so conversing with farmers who are only taught Amaya(sp?) the local Egyptian dialect, most likely not in a formal school system, was a daunting task. Nathan and I manned the GP, dentist and optometrist station and we had the majority of patients to deal with. To simply put it was difficult to explain in Arabic how the people in need had to wait there turn for the doctors. You could see in the eyes of the children and parents alike the disparity of wanting to be healthy and the urgency in which they wanted to fix it, and hence why the had traveled so far. At time, I felt utterly helpless that I did not know how provide some medical assistance to them, as well as having the language barrier prevent a mutual understanding of patience and our intentions to help them.

After a few hours, the doctors had seen all of the patients and everyone that was still around the church felt a sense of accomplishment and peace. Soon, the children that were around, even though some were sick, started playing soccer with Graham, and also decided to learn how to be a photographer. Nathan and I on the other hand helped clean up and see if anything else needed to be done before we left.



In my opinion, this day was a good one, but really not good enough. The way I see it, is that helping those that need it doesn’t really take much time nor energy. It is so easy to give a bit and help a lot. The magnitude of the impact of the monies invested and the time spent by the doctors and assistants created waves of good in this particular community, and those like it. Moreover, this time and energy significantly improved the day and possibly the long-term future of those that received treatment. It strikes me with the desire to help more, learn the language further, and to always put into thought, the relative position of myself and my endeavors to those I meet. I am very fortunate enough to be here in Egypt and to have one chance to help.

When I return to Reno, and I going to provide a presentation on my experience to raise funds for the completion of this church, who provides services to both Muslims and Copts a like, equally. I am happy to do this in hopes that maybe my Rotary club in Reno, Reno Sunrise, or my community could give a bit to help, and have it continue to make waves here in Egypt. This is the upside of diplomacy and I am happy to help.