Poor doesn't always mean poor

Thank you for a good report of your experience.

I think I can connect a bit with your experience. I have been to several missons in interior rural parts of west Africa... it's sooo true that no one asks for anxiety pills or sleeping pills... some women may be over 28weeks pregnant and yet have never taken a pill or seen a doctor. The people ALWAYS were appreciative of the somewhat simple services we provided...Such experience tells you that those we sometimes call poor arr VERY rich in the things that others are poor in... ..I loved your post!!

Travel is definitely educational. Can you share more about your journey?

Kooky- haha I could share for days about my week there! It was such an experience. If you are interested in doing oversees mission work I say go for it!

I've done two medical missions to the extremely rural and poor portions of the Dominican Republic (no running water or electricity, donkeys are the main source of transportation, dirt floor and thatched roof houses with hand-sawed wooden walls). Like you, I came away refreshed and with a new appreciation for simplicity. I loved the worn hand written sign that was hanging in the clinic that read "If you came to cure the sick, you will be surprised, as the sick will cure you." Those powerful words were so true!

I volunteer with Remote Area Medical here in the United States:Remote Area Medical | RAMMost of the people come for dental care, because their job doesn't provide it.We diagnosed HTN and diabetes too. They do cataract surgery.I've never been thanked so much by 100% appreciative patients who have waited all night for care.I've seen hundreds of people with a toothache in one day.

My soul needed to read this. I hope I get to go do something like this one day before I am too old. Thank you so much for sharing.

I spent time with VISTA as a new nurse which was an eye opener for me. The Peace Corps had been my first choice but my lurid neurological history killed that dream so I turned to VISTA instead. It was an eye opener, to say the least. One of the bigger problems was TB. I had never lived anywhere before where it had been an issue. Later I spent much of a summer in the former Soviet Union. I went as part of a nursing group. We traveled through Russia and the surrounding countries. We observed medical and nursing care and all I can say is Yikes! Like America one hundred years ago. The people of the Ukraine were so poor it was indescribable. The lines waiting for every single thing. Family members bringing in meals, towels, and other things we take for granted. The sad faces of the very young and the very old will haunt me forevermore. In every hotel room we stayed in, there was radio talk that played 24 hours a day and could not be turned off.On a more positive note, the colors of St. Basil's areunduplicated anyewhere. The GUM department store is anexperience not to be missed. It sold everything from a live chicken tethered by a string to the floor to any other thing you could ever want or need.Nurses there were assigned a type of nursing to study. It isn't like here where we study many areas.

That was a beautiful story that makes me want to do mission work as well, even though I am not religious-I could still just be there to offer medical care. However, I don't really think that it's fair to compare our society vs theirs when it comes to feeling anxious. We live in a very fast paced world with incredibly high demands and most of us struggle to keep up, myself included. The lives of those you encountered have challenges that are geared more towards the most basic aspects of life, but they don't have the same types of struggles that we do in our country. I'm not saying that the irony isn't there, nor that their hardships aren't real and many, it's just that the fact that their struggles are with the more basic aspects of life shouldn't minimize the stress that our society goes through, no matter how trivial it seems to observers. It's just as real and just as difficult to overcome. But kudos to you for doing this work. Hearing about people helping those less fortunate helps me hold on to that last bit of hope that I have for the human race.

Quote from gardenpartyyThat was a beautiful story that makes me want to do mission work as well, even though I am not religious-I could still just be there to offer medical care. However, I don't really think that it's fair to compare our society vs theirs when it comes to feeling anxious. We live in a very fast paced world with incredibly high demands and most of us struggle to keep up, myself included. The lives of those you encountered have challenges that are geared more towards the most basic aspects of life, but they don't have the same types of struggles that we do in our country. I'm not saying that the irony isn't there, nor that their hardships aren't real and many, it's just that the fact that their struggles are with the more basic aspects of life shouldn't minimize the stress that our society goes through, no matter how trivial it seems to observers. It's just as real and just as difficult to overcome. But kudos to you for doing this work. Hearing about people helping those less fortunate helps me hold on to that last bit of hope that I have for the human race.

Nothing like seeing how the other 98% of the world lives to remind us how blessed we are. Compassion may not be a fruit of the Spirit, but it is an outworking of those fruits. Thank you for your heart for "the least of these My brethren."

Quote from JoseQuinonesNothing like seeing how the other 98% of the world lives to remind us how blessed we are. Compassion may not be a fruit of the Spirit, but it is an outworking of those fruits. Thank you for your heart for "the least of these My brethren."