You’ve never really lived until you’ve done something for someone who can never repay you.Sometimes it can be something as small as paying ahead for someone’s coffee, when they could be having a bad morning. Or it could be something as far out in left field as a medical service trip to a place that is so poverty-ridden, that this may be the only healthcare they receive for who knows how long. Until next year? Until the next clinic comes into town? On June 3rd, 2017, myself along with 50 other people (who didn’t know each other) set out to do just that.

This is the story about my first ever medical mission trip, to Haiti.

I, myself, am someone who is very comfortable in a routine. Waking up at home, getting showered and dressed & ready for the day (work, school or volunteering), getting some Dunkin’ on the way (in all honesty, the destination doesn’t REALLY matter, as long as I have my Dunkin’), then coming home, eating dinner & getting ready for the next day. I’m very much a homebody, so needless to say, this was nowhere close to my comfort zone. I got a lot of “YOU are going WHERE?” and a lot of people (even family members) trying to “scare” me out of going by showing me pictures and videos of what life is like there. Yeah, go ahead and show someone in healthcare, how poor their healthcare is at the destination they are going to. That’ll 100% add fuel to their already burning fire/desire to help.

So why did I do it?

Many people can vouch for this, that there comes a time in everyone’s life (a day, an hour, a minute), where they decide that enough is enough, and it’s time to make some changes. That day for me was Thursday, November 17th, 2016. Long story short, I felt lost. So I decided, out of the blue, that I’m going to do something out of my comfort zone. A few of my friends can agree, that when I texted them, saying I’m going on a Medical Mission Trip, they had doubts, but also lots of excitement and encouragement. My mom on the other hand, tried to hide her worries behind her excitement for me. And it worked, for the first hour. But what isn’t there to be worried about? I go to school 30 minutes from home, I work in my hometown, I’ve never flown, I’ve never traveled alone. What could possibly go wrong?

Day 1:

On June 3rd, around 3:30 am…