Medical Mission Experience as a Volunteer by Gabi Cotter

San Lucas Toliman, Solola, Guatemala

What if we could embrace the idea of being average in our achievements and great in our relationships and in giving of ourselves? My heart has been full since my mission trip to Guatemala and my head has spun with the inability to articulate the depth of the experience. What I’ve come to realize is this: 

For one week, I was around 40 plus people that were united in their purpose to serve others. I saw young medical students, physical therapy students, and pharmacy students working alongside seasoned healthcare professionals with a selflessness that re-affirmed my belief that there are more good people in the world than there are bad. We are constantly bombarded with negativity in the media-both social and news. This is what gets shared and aired and retweeted. Sometimes we forget that for every ego-driven, mean-spirited, or even evil occurrence happening in our world there are thousands more acts of love happening. 

For one week, I was blissfully present. There was no room for the self-aware chatter that often drowns out the here and now. My thoughts were of the moment, of the person in front of me, of what was happening right then and there. How often do we neglect the opportunity to immerse ourselves in making a human connection? These moments did not pass by me unobserved and unexplored as they might have in my day-to-day life. For one week, I was given the chance to potentially impact someone’s life and I took it. I’ve been asked since I returned if I was daunted by the poverty and by the fact that what we were able to do in one week would just put a dent in the great need that continues to exist. In all honesty, that thought never entered my head. I was buoyed in knowing that we helped over 550 people, that we were just one group of many, many similar mission trips happening repeatedly. Mostly I was bolstered by the idea that maybe, just maybe I helped one person. Perhaps something I said (or translated) inspired or soothed. Maybe that person then went forward with renewed optimism or better health and then passed that along to someone else. Isn’t that how great change happens- one step at a time, with each of us paying forward what we are granted? 

For one week, I felt a sense of great purpose and was reminded of the things that have always mattered to me at my core. But does this have to be isolated to one week? Does one have to go on a mission trip to do something meaningful, to make an impact on others? The answer is, undoubtedly, no. In our everyday lives we can spend a little more time nurturing relationships and a little less time collecting checkmarks on our to-do list. We can focus on building up others instead of building up our resumés. We can give to the causes that provide outreach on a larger scale like Friends of Guatemala, if not through direct service, then financially. Not everyone can be in the trenches, but donations allow those that can be to continue to do so. Friends of Guatemala uses your donations for supplies, shelter, and education. And on the other end of that donation is a very real human life that you will touch. Be great in giving and average in achieving. You just may change a life.