[rev_slider On_a_Mission]
Josh Bolks, a senior from Prior Lake, Minn., returned to the WSU campus in late summer 2014 with two goals in mind: successfully complete his final year of pre-med studies at WSU, and engage
in a real missionary experience. He knew he wanted to volunteer internationally, he just wasn’t sure where, or how to go about it. He researched opportunities that focused on student-centered trips, talking to his friends and classmates about the possibilities.
Bolks wasn’t focused on a “travel study” to earn college credit when he decided to visit a foreign country. Rather, Bolks was seeking an opportunity to understand truly the meaning of “service to others.”
Enthusiasm grew as Bolks and his friends discovered MEDLIFE Mobile Clinics, based in South America and Africa. Serving primarily Peru, Ecuador, and Tanzania, MEDLIFE relies on the generosity of volunteers in the medical field, as well as college students, to run volunteer chapters. The principal focus of the organization is to bring free primary care medical services to individuals and families who otherwise lack access to quality health care.
Bolks’ first challenge? WSU did not have a MEDLIFE chapter on campus, so he started his own, with a little help from his friends. In record time, an official chapter was established and Bolks started recruiting students for a missionary trip to Lima, Peru.
Lacee Primus, a junior from Swanville, Minn., recalls how she first learned about the WSU MEDLIFE opportunity. “I heard about MEDLIFE at the first meeting,” she said. “As a pre-med student, anything with the letters MED has my full attention. When the trip was first brought up, I didn’t really give it much thought. With working two jobs trying to put myself through school, I thought there was no way I’d be able to afford it, no matter how great of an experience I could have. So I forgot about it.”
Primus explained how a video about MEDLIFE founder Nick Ellis changed her mind.
“It’s hard to describe the chord that thirty seconds of video struck, but I knew after that, I had to go – I NEEDED to go,” Primus stated.
Since 2005, MEDLIFE Mobile Clinics have visited more than 100,000 patients, bringing improved access to MEDs: Medicine, Education and Community Development, including OB/GYN, pediatric, and dental care services, with access to preventative tests. MEDLIFE believes education is essential to effecting sustainable change in poor communities and that access to quality healthcare is a basic human right.
Bolks rallied support and interest, and 24 WSU students from many academic disciplines signed up for the 10-day MEDLIFE Mobile Clinic mission trip to Peru this past December.
The students invited WSU faculty Cathy and John Nosek, both experienced international travelers, to join them, even though MEDLIFE did not require chaperones to accompany the students. Cathy is a Professor of Nursing and John, an Assistant Professor of Biology.
This was a self-funded trip and the students were required to pay their own way and make their own travel arrangements. MEDLIFE was paid a room and board stipend for their stay in the hostel, with weekday meals only. John, a seasoned traveler, assisted the students with their travel plans.
Inviting the well-liked and respected faculty was a big hit with the students. “The Noseks were the best people to have with us on this trip. They have a lot of traveling experience and have seen poverty in other countries, so it made it more comfortable for us,” said Primus. “We were the only school with faculty. The Noseks helped keep things organized. Cathy is a nurse, so it was great to have her there when most of us were suffering from gastrointestinal issues.”
All in a Day’s Volunteering
“I had never been on a medical mission before, much less left the country (US),” said Primus. “I was nervous and anxious because this was going to be a whole lot of new things all at one time. I didn’t have any expectations – I tried not to. I left my mind completely open to allow myself to absorb everything. But nothing I could have ever imagined would have prepared me for what I was about to experience.”
According to the Noseks, the students approached the trip, and each day, with great anticipation. There was no hesitation on the student’s part to get out and do the daily work. Each day, students staffed a mobile clinic that was brought directly to the poor in the slums of Lima. Students learned from working alongside medical professionals as they identified individuals in need at patient intake, triage, and pharmacy. Students also conducted the educational programs and worked building staircases into the hillside communities, all in an effort to lighten the Peruvian peoples’ daily burden, if just a little.
“I expected to see a very diverse range of economic growth and financial struggles,” Bolks began. “But I have to say that my expectations were extremely underestimated in terms of the people, poverty, and vastness of problems. I never expected to see the things that I saw – miles and miles of slums built into mountains thousands of feet upwards.”
Nosek knew that the experience would have a great impact on the students. “I expected that the students would have an eye-opening experience travelling to a different part of the world. What stood out most vividly was how well our students responded to the experience, and how much of an impact it had on them,” he said.
The students needed an outlet for their emotional reactions. “We rediscovered the fine art of conversation during frequent discussions in the evenings, and many emotions came out. Students shared their many different points of view, and their vulnerabilities,” said Nosek.
“I never thought an experience like this could ever change me
as a person,” began Alisha Haakenson, a sophomore from Lodi, Wis., studying Therapeutic Recreation. “I thought I had a solid understanding of the world, and because I have done lots of volunteering in the past, I assumed it wouldn’t have that big of an effect on me. I was one hundred percent wrong!”
“Cathy and I were very impressed with
the students and the amount of empathy they displayed, and with their spirit of volunteerism,” Nosek continued. “The students responded particularly strongly to the little kids and to the elderly. Some of the old ladies even got to me, enduring a tough lifestyle and yet being sweet and appreciative beyond imagining.”
The trip was hugely impactful for the students. Nosek explained, “Seeing
deep poverty, people in need, limited resources, the spirit of the Peruvian people, a different physical environment, and so much more, made the students realize
the great good fortune they have within their own lives and homes. I do believe they all returned home changed in some ways; more appreciative of what they have, their families and friends, opportunities, education, and more. I believe that the sense of volunteerism will remain strong in them.”
Primus still has difficulty putting her experience into words. “I am still utterly speechless about what I saw, what I did – my experience as a whole. I had no idea that the spontaneous decision to go to Peru would change my life so drastically.”
“I’m going back,” she continued. “My plan is to apply for medical school and become an obstetrician, but there is no guarantee that will happen. But I can guarantee that I will return to Lima. Maybe on our next trip we’ll go with 240 students instead of 24!”
“We were very proud of the WSU students throughout the entire experience,” Nosek commented. “The WSU MEDLIFE student club is already looking ahead to their next mission trip. And so are we.”
Bolks summed up his experience in one sentence: “These people are my heroes and taught me more about myself in a few short weeks than I have learned in my entire life.”
