All it takes is a smile

When I woke on the morning we traveled to Bamako Mali, I didn't quite know what to expect.  I was nervous more than anything, really. The only time I had been out of the country was with family for a vacation and was no where near as far or "foreign" as Africa.

The thing that sticks out the most in my mind at this point in our visit here is...after all the work that we've done, and all the things that we've seen that we aren't used to...it's not so "foreign" after all. Yesterday I over heard a woman thanking my classmate out side of the ER for all that we're doing for her people. They are not her people, they are all of our people. When you are in Mali, you are Malian. This rule should apply for anywhere.

Family members stick by their ill loved ones sides, they worry, they bond and laugh. They wave at you and are incredibly polite. Here, like anywhere in the world, the easiest way to get a mother to smile, is to talk to her one year old son. Regardless of language and cultural barriers, there is a universal unspoken language of sorts. Today we did rounds around the Internal Medicine ward with the residents with at best, broken english from a Physician to keep us updated as to what was going on. We were using purell as they were using whisky after every patient and reading chest x- rays with them side by side...they were auscultating, and palpating, as well as checking the color of her sclera. These are ALL things that we have learned and will also use every day. Different in so many ways, but similar in more. The difference between these doctors and us, is that we learned this but will use mostly diagnostic tests that we will order in large hospitals through out our careers where as they have these skills perfected. These doctors use their given senses to diagnose and evaluate and these are things we all need as future health care providers to take with us forever.

I find my self staring out of the bus window every day, not even taking pictures and barely talking to my classmates and friends. Not because anything is wrong but because I want to take in absolutely everything while I am here, while I still can.