I waked up suddenly from a faint that lasted five hours. The hypodermic needle of intravenous drip device made my wrist numb and gently hurt. Opening my eyes to look around, I realized that the setting was no longer busy like in the morning. Probably, it was the decline of day. Everything was silent, which recalled me that it was my final day of summer volunteer trip – a trip I cannot forget.
Since I was a sophomore, I have not been strange with the long day volunteer trips any more. I have had a fierce passion for volunteer works. Therefore, I often ardently register to participate whenever there is the appeal to volunteers for humanitarian programs. That is opportunity for me to discover the new lands, meet the new persons, or experience the new things that I used to think they are trifling and commonplace.
Last summer vacation, I was appointed to take a volunteer trip at Bac Ha – which is rural district of Lao Cai province, Viet Nam. The person who traveled with me was my predecessor I greatly esteem. With the exception of me and my predecessor, my team had the four others. They have medical professional. Three of them are the heart specialists and the other is an assistant. The core purpose of this mission was the screening examination for children having the congenital heart disease before they had the free of charge emergency operations.
Departing from Hanoi railway station, at last the night train brought me and my partners to Lao Cai city. At 5:00 A.M, between the slightly cold weather of the Northwest region, my legs were frosted bite. In order to come mission site, I and the others had to go through a sloping, high and dangerous cart-track. That was the reason why we had to use a light lorry – a mean of transport is used to travel at Bac Ha. Siting on the lorry, I saw clearly absolutely the desolate sights surrounding me. The lofty slopes made me dazzled. The rough pathway with the mires that was the result of a drizzling rain last day made the lorry to be jammed. Hence, I and my partners got off, then summon up all our strength to push the lorry ahead. After lots of effort, the lorry’s wheel escaped from that deep mire. The mud splashed all over my clothes, but I felt pleased. This was because I had never experienced a spectacular situation like that before.
Everything happened quite well in the first screening examination day. My main tasks were instructing, moral supporting and caring for the patients. It sounded like simple, but that made me muddling actually since most residents here use local language. The setting of local medical station was too busy. With the exception to patients coming here for a medical examination, the doctors who accompanied with me were being over ahead and ears in work. They were beginning to measure the patients’ blood pressure, give the patients the heart ultrasound scans, hold a consultation and schedule operations at city’s hospital.
Going on the second screening examination day, nothing was changing, but it did not elapse softly like the first day. At around 10:00 A.M, the doctors were beginning the heart examination procedure for a little boy, who was Khang. However, at the moment the doctor was conducting to give him an ultrasound scan, he was suddenly having a severe heart attack. His heartbeat was being fast. Then, he was starting to pant, and his skin was turning pale. Dr. Long who was examining him cried aloud: “giving him emergency aid now”. Everyone stopped taking abruptly, threw a knowing look towards the scream. Immediately, he was entered into the emergency area. After about thirty minutes, the doctors came out from emergency room, said: “He got better, we continued to work”. Well, he got better like nothing happened. However, instantly, the doctors decided to schedule his operation next week after the mission trip because of his Fallot disease – a type of severe heart disease that needs to be got a timely operation to avoid bad happenings. Hence, I knew that the doctors worked with a vengeance.
Some remaining patients were appointed next day, and that was the last day for my trip. I thought that that day was my useless day. You know, the hypocalcemia illness unexpectedly relapsed making me unconscious while I was helping the doctors caring patients. At that time, I lost consciousness during five hours. My memory during that consciousness interval was nothing except that the scream “someone fainted!”. Honestly, after being conscious again, I thought that I was like an obstacle for the doctor. Nevertheless, everybody surrounded my sick-bed and gave me encouragement, compliment on my efforts to the trip. At the same time, I realized that my three-day trip was coming to the end
That is my unforgettable trip which I can recount in detail without any difficulty. To be honest, I had quite much memories with my partners, inhabitants and patients there in spite of three days only. I have even saved the simple souvenirs the inhabitants had given me before I left. Those gifts itself are witnesses for my no waste youth.
From Kelly with love,
Kellytarlots Blog 