PARTICIPANT HIGHLIGHTS

Jennifer Erdrich
Jennifer is a senior pre-med majoring in English. Her dual interests in English and medicine require her to constantly have one foot in the humanities and one foot in the sciences, and her hope is to use both fields to help people, doing so through writing and a humanizing approach to medicine that treats the person and not just the disease. She wants to work for an underserved population, because as someone who is Turtle Mountain Chippewa, her intention has always been to be a doctor on a reservation, whether that of her own background or of another. Many of her activities on campus revolve around the Stanford American Indian Organization, diversity coalitions, and mentorship programs. Her stay in Nepal impressed her so deeply that she thinks about it every day. She has tried to keep her experience alive by serving as a trip coordinator with NCI, which often means that she gets to be an energetic force of motivation and mobilization, and by writing and illustrating a children's story that she hopes will one day draw attention to Nepali culture and rally support for Kanti Children's Hospital.

"Participating in NCI has been one of the most important things that I have done during my undergraduate career. My stay in Nepal impressed me so deeply that I think about it every day, which I find hard to believe myself, but it truly became a part of myself that churns within me everyday. I think that before the trip I was sheltered by my own caution, but through the trip I melted deeply- I cracked open and came home awake. I traveled knowing that I wanted to be a doctor, and I walked away assured of it. I did not want to leave my experiences behind or shuffle them to the back of my memory, so I decided to keep active with Kanti when I returned."

Erin Palm
Erin is a sophomore majoring in Earth Systems at Stanford University and aspires to attend medical school and train to help underserved communities. She participated in the Quest Scholars Program at Stanford in 1999 and took a one-year hiatus from her studies during the 2001-2002 academic year to serve as Quest's Director of Recruitment and Alumni Education. In the summer of 2001, Erin volunteered through the NCI program in Nepal to pursue her interest in international medicine. She is currently working to create clinical opportunities for Stanford students in Central America, where she can apply her Spanish language abilities to medical practice and learn about the culture and environmental health that are relevant to medicine. Besides medicine, Erin's interests include environmental science and music. She is an accomplished singer, having been selected to sing with the Stanford Chamber Chorale since her freshman year, and toured Japan with the group in the summer of 2001. She looks forward to recording and touring England with the Chorale again in 2003.

"I began dreaming about practicing medicine in a developing country when I was a high school student. Coming from a family with little educational background, I had no idea what being a doctor entailed. I only began to seriously consider a career in medicine as a Stanford freshman, when I ran across some amazing opportunities to volunteer in hospital settings. I traveled to Kathmandu the summer following my freshman year and spent just over three weeks volunteering and observing in Kanti Children's Hospital. The crowded conditions, grateful smiles and big, trusting eyes of the patients, and most of all, the heroic stories of families who had walked many days from remote mountain areas carrying a sick child to Kanti showed me how real the needs of people in Nepal are, and how rewarding helping a sick child can be. People all over the world have inadequate access to basic health services. By providing medical services in such places, I know now that I can improve at least a few lives in small but significant ways.

Traveling to Nepal helped me to appreciate the privilege I have as an American and a Stanford student, and the capacity I have to use that privilege to benefit others. I gained a deeper understanding of the resilience of humanity. Talking with Nepalis and watching people go about their daily lives even in the most destitute conditions showed me that life can be vibrant without the conveniences that we enjoy, as long as they have good health, good nutrition, and loved ones around them. Especially because the attack on the World Trade Center occurred during my stay in Nepal, I devoted much mental energy to recognizing what I appreciated about my own county and lifestyle, as it compared to Nepali living. I took lessons of Nepali hospitality and warmth home with me when I returned to California, as well as a rekindled appreciation of my potential to help others.

Kanti hospital, so I am told, is well-equipped for a hospital in the developing world. Gifts from the Danish, Japanese, and individuals in Great Britain, among others, enable the hospital to acquire a threshold amount of modern equipment and medication. But the crowding of the hospital, the sanitation practices, understaffing problems, and general lack of resources all plague Kanti - and if these inhibit the effectiveness of a relatively well-equipped hospital, I can only imagine the state of care in urban and rural areas with even fewer resources.

One case in particular sticks in my mind when I think of the contrast between health care in America and in Nepal. At Kanti, patients with malnutrition occupy beds right next to the infectious disease ward - again, space constraints perhaps putting malnourished patients at greater risk. As the doctors, medical students, and I were making rounds through the malnutrition ward one day, I saw a crowd of doctors and students around one bed. One medical student explained to me that the little girl in that bed had a rare kind of anemia, which could only be treated by a bone transplant. Without the transplant, she would die, but no hospital in Nepal, or even in the surrounding countries, had the capacity for such an operation. If her family could have afforded it, she would have been flown to Great Britain for the operation. Her father sat next to his daughter's bed. In the US, their plight would not have been futile. We have access to expensive procedures as well as the basic services to which the Nepali are only now gaining access.

Of course, I appreciated the opportunity to learn in the hospital. I loved interacting with the medical students and patients, performing physical therapy on cerebral palsy patients, and cheering up the atmosphere in the Oral Rehydration Therapy ward. I also especially appreciated the flexibility of the program. I was able to travel to different parts of Nepal on weekends, sightsee or peruse shops in Thamel in the afternoons, and also relax, take in the setting, and write in my travel journal."

Elaine Chao
Elaine Chao is a human biology major concentrating in International Public Health. She is currently writing her honors thesis on the domestic violence social movement in Taiwan. After being exposed to an environment that was so different from the one she was familiar with, she realized the necessity of education of different cultural and social perspectives. Since her NCI internship, she has traveled to other countries around the world and focused her studies on understanding various theoretical and cultural frameworks. After graduation, she will take a year off to study in Beijing before going to law school.

"Although I was rationally prepared for a large disparity between healthcare in developing countries and healthcare in my own country, I was still shocked by the poor conditions and number of patients I observed in hospitals. I began to appreciate the need for community level efforts rather than outside influence. I appreciated the freedom to explore Nepal by myself, the friendliness of people and how willing they are to answer questions, and the experience of a different way of life."

Lynnea Mills
Lynnea Mills is a junior majoring in psychology, with a focus on child development and language acquisition, and minoring in philosophy and creative writing. She plans to pursue a degree in medicine after taking some time off post-graduation. Her main interests and extra-curricular pursuits center on interactions with young children and general communication. She hopes to eventually work in pediatrics. She traveled to Nepal with the program in August/September 2002 and fully intends to return to the country at some point in the future.

"The program slightly changed my interest in medicine in the sense that I may now be more interested in going to other countries to see their healthcare systems. The personal growth I experienced is that I now know more about the world, having been exposed to different situations. Having never before been to a developing nation, I was able to get a better sense of what poverty is really like, and to be able to contrast that to the conditions here in the United States (and the West, in general).

The program made me think a lot about Western influence on healthcare in non-Western developing nations. There are many ways in which Western medicine conflicts with the local treatments in Nepal; these conflicts cause problems for doctors and patients, and no one has found a great way to alleviate these problems. The program also enabled me to see the various types of diseases that are prevalent and deadly only in developing nations (like TB, pneumonia, etc.), and to see how much these areas lack organization, training, and funds to properly treat patients.

I like that the program put us in contact with people in the hospitals who would be helpful and welcoming, but also gave us a lot of flexibility to do what we wanted. Nepal in general is a pretty laid-back country, so we were able to set our own schedules and plan our activities, greatly increasing what we were able to get out of the trip.

Most of what I learned and really appreciated about my trip was the dichotomy between wealth and poverty; between virginal, beautiful landscapes and polluted, crowded, and dirty cities; between native customs and foreign influence. Nowhere else have I seen such dramatic influence of foreign customs, and this was best demonstrated when we took random adventures (even by accident) and happened upon people who were relatively untouched by Western ways. This is not possible to discover in the hospitals, where there is obviously a very heavy Western influence. I greatly valued the opportunity to see the healthcare system and to explore medical life in a foreign country; I am glad to have had the opportunity to do other things, as well."

Tina Au
"I could tell you about myself using descriptors that may or may not be familiar to you. Senior. Pre-med. Hum Bio. Like many pre-meds nearing graduation, medical school was beckoning in the distance and the immediate worries of applications were at hand. Early in my senior year, I received an email advertising a talk titled, "The Pre-Med Myths". I would later be very glad that I didn't just pass over the chance to hear "another pre-med talk" because that was the night I heard about the program that is now currently known as NCI.

I remember only a few words being mentioned about a special internship. Nepal. Children. Kanti. I saw pictures. And just like that, I wanted to be there. I cannot express to you in words what an amazing opportunity this turned out to be. Perhaps it was all the more sweeter to me from the start because it was the first time I had to fight for a decision with my parents. They were not going to let me go for all the understandable parental reasons. But I ended up on that flight to Nepal, in the company of four other strangers, and this journey would surpass all my expectations.

I could write to you about what I saw and how it felt for me to be there, just like I could have read about this poor, developing country without ever having gone there. But that isn't the same as walking the roads of Kathmandu. That doesn't give you the sense of overwhelming sadness that comes from seeing these hurting children or convey the warmth of their smiles when you've reached out to them in some way.

There is no doubt in my mind that I grew as a person from this experience. From my time there, I was able to take away something invaluable to a wide-eyed student of 21; direction and perspective. I will always be grateful that I had the opportunity to see a part of the world far from my own and I know that my awareness of this place and their people will affect my decisions, and the pathways I choose for a long time to come."

Mohammed Shabbir Abdoolcarim
"As an engineer, Iwas frustrated with doing projects for the top 5% of the world. I wanted to tap into the rest of the 95%, the ones that go unnoticed, the ones that don't get included for the coolest engineering gadgets. My Stanford education taught me to design using the latest technology, but it didn't teach me to design to help others. That is why I wanted to join NCI and to participate in an endeavor that allowed me to experience the other side of the world - the underprivileged. From my experience in NCI I realized that Ihad an obligation. I found a community of people who had the potential just as anyone else, but who lacked the opportunity privileged people like I have to pursue a career and raise a family. The widening gap within communities provides for me the foundation of a sense of duty to give to others what I have always taken for granted - an opportunity. In many ways I do not feel deserving of the opportunities I have been given. Why should I get so much and others so little? Why should I earn a better life?

These are the questions I asked during my trip and it was only by living, breathing and eating with them that I could find any resonance to their needs. NCI allowed me the freedom to think and to explore my surroundings in harmony to my own goals. For example, being given the opportunity to interact with different people in the hospital and to also gain time to experience life in the country allowed me to gain a wholistic view of life for the people. It allowed me to see into the homes of the poor, visit villages where many of the patients come from and also to speak to the parents of the patients to gain an understanding of who they are. At the end of the trip I found that my means of gaining some peace with myself as worthy of what I have been given is to empower underprivileged people with opportunities to reduce the socio-economic gap. This philosophy has given me more than what I hoped for: a purpose to move into action. It is with this purpose that I hope to fuel my academic and life pursuits."