Winter Break in the Philippines

The end of the semester became rather frantic as I found myself suddenly rushed to finish papers and complete projects. This headache was spread across the time period of 2 weeks and I ended up staying up later and later throughout these two weeks. By the end of it, I managed to pull an all nighter which is why winter break came as such a relief!
I spent my Christmas and New Year’s with my friends and family here in New York. I managed to see all of my friends from high school and even hang out with Wheaton friends in New York City. On the first day of the year, I left with my mother to travel for what would be my 3rd trip to the Philippines. We hit the ground running and didn’t stop the entire time! My mom and I were able to spend a day or two at the beach in the midst of visiting family and helping out with two week-long free clinics, called Medical Missions, run by Filipino Americans with the first in Angono, Rizal and the second in Guimbal, Ilo Ilo two places where there are a large amount of people who cannot afford medical care. Everything was donated and services were free, we provided things like, consultations, surgeries (major and minor), drugs, and even eyeglasses. Patients were being treated for hypertension, getting teeth pulled, and even undergoing hysterectomies. The volunteers worked extremely hard and as a whole we probably gave medical care to close to 600 people each day for both medical missions. It was an amazing experience, and I learned a lot. I helped out where I was needed in the clinic: cleaning and sterilizing instruments, running prescriptions, and I was even lucky enough to be able to observe several surgeries. It was truly a group effort that was a year in the making. I hope that in the future I’ll be able to volunteer for more medical missions.