Emma Paul, a senior on the equestrian team, attests to the fact that spending your summer on a mission trip or doing an internship can be life-changing and for lack of better words, an incredible experience.
Paul traveled to Arusha, Tanzania with a group of medical professionals this past summer and there she educated, met with and treated almost 800 patients within a matter of just a week.
"Not only did my trip to Tanzania make me so much more appreciative for both the opportunities and the items that I have, but it ultimately made me appreciate these people's lives even more, and praise them for their endurance and resilience throughout their struggles, injuries, and illnesses," Paul said. "We do learn some important things in school about the rest of the world, but actually being there and seeing with your own eyes is an entirely different perspective.
"As a small group, every morning we drove out to a rural location to set up clinic and see patients with a variety of different ailments," Paul added. "We drove into villages within the mountains as well as set up clinic in a highly-populated slum. Though the scenery, culture and lifestyles varied within these locations, the people were all so welcoming and so grateful for the help we could provide them."
Through her experience, Paul learned that it is almost critical that everyone, if possible, should take the time to travel abroad and visit other countries. She believes and encourages others to be exposed to a different culture. Her time in Tanzania has shaped her for the rest of her life.
"I now believe that it is imperative for people within the United States to see life on the other side of the world," Paul said. "Not just because it's important to understand the vast cultural differences, but to fully comprehend that a large majority of our world's population lives in such a way that the people of Tanzania do."
Throughout Paul's two weeks in Tanzania, she gained so much experience in different areas of healthcare. In addition to this, she was able to gain exposure to what goes into each of the practices. She had a different responsibility everyday as part of the medical staff, and gained experience shadowing a doctor who is a hospitalist, assisted an acupuncturist in pain relief, helped an ophthalmologist check visual acuity and fit patients for eyeglasses, and educated patients on daily practices such as brushing teeth, washing hands, and purifying water.
"I took away so much knowledge from the trip regarding healthcare worldwide," Paul said. "Overall, the trip gave me insight as to why volunteering is so important in every single profession. Resources are limited and so is education, which is what makes it such a value and an honor to be pursuing something that can potentially make such a big difference in people's lives all over the world."
Being a student-athlete helped Paul in more ways than one, but one important way it helped was her work-ethic and time management skills she has gained. These skills carried over to her time in Tanzania, and it was very beneficial to her experience on the medical mission trip.
"Time management is HUGE as a student athlete," Paul said. "Everything that we do revolves not only around practice and class, but tutors, study hours, meetings, and everything in between. During my trip, we met with dozens, sometimes hundreds of people every day and being able to manage my time not only efficiently but also effectively was an important part of helping these hundreds of people get the medical care that they need."
Paul's trip was not only life-changing, but also solidified her aspirations of working in the medical field. Her time spent on the medical mission trip in Tanzania helped prepare her for her future, and helped her become more insightful when it comes to being appreciative for where she comes from.
"My time in Tanzania was nothing short of amazing," Paul said. "I know that everyone who has been on a mission trip or internship abroad comes back raving about the experience, but there's really no other way to explain it besides saying that it was absolutely amazing. It was life-changing in every possible way."
Q: What was your favorite moment during the medical mission trip?
A: If I could say my entire trip was my favorite part, I would. Though I loved every second of it -- I can tell you that the only thing I DIDN'T necessarily like was the amount of time it spent to get there. It took a total of 66 hours of travel time just to get there, and then getting back was even more exhausting. However, choosing one specific moment, my favorite part about my trip was when our bus pulled up to a village in the mountains on our first day of clinic. Prior to our arrival, our team leader had told us that these people are so excited for us to come, and will more-than-likely be dressed in their "Sunday best". Of course I thought that this gesture was so sweet and I was already humbled to be there, but it was even more amazing to pull up and see all of the kids swarming the bus and everyone greeting us with a kind, welcoming face saying Jambo (Swahili for hello) once we got off of the bus. So many people had already been standing outside of the building where we had planned to set up clinic just waiting for us to arrive, and as our team leader had said, they WERE indeed dressed in their nicest clothing that they owned. So many people had made their way to our clinic, whether they had to walk on foot from far away, they were wrapped around the entire building just waiting in line all day from sunset to sundown. We only gave so many registration tickets out because we could not drive in these areas in the dark, but people still stayed all day long just to be there with us and the rest of the patients. Some people that couldn't be seen even thanked us before we left, regardless if we helped them or not.
Q: How'd you land a spot going on this medical mission trip?
A: One of my best friends from home had been on a few mission trips to visit orphanages in Lima, Peru with her mother and her brother. I had heard firsthand from her how great of an experience it was, and knew I wanted to look into something similar, but something that involved medicine as well - being an undergrad student with aspirations of going to medical school to become a doctor. I did my research and came across International Medical Relief, an organization that travels the world to set up clinics and offers spots to pre-medical students. After a few recommendations from doctors I have shadowed, filling out all of the proper paperwork along with getting all of the recommended immunizations, I ended up a part of the Tanzania Team!
Q: How did your time at Auburn thus far prepare you for the mission trip?
A: Hopefully I'm not alone with this opinion, but sometimes being in school gets so mentally exhausting and I find myself questioning "when I am ever going to use this information in my life?" or "how in the world I will ever remember all of this?" Especially being at a school with a tough curriculum like Auburn, I've wondered this from time-to-time. However, my education from Auburn helped me tremendously throughout my trip in ways I never would have expected. I found myself finally using some of this knowledge in a practical and useful way, making connections between my education in anatomy & physiology, microbiology, chemistry, and other courses in order to understand certain illnesses and collectively view symptoms in order to understand the diagnosis and/or treatment. I learned new things while I was there from every specialist that I worked with, but it made me feel even more motivated to further my education at Auburn and continue with my prospective goal of becoming a doctor. Since I've been a student at Auburn, I have been more open to trying new things, studying new courses and it's made me realize that I have interests in area's I never would have imagined. Like I had said before, it may not always be the most fun being tested on difficult material and studying from a book or computer screen, but once I was able to go across the world and use my knowledge to make these connections from class, it changed my whole perspective on the importance of being a student at a school as academically esteemed as Auburn.
Q: What was your favorite part of the medical mission trip?
A: My favorite part of the experience was seeing life on the other side of the world, it was literally like those national geographic shows that you see about Africa, just in real life. My favorite part of the trip, besides working with the patients, was going to the market that they had set up in the village. After a day of our clinics, we walked through the market. People were trading vegetables and selling their hand-made goods and it was the most authentic thing I've ever seen.
Q: Has being a student-athlete helped prepare you for the mission trip? (Time management, self-discipline, etc.)
A: Being a student athlete has in many ways prepared me for so many aspects of the trip. First, I was used to the travel. After sitting countless hours on a bus with 40+ other teammates, the travel seemed less overwhelming. I grew up showing horses around the country, and travel has become second nature. Second, the work-ethic part. Time management is HUGE as a student athlete. Everything that we do revolves not only around practice and class, but tutors, study hours, meetings, and everything in between. During my trip, we met with dozens, sometimes hundreds of people every day and being able to manage my time not only efficiently but also effectively was an important part of helping these hundreds of people get the medical care that they need.
Q: What was the biggest culture shock you noticed during your time in Tanzania?
A: The biggest culture shock for me was the independence of the children in Africa. Even on the 16+ hours we would have to sit on a single plane, I heard a baby cry ONCE. (and these flights had tons of children on them). Every single day I saw and met with young children and I hardly ever saw their parents. Because many of them don't have transportation, some of their parents will go out to "run an errand" such as get water, food, or other bare necessities for their families and because it was all on foot, sometimes it took them hours or even took up a majority of their day.