I leave in less than 2 DAYS for Cambodia to bring medical clinics to people in remote villages! I’ve spent the past year working my behind off in nursing school, getting closer and closer to the goal of becoming a Registered Nurse. Now I have the privilege of going to practice what I’ve studied with other nursing students, as well as pharmacy students and leaders from e3 Partners.
My mind has been wandering to foreign places for so long, but now I’m really going! I have the most amazing friends and family who believed with me and encouraged me to keep dreaming as I waited. Then when this opportunity came along, they supported me completely and have made it possible for me to go.
However, the goal of this trip is not all about me or my dreams. E3 Partners is connecting us with a church there that will guide us and send us to areas of need in Cambodia. We are going to serve the people in whatever way we can. We are coming to them with listening ears and eager hands and feet, hoping not only to learn, but to heal and teach.
In preparation for this trip, I read parts of the book When Helping Hurts, by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett. This is something I hope to remember and apply while I’m working in Cambodia:
“Humans are multi-faceted… If we reduce human beings to being simply physical – as western thought is prone to do – our poverty alleviation efforts will tend to focus on material solutions. But if we remember that humans are spiritual, social, psychological, and physical beings, our poverty alleviation efforts will be more holistic in their design and execution.”
What will we really help if we only give them medications and cover their sores? Every human being in the world is suffering on some level, and I hope I can provide holistic care to each person I meet and help them discover the spiritually, socially, psychologically, and physically richest life possible in the place where God has put them right now.
So I’ve got my physical necessities all set to go, but the rest of me is still preparing. I’m not sure if I’ll ever really be ready…
