Yunnan Expedition
Welcome to a whole new world
4 years ago, a group of NUS students embarked on their first community serivice trip to Yunnan, China.
With only one thought in mind to serve the people of China, a 5-man team (3 'boys' and 2 'girls') were sent out to explore Yunnan, an unknown world to many, yet best known for her rich and colourful cultural heritage.
...Dreams and Visions **
Our vision had been clear from the start:
We wanted to step out of our comfort zone to places we have never been to before. And we wanted to be of service to the people in Yunnan, REGARDLESS of our religion, nationalities, belief, ideas and values.
Our first priority is to mould our characters into one with a HEART OF COMPASSION FOR THE INDIVIDUAL & a VISION FOR THE WORLD.
Limited to medical students?
Although 'Serve Yunnan' is not at all limited to NUS Medical students, we try to target medical students to join us on our annual Yunnan projects.
We strongly believe that vocations involved in the healing service play a very special role in mankind. Having the key to man's heart and inner self, patients are more inclined to share their fears/hope/joy/sorrow. We hope to see future generations of doctors (you and ourselves) as a healer of both the HEART and the BODY.
As medical students, we are perhaps still lacking in skills to diagnose a disease or prescribe miracle drugs to cure the sick and drive away ailments. However, we believe that these skills would (and, should!) eventually come as the years go by.
But the art of healing is something that is not taught, and cannot be taught. It must be learnt. And if it should be learnt, then it should be done as soon as possible (like, as a medical student, NOW in fact...)
"Doctors are men who prescribe medicine of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing of."
- Voltaire
...Vision for the Nations, Heart for the Individual **
Reflections of a Houseman
5 years in medical school paradoxically made me immune to humanity. Patients were more like organs than human to me.
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I would like to share a personal anecdote: I once examined a patient with osteoarthritis of the knees who exhibited classical symptoms and signs straight out of textbooks. It was only after leaving the bedside that it dawned on me that I could ONLY remember how the knees looked like... try as I might, I could not even remember the age or race of the patient.
I remember freaking out as I realised that I had lapsed into the very mistake that I had always reminded myself never to commit. I suppose that when my patients become reduced to bed numbers and diseased organs, something must have gone awry. What has gone wrong? What is going on in me?
****************************************The red flags went up and my internal alarm bells started screaming. This is no good! It broke my heart when I discovered that I was not alone! Many of my peers and colleagues faced the same issues, mainly due to the system and how we are being educated, having to maintain a front of "professionalism" being the most convenient excuse. We need to do something about it.
There is a need to nurture people who see beyond textbooks and exams, to delve into the hearts of man, into places where textbooks cannot reach.
In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise
~W . H Auden
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