guatemala (med-coban) spring break 2023 - mirna sefin's story
april 19, 2023
guatemala med-coban team members assess patients
lipscomb put together an amazing team! everyone was kind, genuine and focused on others.
patients from four villages came to the medical and dental clinics we set up. we had three dentists – two from nashville and one from guatemala. one of the nashville dentists was a lipscomb alumnus who had been a part of this team when she was a student. now she was able to come back as a provider!
over the four days of clinics, i was able to do a variety of rotations. i worked in the lab, assisted in the pharmacy, prepared dental instruments and shadowed a dentist, a medical doctor and a pa. for many students, shadowing providers can be a deciding factor in choosing a career to pursue. for me, this experience confirmed that i want to be a pa. dr. linda (the pa i shadowed) saw so many different patients and had a genuine connection with each one. it was never boring. there was always something to learn and some way to help.
after our rotations ended around 5:00pm, we were able to spend time with the people in the village. one evening we got to go on a hike to see the water project the lipscomb engineering team and adicay put in.
even though i thought i knew what to expect, a few things surprised me. one was the language barrier. we had to have two translators to communicate: from q’eqchi’ to spanish, then from spanish to english. i was also surprised by – and along with – some of our patients. i got to hear a few baby heartbeats, and a few women found out they were having babies!
we saw the presence of god every day through the people we were with. they were so full of god’s love! they gave us a warm welcome and even remembered the names of the students who returned from last year’s team! one little girl and i discovered we had the same name, so every morning on the way to the clinic, i would hear all of these kids calling out my name and laughing. how special that even though i’m from the egyptian community and she’s from this guatemalan community that we share the same name!
this was an amazing trip. it showed me how impactful physicians can be on the lives of others. it showed me that god’s love is everywhere, not just in our community. this was the best trip i have ever been on, and i would do it again in a heartbeat!
the guatemala med-coban team with a local community
not a trip
category: student life
tags: missions, lipscomb missions, guatemala, coban, medical mission trip