go on a medical mission in a foreign country

This was not a “medical” mission, but a humanitarian mission.

I recently completed a project wherein I installed a computer server containing a text snapshot of the entire Wikipedia in English and Thai for the Engineering Studies Program (ESP) school in Mae La refugee camp on the Thai Burmese border. The students, some of whom had never seen a web page before, were thrilled to have such a large information resource available to them for the first time. All of the students are refugees who have fled horrific violence in Burma. Mae La camp is the largest of the 7 refugee camps along the Thai Burmese border. There are approximately 50,000 refugees in Mae La alone. The ESP school attracts the brightest young people in the camp and my feeling is that providing the Wikipedia server would be a relatively low cost way to significantly enhance the information and education resources available to the students.

Designing the “Wikipedia server in a box” was a challenging 2-month process that my colleague and I developed. Now that the software and database tools are in place, replicating the process, and building new servers is easily achieved.

Some of the articles that the students looked up within the first few minutes of installation were: myanmar, bermuda triangle, britney spears, periodic table, architecture design, ubuntu, karen, chairman mao, aerodynamics, solar power, rinaldo, america, bon jovi, differential calculus, and many many others! The server is connected to a wireless network that allows multiple client connections to simultaneously access the Wikipedia data. Bear in mind, there is no grid electricity, Internet or phone service in the camp.

The four teachers who were present explained to me that this tool will be an invaluable resource to supplement their educational programs. I am very energized about the overwhelming positive response that I received from the community and I look forward to participating in future projects where I can be of service.

The attached photo was taken just outside of the classrooms in front of the solar panels, one of the few sources of electricity in the camp. I would love to hear back from you regarding this project.

My mom works with a nurse who goes on one week missions 3-4 times a year to Honduras. She is going to get more information on how to get involved. We discussed going together on a trip next year.

Honduras… I’ll never stop… The needs are incredible.

A woman at work is fundraising for a medical mission trip to Haiti in February. I am just not ready for this yet. I did buy a candle to support her goal though.

Since I can remember I’ve wanted to travel to foreign lands and somehow “make a difference”. It all seemed lofty and unlikely. Now that I am actually an RN, though, I realize that I have something tangible to offer. I want to go on a short term (1-2 week) mission first and see how this goes. I have started to research trips and groups to see what is available. The need is just astounding. My goal is to do this within the next 5 years.