Never say never

I never thought I’d treat a single patient for typhoid, malaria, and parasites.

I never thought I’d be giving report about the patients in French to a Haitian Creole doctor or to serve as a translator for my colleagues.

I never thought I would see my pastor on his hands and knees plumbing a sink.

I never thought I’d get to pray individually with 30 patients.

I never thought I’d eat so much Ramen and drink so little milk.

I never thought I’d deprive one patient of oxygen to give it to another.

I never thought I’d walk around showing off the worm that wiggled out of my patient’s nose to escape from the heat of her fever.

I never thought I’d let someone die without giving him anything but a prayer.

I never thought I’d come to love a country of people that I have only just met.

-- Grace