My Overseas Medical Mission With Mending Kids

It has been a passion of mine to help the sick and needy, whomever and wherever they may be.  I have also long dreamt of providing help to children abroad. As such, when I was asked to travel to Tanzania with Mending Kids, I jumped at the opportunity, though I was unsure of what to expect.  I thought, “I am a nurse who will be traveling with a medical team, but I’ll be serving as non-medical personnel… I hope I can still be of help.”
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As it turned out, my experience as a team member of Mending Kids was one of a lifetime.  I will forever treasure my experiences helping children who desperately needed it. In my mind, I can still see the faces of the little children as we registered them on their first morning, they seemed very scared and wary.  Throughout the week, I became familiar and emotionally connected with these children and their parents, especially as I handed them the toys that we had brought, monitored their vital signs, and tenderly bathed them before their surgeries.  Towards the end of the week, many of them came to me to play ball in the hospital’s hallway, to talk about “America” or to just give me a high five. I am beyond thankful to Mending Kids for taking me on this mission as a volunteer and I would do it again if I had a chance.

Orquidea Yanira Pollack, MSN