I learned about the Haiti mission trip through one of the Go Now leaders who came to speak in my chemistry class. Slowly, God put the desire and enthusiasm in my heart to be part of it.
Haiti Mobile Clinic was my first mission trip, so I did not know what I was getting into nor what to expect. However, this trip turned out to be an amazing experience.
We set up mobile clinics where we did assessments and medical history, and then we provided the necessary treatments for each patient. It has been nine years post-earthquake, and Haiti is still recovering from it. A lot of people in the rural areas do not have access to basic medical care. So, meeting their needs and being able to help alleviate some of their pain was gratifying. Some of the pregnant women never had prenatal care. Their smiles, when they first heard their baby’s heartbeat, brightened my day.
We take a lot of things for granted, such as having a means of transportation, eating three meals every day and having clean water available to us. A lot of these people eat only twice a day and walk long distances from one to four hours to get water. “Life is difficult” is the response I got from the majority of the people.
A lot of my patients were receptive when I asked if I could pray for them after assessment. It was encouraging to know that God is there, working in people’s hearts.
This trip reinforced the fact that I want to be a medical doctor and be able to respond to people’s medical needs; It was a truly humbling experience, and it inspires me to love people more—just like Jesus loves me.
Dorcas Bakiono, an international student at Dallas Baptist University, served in Haiti with Go Now Missions.
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