From Rachel: When I learned I would be traveling to Faridabad, India with Rotaplast I was ecstatic, but being a first-time team member I had no idea what was in-store. I knew I would complete this mission a changed person, but I never could have anticipated just how much my time spent here would speak to so many aspects of my life.

Having completed half of the mission, I can tell you this: these missions require you to look deep within yourself and surrender parts of you that you didn’t know you could. They are challenging and exhausting and yet there is nothing on earth so completely rewarding. For all you give you get so much more in return.

You work hard for that moment when your six year-old patient sees a photo of himself for the first time after surgery and can’t help but smile.

You work hard for that moment when you hand a mama her baby and she smiles because she knows her child’s life just changed in a way she wasn’t sure it would have.

I’ve learned a great many lessons on this mission, the closest to my heart being a smile has the power to transcend any language barrier.