The last day at the hospital is a clinic day, where the patients who have had procedures come back and get checked out by the doctors to see how their healing is progressing. To see the differences in the before and after of some of the patients is remarkable. This is when you know for a fact that the team has changed these patients lives forever in the short time that the team has been here. It’s hard to look at the faces without getting emotional. When a mother sees her child’s changed face for the first time after surgery, it leaves an image in your mind that is impossible to forget. If you have children of your own it’s hard not to imagine yourself in their shoes, and what it would mean to you personally. It makes you realize whatever part you played in this mission, whether as a volunteer for the mission or as a donor who made this mission happen, it was worth every minute or every penny you put into it, and you can rest assured the world is a better place for it.
It’s also a chance to say goodbye to people who the team has been working side by side with for almost two weeks. The local Rotarian volunteers, the hospital staff, the translators, even the maids. Strangers two weeks ago who have now all become one team, one group of people who came together to complete a mission of helping others who they had never met before. It makes you realize that you were a part of something bigger. How often do we get a chance to literally change the life path of another human being for the better? The people who were strangers two weeks ago are all now part of a family who did something meaningful, and the bonds they’ve made will last the rest of their lives. It’s really something every single one of them should be proud of.
