Uduak, Inokon, a pharmacist with the FDA

I want to thank you first for affording me the opportunity to obtain this priceless experience. My mind is still processing it. The first thing my friend Greta and I did when we arrived at JFK was release a huge exhalation of relieve. We giggled through the terminal like 2 school girls and gleefully laughed in the trains.

When I got home, I sat on my chair and had a cookie, and then cried tears of gratitude for my life and privileges. I was so moved by the experience that, I still shed tears for these mountain people. I still see their tired, hungry faces with speckles of hope that people know about them and care enough to visit. I still see the hanging trousers around the empty bellies of the male patients and the exhausted faces of some of the women.

I was so humbled and wished I could wave a wand to soothe all their pain. I wish I could have done more. So, I cried everyday the first week. I felt physically spent and emotionally bankrupt.

I still think about them because one of the chief complaints was "pain all over". "Pain all over" is exhaustion from hunger, mal-nutrition, and physical hard labor all day with very little yield of concrete reward. For women it's multiplied by the menstrual cycle, multi-child births, and the mental anguish of watching their children suffer and starve.

The last day when we visited the hospital in Jeremie, I felt as though I was in purgatory. What did it for me was when we walked into the room of a young man who had fallen from a tree and was paralyzed from neck down (one of our first patients), my heart in that moment broke into a million pieces. Seeing him lay there covered with flies and no sheet to cover his body......I realized that hell was possible on earth. Or was it the idea of being in a hospital that has no basic supplies like latex gloves, antibiotics or syringes....I don't know where to start.......

It hit me very hard and I want to do more or at least try. It was a profound experience...please include me in your future discussions / plans.

With love.
Uduak