"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others..."
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

24.5.11

Something like 3 weeks in

I have been living here for a mere 3 weeks now and it has been a whirlwind. I dove right in after arriving. I worked 2 days, worked one night, opened the cleft care center on the Monday after I arrived, we worked out of the center that week, flew to Sri Lanka that Friday, came home one week ago, went straight to a meeting, started screening for mission week last Wednesday, mission team arrived Thursday, started surgeries Friday, worked the mission until yesterday, have today off and then 2.5 more days of mission surgeries.

Barely enough time to breath, right? I think I am adjusting fairly well but I am still trying to find my place here and get my two feet on the ground. I came to Guwahati's Comprehensive Cleft Care Center (also known as GC4) knowing I was walking into a challenge. The core team here has been together for months.  Living and working together, getting this center off the ground and running together. I was entering into a very tightly knit group, praying that there was room for me beyond just being a bedside nurse. The whole team welcomed me with open arms and has really made me feel at home. I am beyond thankful for that. Still though, I am struggling with finding my true purpose and role. I didn't put in the time and effort to open this center, and that is unintentionally made very apparent to me. So, I feel a little out of place and out of step with the team members that have been here for months working hard to make this happen. I am so invested in this center and its mission and am looking forward to being an invaluable member of this team. Watching the center open was a huge deal to me. I am here, I am ready to make this place sustainable. I want to educated and train these nurses and show them what it means to be a leader, a patient advocate and a nurse with global standards . I am ready.

1 comment:

  1. True respect and inclusion can take time unfortunately, but just knowing how passionate about your mission and your job there is enough to know that with time you will gain that from your peers. You've got this!

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