Sarawak Mission Trip- October 22-28,2018
It was my first mission trip. I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Serian, Sarawak. It was a memorable one and I’d like to share it to all of you.
We visited a few villages during this mission trip. The villages we visited were; Temang Putah, Sejijak Mawang and Entubuh. Along with us were the mission trip coordinator, 4 doctors, 2 health educators, 10 student nurses and a number of volunteers. Our mission there was to provide health screening services to the local community. The health screening services we had for them were; eye examination, body composition scanning, blood pressure and blood sugar examination. Besides, we also conducted a session of health education.
I was assigned to assist at the dental station on the first and second day. I was very nervous in the beginning, because everything there was new to me. I was unfamiliar with the setup of the dental station, as well as the various types of dental instruments. Thankfully we had Doctor Peter and Doctor Monina to give us a short briefing on the function of the dental instrument and how to prepare them when needed. My first duty here was to get the instruments ready for the doctors when conducting each treatment.
Throughout my assistance here, I always felt happy to witness how tooth extraction was done successfully by the doctors although some cases were complicated and challenging. There were some complex cases on wisdom teeth that needed be extracted right away. Those cases were tough and were mostly time consuming until it’s done. The experience I had helping in the dental station was precious and definitely unforgettable. I am happy to have learned some knowledge about dentistry, which I might not have the chance to learn about it at all in the past.
After my assignment at the dental station, I was assigned to help at the clinical health screening station. I assisted to do the Cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure tests for the patients. It was a good experience too, and we were very happy to see how the patients/community responded to our service there. The community was very passionate; not only had they played the traditional music instruments to welcome us, they also prepared scrumptious meals for us to show their appreciation on our efforts. The food was so delicious, and the variety of food was not what we could get in Penang. Apart from this, we had a good time playing with the children too! They were all loving and fun to be with. I enjoyed playing with them very much.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to be on this mission trip. There are people whom I am thankful for. Firstly, Madam Ong, who had taken good care of us. Secondly, the Pastor, who helped arrange meals and local transportation for us. Last but not least, the doctors who were so kind to share their experiences and had willingly taught us on many things. On a side note, although I came to this trip with an expectation that was not fulfilled, which was to see wild lives of Sarawak; this mission trip has given me an opportunity to learn to be humble, and be grateful of what I have in life. This is indeed a more meaningful story to tell – Ng Swee Yue, Dip 2020-1