Voyage of Compassion

I'm going, to be honest, I don't even know where to start. I was so nervous to start the day and mess up my Spanish or just mess up on something simple. I did not expect everyone who came to Cuidad de la Esperanza to be so loving and compassionate towards all of the students and medical team that they wait to see every year for 4 days. It is so relieving to be accepted the way we did, from the students in the city to the patients just coming into their appointments. I was so happy to be able to connect and just hear the kid's stories that came by the Gafas Station. I was trying my best to just “fit in” and be as friendly as possible in order to show that we are here to help and do anything we can at our disposal. One instance that really made my heart drop in a sense and made me feel something I have never felt in my life was when a student during her free time, the name did not stick in my head while writing this but all I remember was the fact that she was in 5th grade and had glasses already. She initially stated that she could not see very well with the glasses she already had on and to make it worse with the glasses off, was completely blind. Though with her glasses on, she was only able to make it to the third sequence of shapes on the eye test chart. In that sense, it was sad to witness as something as simple as glasses was holding her back from enjoying the wonder and beauty that Coban holds whether it be in any situation she was in. She tried on 1 pair of glasses that Thomas and I both agreed would be a great fit for her, and to our surprise, they worked magic for her. As we saw her reaction it really hit us, she could see everything she had been missing out on, which in fact was not her fault, it was the glasses. We conducted the eye test again and she had near-perfect 20/20 vision that she had been missing because of “GLASSES”. She was so happy and just seeing that anybody could come to our station at the time whether it be adults or students and be able to change their lives with something as simple as a pair of glasses was just the most moving feeling I have ever felt. It is that feeling of just helping anyone out no matter whether they had an appointment or not, our project is to help everyone and everyone whether it be anything, overall, caring for the whole person. Witnessing everyone smiling and being happy that we were all there after a year's wait was fantastic. It would be bad to leave out the fact that Dr.Christian is in fact a “badass” for just pulling Sebastian’s tooth out the way he did, it gave the “ yea, I did that” vibes. I would just like everyone in the team who made it a smooth day and fun day. 

-Axel Sostre