Trip to Umende

Vincent

“Okay, thanks,” I said and ended the call. I just finished booking my flight ticket to Umende, a remote area in the northern part of the country. I had enrolled in another voluntary medical outreach program hosted by a group of big hospitals and NGOs. The aim was to send medical teams, test kits, drugs, food, and other assistance to the surrounding villages affected by the outbreak of the SARS virus.

The team from my hospital, after getting vaccine shots and immune boosters left a week ago, their flight tickets and accommodation organized by the alliance. I was supposed to go with them but something tragic came up. The cancer patient of mine who had gone home to spend his last days with his family died a day before our departure. I stayed back to commemorate with the bereaved family while booking my flight for tomorrow.

I hadn’t the intention to go at first, because I had my share of sick people in need of urgent medical care. But I wasn’t in the right state of mind to give