We Are All the Same Inside

  Chongqing Beauty 
  Originally uploaded by interplast

Chongqing, China--Emily Ulm, RN:  I am back from Chongqing, China and am sitting here in the wee hours of the morning trying to feel sleepy enough to go back to bed. Jet lag is not a pretty thing.

My first Interplast trip was absolutely unbelievable and indescribable.  The countryside in China is lush and green from all the rain, with beautiful rolling hills.  I was told by one of our host members that we brought the sunshine; that normally it would be raining a lot more at this time of year.  The cities were clean and very aesthetically pleasing.  I especially liked the farms in Chongqing that were built on the slope of a hill--tiers of land that resembled a staircase from the distance.

I fell in love with the children from the moment I saw them.  We were able to operate on about 54 by the end of the trip.  After our chief surgeon had to return home after being injured, our surgical fellow, Dr. Ian Wilson, took up the slack for a couple of days by operating in two rooms.  When one case was done, we were ready for him with the next one to begin right away.  Kudos to Dr. Wilson for helping to get these kids' surgeries done.  Also, a huge thank you to Dr. Shankar Rai, who joined us in the second week from Nepal to help Ian operate on the children.

Once the cultural barriers were down, we were able to make many close friendships with the people of China.  The PACU nurses worked closely with some volunteer university students from China who were indispensable.  They all became quite close.  The OR nurses befriended the local Chinese OR nurses and again formed some great friendships.

While visiting the Buddhist temple, I was met by an elderly man who said something to me in Chinese.  I asked one of our volunteer students to interpret and she said that he said, "Even though we do not speak the same language, we are still the same people inside." It brought tears to my eyes.

I fell in love with China and the people and was thrilled to be a part of something so big and helpful for the children.

Comments

[Eunice Zhu (Southwest University,Chongqing)]

Emily , I love your moving article, it is so sensitive.
It is also my first close touch with INTERPLAST as an volunteer translator, unforgettable! That is true when you come , Chongqing shows sunshine face, and you bring smile faces to the cleft lip/palate Chinese babies too. Thank you （^_^）
You bring a lot of happy together times to the whole team. The last play on the final banquet ,mixed with Chinese style ,Canada, American, English and Nepal style, equals to the INTERNATIONAL style! All your playing is fantastic, interesting and lovely pleasing .That’s the one of the highlight of the Interplast trip!
“Even though we do not speak the same language, we are still the same people inside.” I love these words very much too. When we came across the old singer, I just translated the lyrics in no seconds. You know we share the same spirit inside. We love our lovely life, treasure the healthy body our parents give, and we all want to give our hands to the unfortunate babies. Our little help may change the big life of the babies. And that is what we should do hand in hand!
I am looking forward to meeting you in China Chongqing, and to missing you guys a lot, your smilings and happy together times. The next time you come to Chongqing, you’ll see my hometown to be a much more prosperous and dynamic city!