Translated by Harry Liu

 

I was originally invited by the president of Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps to go to Myanmar to do the storm disaster relief. But just before a week, our destination suddenly changed to Sri Lanka. I brought a book with me in a hurry just to kill time during the free time in the trip. The title of the book, a biography is “Feeling of affinity,” which tells the story of a famous Taiwanese anesthetist named Huang Chung-kuang. Dr. Huang was not only famous in the academia, but also played a leading role in the field of anesthesia in Taiwan.

 

 

There is a passage I’d like to share with everyone. “The term ’feelings of affinity’ is an ancient faith of Chinese people. It elaborates that all the luck and joy of our life is destined. People often use “feelings of affinity” to explain how lovers or couples get together, love each other, and go through all the challenges together. It’s hard to find a synonym in English, ‘destiny’ might be the closest. Nevertheless, ‘destiny’ seems to lose the profoundity and sweetness of the term. ‘Destiny’ could be good or bad, but ‘feelings of affinity’ is always positive. This second visit to Sri Lanka, as for me, was a course of “feelings of affinity.”

 

All the catastrophe, such as the 921 Earthquake, SARS, the Tsunami in South Asia, the hurricane Katrina in the States, the earth quake in China, and the cyclone in Myanmar have made me realize the fragility of mankind! With the realization, I will definitely join any medical mission when there’s opportunity.

 

 

Many people might think that we could only do limited job within short period of time, but still, this is all we could do for now. Most of the places we visited were remote towns that lack of medical resources.

 

The majority of the patients suffered from flu, pain at joints and back, diabetes, high blood pressure, and enterogastritis. Dental department was thebusiest. What is worth mentioning is the ophthalmology department. The presbyopic glasses that we brought were very popular; our only one eye doctor was busy doing checkups and optometry.

 

 

Most of the patients didn’t really have serious illnesses. Perhaps they came to the service stations to see there are people who came from another country to give mental and medical care to them. We felt warm when we saw the patients show their gratitude with a wholehearted smile. Every person may has his/her opinions on values of life. By means of joining medical services with gratefulness, respect and love, I feel people’s helplessness and needs, and define my own significance of life, which is cherishing our own lives and others’.(end)