On Saturday March 26^th the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps hosted another weekend-activity full of giving, friendship, respect and of course medical treatment! For a first-time volunteer it was quite an experience!

  A variety of volunteers –doctors, dentists, chefs, students, drivers, children, parents and the like –met at National Taiwan Normal University at 2:45 a.m. Despite the painfully early timing, everyone was in good spirits. We checked in, received name-tags and headed south towards Miao Li County.

  After a steep climb and a stop for breakfast, we finally made it to the mountain village of Tiangou at 8:00 am. The village was placed in a luscious backdrop and a chilling haze; seemingly feral cats and dogs wandered in search of food, birds and insects sang and the villagers welcomed us with a curious smile.

  We grabbed tables and chairs, boxes and bags, clothes and shoes and medicine and medical tools from one large storage truck and at nine o’clock began providing free medical treatment to the indigenous mountain villagers.

  After the villagers registered with the staff, our team of doctors and volunteers checked their blood pressure, height and weight and any illnesses/soreness they were dealing with at the time. After a thorough inspection the doctors prescribed an appropriate medication.  

  I was lucky enough to enjoy an extensive conversation with Dr. Sylvia Chen. We discussed a variety of topics including health-care in Taiwan, Chinese and Western Medicine, and volunteering in general. She had nothing but good things to say about the this activity;

This is the first time I joined the activity, actually I felt so happy. I really admire this group. They all showed their passion for helping people and cooperated so well, especially the people who helped us prepare the food.  It was so delicious and really touched my heart , the temperature is so low and we always have hot food, hot water and hot soup; I am really thankful… The activity also included some families and I thought this was a great opportunity for family to hang-out together, also a good opportunity to educate the children. (Sylvia Chen, April 9, 2010)

  Moreover, we were accompanied by a Dentist who was able to provide free dental care for those villagers that needed it most. After seeing the Dentist pull one child’s tooth, I asked her if there was anything strange or difficult about doing dental work in the middle of the mountains. She said, “no, not really…the organization has really great equipment, so they make it easy for me.”The equipment must be great because the child was all smiles afterwards!

  On top of providing free medical and dental care, we also gave out toys, clothes, shoes and food! After receiving treatment and grabbing their share of goods, the villagers were full of joy and content. We closed shop around 12:00 pm, and after a delicious home-cooked meal made our way from to Tiangou to Da An.

  We conducted similar activities in Da An, Zhumei, and Hua Yuan over a span of 2 days, and on Sunday afternoon headed back to Taipei. Although it wasn’t always easy, it was certainly a very enjoyable and worthwhile experience!