Receiving through giving

On the third day of medical clinics in a remote mountain location in Honduras, outside the city of Tegucigalpa, IU junior Aaron Remenschneider mingled with a group of children in the hot sun, as they waited for their medication prescribed by the clinic doctor. An entire school had canceled classes that day to allow the children to go to the clinic, which was set up by the IU chapter of the Timmy Foundation. \nRemenschneider brought out a children's book to read to the kids. The book, however, was written in Spanish, a language Remenschneider does not speak. As he struggled through words and pronounced them erroneously as he sounded out syllables and vowels, two girls, about 12 years in age, came over to listen. They laughed with Remenschneider as he tried to read the story to the children and looked confusedly at the pages of the book. The girls started to help Remenschneider with a few words, and ended up reading the book to him, playfully shouting out the story in unison. Remenschneider was moved by the girls, who generously gave him a lesson in their language.\n"We had come with an ambulance full of medicine, balloons and bubbles to give them, but in the end they were giving to me," he said.\nInside the clinic, IU graduate Eddie Kubek was translating for a doctor as he examined an elderly patient. The man was only 60 years old, but his face and body were aged to that of an 80-year-old. The man had a variety of health problems: A goiter on his neck, a month and half old machete wound on his leg, cataracts and a variety of other ailments. \nDespite these problems, the man still worked six days a week, 12 hours a day on a steep-hilled farm to survive. Kubek was inspired by the man's strength and persistence despite his illness.\n"He was amazing," Kubek said. "If I could only be half as tough as that man."\nAs the Timmy Foundation Club worked four days of free clinics in Honduras over spring break, the IU students were touched as much as they touched the lives of the people they met, while completing their mission to bring medical help to a country in need. The successful clinics serviced about 2,000 patients, some of whom waited up to five hours to see the doctors.\nThe Timmy Foundation is an organization founded in 1997 by Dr. Chuck Dietzen of Indianapolis. The foundation is dedicated to bringing medical services to places all over the world with a major focus on helping the lives of children. The Timmy Foundation sends volunteers on five or six international trips a year and has sent medical care to approximately 50 countries through the funds, volunteers and supplies it solicits. \nJuniors Remenschneider and Dionisios Aliprantis, along with Kubek, organized a Timmy Foundation Club on the IU campus this academic year and spent months planning a medical brigade of 28 students, most aspiring doctors, to work in Honduras over spring break. While many IU students were partying without a care in the world, these students were making a difference, aiding doctors in clinics and connecting with another culture.\nThe students spent their days working in clinics they set up themselves along with five doctors from central Indiana. The students were organized in groups with various assignments to translate, assist the doctors, take vital signs of patients, triage patients, distribute medicines or work crowd control outside. Patients would come in with ailments varying from simple colds and sore throats to more serious problems such as brain tumors and stomach parasites. Kubek said that while some seriously ill patients could not be helped at their location, they made sure that these patients would be taken care of at another location. \nThe club brought extra funds to give patients if they needed additional services from another doctor, who they usually would not be able to afford.\n"If we couldn't directly give them services, we found someone who could," Kubek said.\nKubek is fluent in Spanish and spent most of his clinic time translating for the doctors. He said he loved speaking with the children and other patients. But even those volunteers who could not speak Spanish still found ways to communicate with their new friends.\nFreshman Margie Conely, who knew only a little bit of Spanish, said that the language barrier was not a problem for her.\n"You can still communicate with people without spoken language," she said, "whether it's with a smile or by giving a hug."\nConely met a young adult named Mario at one of the clinics who could speak a little bit of English. They sat together for nearly two hours chatting as best they could and teaching each other their languages.\nAs an aspiring pediatrician who loves children, Conely was most impacted by a children's AIDS hospice that the group visited. She was inspired when she learned that an American doctor had founded the hospice.\n"It gave me inspiration and motivation," she said. "You can't heal the world by yourself, but you can try wherever you can."\nLike Conely, many of the students' favorite moments were of playing with the children outside the clinics as they waited to see the doctor. Junior Lisa Maltz said that the strong sense of community that the culture breeds and the lack of materialism made the kids very social.\n"They have all kinds of games," she said. "Games you can play without any materials. These children play hard, barefoot and with health problems, while American kids sit and watch TV and won't go to school because of a cold."\nThe contrast between Honduras and America hit hard when the students returned home. In their class designed for the trip and taught by professor JoAnn Campbell, who also traveled with the group, the students discussed what it was like coming back home and what kind of impact the trip had on them.\n"I was a zombie for a couple days," Remenschneider recalled, "You've seen people who live (with) next to nothing and live more simply. Then you come here and see so much at once. It's a cultural shock going there, but it's even worse when you come back."\nThe students share writings, journal entries and photographs as they discuss defining moments, the service they did, and questions they have about dealing with their new feelings.\n"You feel blessed when you come back and see what you have," said Conely, who believes she has become a more patient person. "If I don't get something today, I can do it tomorrow." \nWhile she has found an inner calmness, Conely said at the same time she is less tolerant of petty things she sees Americans do and talk about. She gets annoyed when she hears people complain about simple aggravations, like rescheduling a doctor's appointment. People in Honduras don't even have the luxury to see a doctor at all, she said.\nConely hopes their experience and perspectives gained in Honduras will help the Timmy Foundation Club to grow into a long-term organization at IU. The members have formed a close group motivated by each other's positive energy. Flights have already been chartered for next year's spring break trip to the Dominican Republic and plans are in the making for a winter break trip to Yucatan, Mexico.\nIf you are interested in becoming involved, the group's next meeting is scheduled for April 16 at 7 p.m. in Jordan Hall A106.