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 How does travel change us?

It's a terrific question with so many answers. Personally, travel made me realise that the world I grew up in doesn't always get things right. Many of us assume that our way of living is the correct one. Everyone else, all those foreigners, well they don't live like us so they must be doing something wrong. The result makes us terribly arrogant.

My first experience of working overseas was as a volunteer midwife in Zambia. I was 23 and believed that I could use my Scottish education and save Zambian women and children from death and disease. All I had to do was work hard. Then reality hit. I was given a ward with 24 beds and 36 patients - some patients shared beds while others lay on mattresses on the floor. Many of the 36 patients had brought their children to the hospital with them. Given the overcrowding, my instinct was to tell the women to send them home. I had so much to learn, and thankfully I listened when someone said, "Don't try to change things immediately. Wait and find out why things are done the way they are." 

I waited and learned that when patients walk for four or five days to get to the hospital, they can't leave their children outside the door. I learned that tuberculosis doesn't stop at the lungs.  I learned that malaria in pregnancy leads to premature labour. From the students, I learned that there is only one set of  sterile instruments each day which means you start with the cleanest wounds and work toward the dirtiest. I learned so much, so much that hadn't been necessary to know at home and I became a better person for it.

I also learned what it is like to live as a minority. My wee white face set me apart. I was at times given privileges, but at other times that face was a liability. I was a clear outsider and sometimes outsiders take the blame when things go wrong. 

However, I also learned to treat everyone with respect. I learned to say, "Good morning, how are you?" That greeting might take a few moments, but that greeting gave me so much goodwill in return.

I am fortunate to have learned so much - from the people who lived around me and the students I was there to teach.



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