Three weeks at Sewa has taught me so much about the Bhutanese refugee community. We’ve been able to loosely assess the health needs of those living at Los Arcos, develop programming for health camps, and held the first immunization drive of the summer. But as much as we’ve done in these few weeks, there was a lot that we needed help with.
Our first call was to Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services (E.C.H.O.S.). They worked with last year’s Sewa summer interns, and so we felt that they could be a great resource to us. When we walked into the office, we were greeted by the executive director and given a tour of their facilities. To say that what E.C.H.O.S. does is amazing would be an understatement. They provide so many underserved people with access to health care, health screenings, checkups, and more. In addition, the executive director knows everyone who could be of use to us as public health interns. We were given names of so many organizations within Houston who provide health services for free or low-cost to underserved communities like those at Los Arcos.
Although the meeting lasted for a little more than an hour, we left armed with so many resources that we could not possibly use them all in our remaining time here. Hopefully when we leave, we will be able to pass on our knowledge to the next group of interns to pick up where we left off. My experience at E.C.H.O.S. demonstrated the power of acknowledging your own weaknesses and gaps in knowledge.
By recognizing what I do not know, I can help find people with the appropriate skills and knowledge to help me learn how to best help the community. Realistically, one person and one organization cannot possibly do everything. By pooling our collective resources, however, we can make a greater impact on the people we do our best to help.
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