As the
2012 CAMTA mission wraps up the remaining patients in recovery receive
their discharge instructions and the hand-off to the local medical team is
completed. Team Two finalizes the inventory, packing and storing of medical
supplies. Team One is back in Canada re-adjusting to life back home, catching
up with work, family and friends and has some time to share stories and reflect
on what they took away from their volunteer experience.
As
volunteers we get so much out of our experience with CAMTA. Having participated twice on a CAMTA mission
I am awestruck at how quickly a group of strangers can come from across Canada
and get down to quality team work to achieve a goal. Organizations spend hours
of time training their staff on teamwork and collaboration and somehow, whether
it is the clear task at hand, or our great sense of purpose – we get down to
the mission work quickly and bond as if we have worked together for years, in a
matter of days. Volunteering with CAMTA
is a reminder to me of the quality of the human spirit and our ability to work
together. I asked other volunteers to share their takeaways.
(Some of the Week One team in front of the Radisson Hotel.)
Here’s
what a new CAMTA volunteer had to say;
“My CAMTA experience renewed my dedication to being a nurse
and helping my patients. Everyone respected each other in their respective
roles and we all worked together to provide the best care possible. To me
that is what healthcare should be. I am
very thankful for the relationships that I have in my life. Family and
relationships was a very strong theme that I observed from the people of Quito. It made me resolve to work on the relationships that I have at home even
more.”
From a long-serving volunteer;
“My
biggest take away is always the people - both the
patients, families and volunteers. It never ceases to amaze me how much
people give of themselves without asking for anything in return. I ask
myself how we can change the culture in Canada to reflect what we see
here. After every year I have a bit of culture shock returning back
to Canada and it takes me about a week to recover and deal again with a culture
of selfishness and greed, that's the bad part -
the good thing is that the Mission always makes me want to do more, not just in Quito, but also at home.”
From a young student volunteer;
“I
think this volunteer experience has opened my eyes to how hard people work and
how dedicated people are about a cause they are passionate about. The amount of
work that is required to organize and put on an operation like CAMTA is
phenomenal; and to think that the sole motivation is for charity, without the
incentive of making money, is extraordinary.”
There
is so much to give, and so much to get in return. One of Ecuador’s most noted
artists Oswaldo Guayasamin said; “if we do not have the strength to grasp our
hands with everyone’s hands, if we do not have the tenderness to hold in our
arms the children of the world, if we do not have the will to clean the earth
of all its armies; this small planet will be a dry and black body in a dark
space”.
Ecuador
teaches us every year that the human spirit is strong and that the power of giving
can sow the seeds of change.
We
welcome you to experience this for yourself by volunteering with CAMTA. For
more information go to our website: www.camta.ca. Recruitment for
2013 starts in June.
What was your takeaway from your volunteer experience with CAMTA? Please post a comment on this blog.
Janet Emmett, CAMTA Week One Volunteer
Would you like to support our work in Ecuador? Please click here to donate to CAMTA.
