Nurse Amy

Amy Sears is thriving here in ways I never imagined possible. While most volunteers are leering from culture shock and gastric woes during their first month here, in a few short weeks my dear friend from Boston has already treated scores of patients, from Tibetan nuns and newly arrived refugees (often suffering from a month-long walk across the frozen Himalayas) to Rajastani and Maharastran families in the slum village of Charan.

Debilitating wounds, infections and illnesses among children are, for most, difficult to witness. Even more so when the children are neglected (sometimes left alone for weeks at a time), even more so when nothing is done to heal a gaping wound on a young beggar because it generates more income. It's easy, initially, to feel anger towards parents, but under such harsh impoverished conditions drastic measures are necessary for survival.

It's common to feel dragged down by the horror of scenarios like this one, but Amy has a very uncommon approach to the world. Even the most seemingly grotesque injuries are, in her eyes, simply matters to be dealt with; through disfiguring burns, scars, pus, protruding bone and smarming parasite, she connects with the human beneath the ailment. This, I think, is the key to her successful work, especially with children. Her care heals most patients, but in her presence even an incurable child cannot help but smile (often with a face that has long since forgotten how). She accomplishes all this with such positive energy, vigor, and her characteristically bright (and loud) laughter... One cannot help but feel inspired and uplifted by her work, and by her friendship.

amysears.blogspot.com/