Scott Lee LACES Gifted Magnet High School
The 213th Vision Care Eye Camp in Guatemala is now my 2nd trip, which once again proved to be a very significant and refreshing experience for me. The main reason as to why Vision Care exists is simple, to provide sight for the people. Although I met several familiar faces from last year, I also met a ton of new people which created a whole new experience as Vision Care is primarily about team effort.
Although going to Guatemala is not a new experience for me, I was still very excited to go back to Guatemala and be able to restore vision for the people who needed it the most. There was a myriad of tasks which I still remembered how to do from my previous year of coming to this Eye Camp.
Through the next 5 days, our team continued to aid every single one of the amiable Guatemalan people through various jobs that was administered to all the volunteers. Team work was essential in order to achieve our goals, but wasn’t a problem with our Vision Care team. Throughout most of my time volunteering, I was provided with the opportunity to work with these patients through eye charts which is necessary for the doctor to understand the patient’s vision before the different medication or surgery becomes applied. Even though I didn’t have the opportunity to try a different role, I was not disappointed as every single job was just as important and satisfying.
As this was my 2nd time volunteering in the medical field, I was able to understand the importance of being able to aid each other through teamwork and the extremely fulfilling feeling that each and every one of us achieved in our 5th day working with these patients. The feeling of gratitude from the patients was overwhelming and I felt tearful joy that I was able to be one of the reasons why these patients felt the obligation to thank each and every one of the members.
This Vision Care Eye Camp was well worth the feeling of being exhausted every single day because it was for a marvelous reason. I hope that either new or old volunteers will be able to attend the next Vision Care Eye Camp trip, as this is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. `
