What textbooks and the Internet teach us regarding international rural and urban medicine is no replacement for real-world experience. My participation in CFHI’s Ecuador Program in April 2011 has forever changed my perception of how a healthcare system is supposed to work and how invaluable the system is to the citizens of Ecuador. I also observed the disparities of the urban-rural healthcare compared to those of my home country, USA, and immediately saw the challenges that they faced.

I feel very privileged to be able to work alongside these hardworking medical professionals and I was able to walk away feeling like I gained a lot of knowledge, wisdom and great passion to help the community whether within my area or abroad. Although my time in Ecuador was short, in the end, I was brought back to why I wanted to become a doctor. It is not about the money, nor the prestige or even the fascination I have about the living system, it is what I saw everyday with the doctors I shadowed; spending time with them and understanding their concerns, pain and suffering. I watched as spending mere minutes with them seemed to ease their pain and suffering, all this without any drugs. It would seem that the medical world forgets the humanity aspect in our profession but after completing this program it brings back the reason why I want to become a doctor.