Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We walked into the waiting room, which was filled with people. They were all visually
impaired, some accompanied by a child or grandchild. The doctor came out to take back a
new client, but Vin quickly went to him and explained where I was from and what I was
doing.
He asked if we could wait while he attended to a few more patients for the day. As we
sat in the waiting room, Vin translated various conversations with the people around us. I
learned that many of them lived in rural communities, where access to doctors was difficult.
I discovered that many of them weren't suffering from permanent blindness, but simply
cataracts. In the West, cataract surgery was a very common procedure, but for these rural
villagers, it was out of reach. Most of the patients expected to go blind by the end of their
lives, despite the simple fix.
“But the surgery is so easy,” I told Vin.
“Yes,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. “It's just hard for people to find doctor to
do. They cannot afford.”
Not long after, the doctor came and brought us into his office. Dr. Nguyen spoke Eng-
lish, which he had picked up while studying in England.
He explained his work as simply being a part of his community: “I think it's just a part
of my job, helping the poor blind people to see again. Being blind is such a heavy burden
for them and for their family.”
The doctor's humility helped me set my own worries aside. Sure, Kindness One sat
in lock up at the border, but what did that matter in comparison to this work? “It puts
everything into perspective for me. That I saw all of those people upstairs who couldn't see
when they came here and now they can,” I shared.
The doctor gently shrugged and replied, “It is my job. It is my calling.”
I remembered back to the first day I set foot in America, determined to cross it on
only $5 a day. There I was—a grown man, who had once been the awkwardly shy kid in
class—going up to anyone who would look in my direction, asking them for help, trying to
plead a cause I wasn't so sure I believed in myself. Adventure had set me free. It was what
made me feel a part of this collective life. It was
my calling
.
Though the doctor had studied abroad, he had decided to take what he had learned and
bring it back to his own people. He had brought the adventure home. I wondered whether I
might do the same. Or whether chance meetings like this might always call me away?
I motioned to Vin, saying,
“
Had you not been in that noodle shop today, I wouldn't have
met you.”
