MSAHI 2010...

Wow!

Almost 9 months already since our return from Peru. What an amazing journey it was. For most of us, the trip ended on August 25th, after 8 amazing weeks in Peru. The last few days of travelling allowed us to spend some time in the gorgeous cities of Puno and Arequipa while doing all sorts of outdoor and cultural activities. Really, by the end of our trip, we were feeling quite at home in Peru and were a bit sad to get back to Montreal...

In the few months following our trip, we had ample time to rethink about our experience in Peru. We will definitely keep great memories of the people we met, the situations we experienced and the lives of those we crossed. Hopefully, the trip will have allowed us to become more sensitive and more open-minded medical students. Hopefully, we will have brought a little something, a meaningful contribution to the patients of the Hogar San Pedro.

Whereas for most of us, MSAHI 2009 is now referred to in the past tense, Jessica and I are still very much "living" the McGill South America Health Initiative. Since our return, we have been working hard on developing the second stage of the initiative: MSAHI 2010. In fact, in the months of June, July and August, 2 groups of passionate medical students from McGill and Université de Montréal will be continuing the project and leading it towards a greater and more sustainable dimension.

New elements will be added to the project this year, including a physiotherapy program and a new partnership with a local pediatric orphanage. It is extremely heart-warming to see how positive the employees of the Hogar San Pedro as well as our partners here in Canada are at the idea of the project continuing on a long-term basis. Also, Jessica and I will be completing a 3-week clinical elective course with one of the doctors we met during our outreach campaign last summer. We are very much looking forward to learning the basics of Peruvian public health and epidemiology with 3 doctors who are currently employed at the Peruvian ministry of health. Our return to the region of Ricardo Palma, will allow us not only to complete a formal part of our medical education, it will also allow us to better monitor and coordinate the MSAHI project as well as meet up with all the good friends we made in Peru last summer.

In conclusion, this last blog entry for MSAHI 2009 might mark the closure of an adventure for most members of the group. However, for the initiative itself and for some of us, it is much closer to a new beginning than to an end. Hopefully, MSAHI will continue to grow and thrive in the years to come so that many other blog pages similar to this one can be written in the future.

Adios!

Nicholas Chadi,
Founder and coordinator of the McGill South America Health Initiative