Mark Lisagor, DDS, FAAPD
It’s a beautiful day here in Leh, Ladakh, a small town in the Indus River Valley. We’re surrounded by snow-capped 20,000-foot peaks that separate the town from the rest of India. As a volunteer trip leader for Global Dental Relief, I’m able to observe the dance that happens each time a volunteer team sets up and goes to work in our seven-chair dental clinic to provide dental care for children with no other access. I watch the kids arrive—maybe 100 or more each day—full of joy and anticipation for the adventure ahead.
I watch as this group of dentists, hygienists, and nondental helpers— all strangers a few days ago—become a focused team sharing a common purpose. They work tirelessly to provide as much loving care for as many children as possible. The children are so proud after successfully enduring their first experience in a dental chair. Connections are made between children and volunteers as they share selfies and hugs. You can see the expressions of gratitude toward these volunteers from the kids, who realize the volunteers traveled halfway around the world just to make their lives a little better.
I think of a quote from Pico Iyer that feels true when we volunteer: “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed.”1
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