I'm From: Phumi Sampan, Kandal, KHWill Fly You to His Town Will Come To Your Town Will Travel with You
Places I want to travel to:Rome, Italy Madrid, Spain Paris, France Dublin, Ireland Amsterdam, Netherlands New York City, United States Miami, United States Bangkok, Thailand Tokyo, Japan
Travelling doctor, worked in Afrika, Haiti, Asia and the UK.
I like to write, here I summed up my year in Afrika and reading it makes me want to travel again desperately…
The journey home
— I have travelled thousands of miles from home.
And I have learnt so much.
I have seen a man with a large knife penetrating his skull and exiting the other side, still breathing.
I have seen a man shot 6 times and not sustain a single significant injury.
I have seen a woman who has lost her hands due to the violence of man.
I have seen a new born baby that has been shot and lost his arm.
I have witnessed the destructive force of mans fear, mans greed, mans anger and mans jealousy.
I have seen a child with a severe spinal deformity and the sweetest smile.
I have held a child in my arms that is suffering from the consequences of AIDS.
I have realised how peoples lives can change forever in a moment of illness or accident. But also how other lives are changed from the moment they were born.
And I have never worked so hard, in the days and into the nights. I have been educated by brave people. I have hoped I made a difference.
I have done good things. But I have also made mistakes and felt their burdens weigh down on me. I have felt like a surgeon.
I have watched the bluest waves and the greenest waves of the clearest oceans, lashing to the horizon and back again.
I have drifted in a hot air balloon over a desert and mountains, soaring over the skies, watching as the sky turned from a darkness, to a purplish, to a pinkish, to an orangish, to a yellowish to a bright blue sky and a majestic Sun shining through.
And I have stood barefoot on an empty flawless beach, looking into the distance as the sky turned from a saphire blue to a lavender pink, a crimson red, an indigo violet and into a black night studded with white lights.
And I have sat silently, gazing up at this night sky, counting endless and uncountable sparkling stars as they greet me one by one, palpating the infinity of the universe beyond and accepting my place in it.
I have crashed through waves on a speeding boat, chasing whales migrating to their destination.
I have walked with lions who shared their travels with me and their passion and strength. I have seen crocodiles. And hippos and rhinos and giraffes. And zebras and elephants and buffalos and eagles. And the elegance in all of life's creatures.
I have felt the solitude of the endless burning desert, of sand dunes that rise and fall in perfect symmetry.
I have paddled through river rapids and drifted through calmer waters only to battle through more rapids that awaited me.
I have stood in front of a glorious waterfall and been soaked by its smoking thunder. And I have flown above this waterfall, watching the energy of nature run through its canyons and gorges as I blew in the winds above.
I have jumped from a bridge and felt the speed of the world beneath me, above me and running through me as I fell manicly towards the earth. I then swung upside down and laughed.
I have gazed upon a setting Sun as it descends through the peaks of unending mountains that will never change their position.
I have admired bright city lights at dusk from a higher place, watching the activity and hustle of our daily and nightly lives.
I have heard nurses sing prayers in unison, for the blessings of their patients.
I have been in the company of brave people, learning their stories and have been humbled. I have been inspired by people, who remain strong with hope despite nothing else.
I have worked with dedicated volunteers who have sacrificed for a greater good and their beliefs.
I have been in awe of an island that was once a prison, where a few good men's sacrifice proved the world they were wrong.
And above all, I have seen God's most beautiful creation and smiled at her. And have been graced by God to see her smiling back. And lose it again.
I have been enlightened. I feel God in all His people and in their goodness and kindness. And that we are all equal. And that
we all have the same beating heart and the same red blood running through it, no matter our colour, or our culture or our religion.
I have met different people but have only seen one world.
I have felt that those boundaries of race, colour, religion, language, creed are only created in man's mind but not in his spirit and I have seen that the spirit can still triumph.
I have truly held the finest treasure of the world in my hands. But have also watched it slip through my fingers as I tried to hold on.
And now I begin the journey home, I return:
A humbled man, a gentler man and a poorer man for all I have seen, all I have won and all I have lost.
With my final words,
I thank you all for allowing me to walk my awkward steps with you along your very own journies.
Adventure, in short sharp breaks to get away from the hard working hospital environment! Im hoping to travel to Cambodia for 6 months next year.