All in all, Project RISHI had experienced better afternoons. We had come to the Government Health Clinic to build a strong working relationship with them. Through this endeavor, we hoped to improve our own village health clinic, but the director had other plans in mind. "I think you should pack your free clinic up and move to a remote hill station where there is no civilization. Maybe you can do some good there," he declared, shocking us into a confused silence. For one long hour, he proceeded to ridicule our project, crushing our hopes and goals. We left the meeting shell-shocked, with some of my fellow members questioning our purpose for working in the village in the first place. My first real hands-on experience with health care was in danger of failing.

I joined Project RISHI in my junior year, attracted to its message of providing health care to the disadvantaged in rural India. Its message resonated strongly with my lifelong goal of becoming a doctor. I traveled with the group to Vaddamanappakkam, a village in Tamil Nadu, India, to assist in our free clinic and attempt to improve the quality of life in the impoverished village. The clinic was only two years old, so there were not many services we could offer patients besides a basic check-up along with standard medication. Despite the shortcomings of the clinic, I loved the work we did there. Connecting with patients on a personal level by giving them some small measure of relief ignited an unknown passion in me that grew day by day. This growing passion suddenly hit a roadblock during the disastrous meeting with the government health clinic. I fumed at the criticisms leveled at us. However, I later realized that this confrontation helped open my eyes to the problems of our project. It was not that we were useless; our goals just needed adjusting. We could never provide the services of the well-funded government clinic, but we could help patients with their chronic ailments, quickly identify and refer sick patients to the proper hospital, and work at disease prevention.  

The rest of our trip was spent working towards these goals. To improve our clinic, we conducted numerous surveys amongst groups of villagers, seeing what they liked and disliked. Also, we were lucky to meet two local doctors who agreed to come and work in the clinic. We also made significant progress in our health education goal. A local women’s self-help group agreed to help spread health care education in the village year-round, while the local school welcomed any advice on how to improve their health education program. Through our hard work and effort, we made significant progress towards achieving our goals.

I came back from the Project RISHI trip more energized than before. Though I faced the harsh truth that we may not be able to cure every patient in the village, I saw that we could still bring some small into their lives.  As in every important endeavor, there were some initial setbacks. Yet, our hard work and dedication turned the project around from a growing disaster to a resounding success. I personally cannot wait until next year to return to Vaddamanappakkam and continue Project RISHI’s goal of striving to bring healthcare to those who need it most.