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wh Bansari Shah
The Perspective of a Medical Student
In high school, like most all future doctors, I thought that I too wanted to "help people." But it was not until a few years ago, on a four-month visit to India, that I realized how and why I wanted to help people. And it became clear that becoming a doctor was a small part of a greater goal.
Unlike past trips to India, I could not easily escape the poverty by staying indoors or in air-conditioned cars. I was volunteering with a cancer prevention NGO and used trains and rickshaws to roam about Mumbai. Not only did I have to confront the massive amount of poverty, but also the misery of being poor and unhealthy. Yet, the lessons of karma theory kept me afloat, knowing this situation was not permanent, that they could change their future. And this was where I wanted to help.
At the Jain Center, I was taught that only you have the power to change your future by how you carry your life, how you react to the events around you and how you make decisions. For many of the patients and families I saw in India, their health limited their opportunity to live their lives and shape their future. If I could improve their health, they would have a choice and a chance to step forward.
With the helping hands of the Jain Center community, I have taken some baby steps toward improving the healthcare situation among the underprivileged in India. The experience of the Jain Center's doctors has provided me guidance in setting up ways to educate and improve the health of the underprivileged. And, with the encouragement and on-site help from friends I have made at the Jain Center, I am able to make my ambition into a working reality.
While karma theory and the support of the Jain Center community have helped me decide what to do with my life, it is the accumulation of 20 years of lessons, discussions and support from this community that has confirmed it. Bansari Shah is a third-year medical student at the University of California, San Diego. She can be contacted at bansarishah@gmail.com.
From: Vinod & Bharti Desai Anand & Kinnari Desai
