It was a bit awkward to walk into that office and say hello to the staff that I had left a month ago. But the initial hesitation was quickly assuaged by their warm handshakes and kisses. I am still trying to figure out when they are tugging me in for a kiss and when it would be a handshake. I wonder if I am allowed to be proactive and give someone a kiss on the cheek.
It was the official beginning of my two years of service in this community, and last night I had spent two hours outlining some goals I want to achieve in the first three months and also some obstacles that I might encounter. With those notes on my mind, I asked the doctors right away if they had family visits today. When I visited before, they didn’t take me with them on family visits, but these visits would be my gateway into the community: the community members could see me, and even if I don’t do much but observe and say hello and goodbye, I am there as an additional resource. Also, through these family visits and the clinic hours, I could mentally track potential health trends, and then my family doctor counterparts and I could work together to give presentations about specific preventative health topics to target groups. My job in Turkmenistan and specifically in my small town of 5000 people is to teach the doctors how to teach health and to create sustainable projects that would encourage the people to take control of their health, that by adopting healthy habits and lifestyles, they could avoid certain illnesses.
After spending those couple of hours brainstorming possible ways to positively impact this community, I am actually really excited to get to work. I am geared up to go. I am once again filled with a sense of purpose of why I am here in the first place: to learn from the Turkmen people and also to share with them what I know. A mutually beneficial cultural exchange. Specifically regarding health – a healthy life is universally coveted, and I want to immerse myself in this culture and learn how the Turkmen people keep healthy, and I wish to share with them how I keep healthy. I am interested to see how this immersion in another healthcare system changes the way I perceive American healthcare, medicine, and the role of a doctor at the end of these two years.
This morning, we went on five family visits, and they mostly concerned babies, whom I adore, especially the babies that are barely a week old. I really appreciate how babies here are so well taken care of, regardless of gender. Even though the people in this culture prefer boys over girls and would name their girls “Let the next child be a boy,” “This girl is beautiful but please God, can I have a boy,” “I want a boy,” “Beautiful boy,” “Enough girls already,” etc., they take really good care of their children, whether they are girls or boys. When I talked to my host mom about female infanticide in China, she was shocked. “But she is a tiny, innocent baby!” She would protest.
After I came home from work to eat lunch, I documented in my diary what I saw. Hopefully in two months, that would help me do a community needs assessment and start a project. Wow, I again realize how fortunate I am to be here. I have always wanted to do this: work with a community to identify health needs and come up with solutions to reduce or eradicate certain problems.
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