Mission Srolanth ’12: To heal the heart, with a heart to heal Posted on 2nd Feb 2013, 6:24pm by admin

Mission Srolanh is a medical mission to Battambang Prefecture, Cambodia, organised by the Catholic Medical Guild in conjunction with the Catholic Medical Society of medical students in NUS. First born out of a request by Bishop Enrique Figaredo to provide medical assistance to his congregation in the Battambang diocese, this was only the second iteration of the mission. This mission trip happened over a week in December, in which we managed to address its objectives: mission work, journeying as a community, and personal retreat.

Before getting into that, it might do to explain the name of the mission. “Srolanh”, the name of the mission, means “Love” in Cambodia’s native Khmer tongue. Indeed, that very much sums up the spirit of the mission, which was very much more concerned with sharing in the love of Christ with the communities and people we met there, be it in the process of medical work, our conversations, or our mere presence and solidarity with them. Indeed, we in most part felt that we were the ones more blessed by the encounters, in receiving the pure love of each of the persons we met. Our tagline (and also the title of this article), has turned out to be quite appropriate!

The mission work during that one week consisted of two main foci – primary medical care to rural communities in the prefecture, and health and values education in schools/boarding houses. With a great team of doctors, students and translators, the medical clinics ran very smoothly. A great help were the staff from the church-run health centre in Battambang, who not only translated literally every word in the clinic, but also ran the systems of referral and sponsorship that allowed those in need of further investigations or treatment to travel to the city and do so. Despite the usual reservations about long-term benefits, these clinics did definitively contribute in one way – by providing an additional avenue for the Church to share Christ with each community. In one case, the group’s visit was the first outreach that the Church had made with the village, and as we left, the village elders commented that they would be more than willing for other groups to return!

Peering at the dispensary drugs…

Perhaps the most meaningful part of the trip, though, was the education lessons conducted. We visited Don Bosco (a vocational school for girls run by the Salesian Order), Arrupe (a centre for the handicapped run by the diocese), as well as some other boarding houses.

Remember to brush your teeth! =)

These lessons focused on sexuality, values and self-esteem, as well as general health and hygiene information and practices. To that end, the female members of the mission conducted a wonderful day-long programme for the girls at Don Bosco focused on self-esteem and love, which was a tremendously touching experience for all those involved. Similarly, conversations in separate groups of boys and girls at other centres helped to really delve deep into the nature of sex and sexuality, and were a platform for the really personal sharing of experiences between members of our group and the students there. And of course, teaching simple hygiene like brushing teeth to younger children provided many episodes of laughter. Finally, we were fortunate to be able to carol for them and share the joy of Christmas before we left.

Beyond the mission work, this trip was an excellent opportunity for us to journey closer to God as a community of Catholic doctors and doctors-to-be, but also to look within ourselves and to prepare for Christ’s coming at Christmas. Led by Fr John Wong, OFM, our daily masses and nightly prayer reflections allowed us to refresh ourselves spiritually and to, in many cases, find our inner peace and joy.

As mentioned, this was only the 2nd mission trip to Battambang. Our eyes are slowly being opened to the very many avenues for the Catholic medical community to assist in Battambang, in collaboration with ACTS and other groups that already do so much good work, and it would be a true joy to continue to grow God’s mission there with the help of the community here!

~ by Gerald Sng (M2)