I spent the last three months on a volunteer placement in Uganda, and what I had expected to gain was experience in a field I admired. A field that was focused on international health and community involvement and outreach programs that targeted the ill fated; but most importantly I had expected to gain laboratory experience that was specific to the HIV virus and all of its biological brilliance. Notice how I added the world “Biological”. One of the most important things I learned on this trip, I learned within the first week, and that’s that HIV and AIDS in Africa is not a biological disease. Its effects are so largely amplified by issues such as poverty, gender inequality, and stigma that before any real progress can be made the root of political policies and infrastructure must be challenged.

I think part of the reason I decided to volunteer internationally is because I had a little bit of “save the world” in me, and I think we all do to some extent regardless of what part of the world we feel needs saving. I also think that these are the types of things that are important to acknowledge when deciding whether or not to go overseas. For me, AIDS was a story that was often told by records. It seemed too easy to compile and formulate the figures involved. To view statistics that say in 2007 there are 33.2 million people living with HIV, that every day over 6000 persons become infected with HIV and over 5000 persons die from AIDS. But statistics by themselves have the ability to numb, to hide the true tragedy that lies within the numbers. The numbers themselves mean more than a bar graph to the millions of sufferers worldwide. They intensify with each passing day highlighting the number of years that each newly infected individual has to live, the number of pills they need to take throughout the day, the number of times they visit the doctor’s office within a week. It becomes the number one priority that they have for the rest of their lives. I got to see this first hand, I saw HIV prey on our most intimate moments, spreading through the transfer of blood, sexual fluids, and breast milk, and this to me seemed as severe as any violation of human rights.

My concept of global citizenship definitely got challenged while I was away. One of the hardest things I found was how I could define myself as being a global citizen. Can I really be a global citizen when I’m gaining so much more from this experience than I’m offering? If I were to use the amount of money and resources that I spent to go to Uganda in the first place, and put it towards sustainable projects that trained locals to do the same job I was sent to do, then it’s inevitable that there would be a larger lasting impact on the community. But I didn’t, and obviously I believe in international aid or else I wouldn’t be writing this article, but why? It’s because I do think that this experience is valuable, and ultimately it’s how I choose to use my experience that matters. If I can go overseas and gain a sense of realism for certain issues that I’m so passionate about, and then in turn advocate for these issues and raise awareness for these issues back home where I can make a difference, then I strongly believe that the outcome of these efforts will be seen. If not in the community I helped, then in other communities that need help. It’s also important to note that being “Globally minded” is not the same as being globalized. Because although countries such as Canada may very well be globalized, developing technology that has the potential to create huge advancements in medical science and produce life saving drugs that has the ability to end pandemics and save millions of lives, I do not think that we can call ourselves globally minded when at the same time we’re developing the patents for these same drugs that deny access of it to countries that need it the most.

I can’t write about my experiences without mentioning my fears, it’s impossible for me to say I wasn’t scared of going abroad. I was terrified. I had no idea what to expect aside from no electricity, no water, dirt roads, and extreme poverty, which in itself was enough to give me the shivers. I was afraid of what I was going to see, and what I was going to experience. I was afraid I’d come back completely changed, or even worse, I wouldn’t change at all. It scared me to the core, and a lot of the time I would ask myself well why am I doing this? The truth is, I just didn’t like the alternative, which was to not. I got to see in a month what some people don’t see in lifetimes. I had the opportunity to challenged my beliefs, strengthen my morals, but most importantly I got to realized that the world doesn’t need saving, not in the least. I opened my eyes, I saw the world, and I saw beauty, and that to me is the last thing we need to save ourselves from. What I do think we need to do, is endorse change. Whether it be policy, political, social… or life. And I do think that all this starts with changing a life. I was just lucky, that this time it got to be my own.

NEGAR OMIDAKHSH is a third year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia studying Infectious Disease and International Health. Her passions extend beyond the scope of HIV/AIDS, she advocates for issues surrounding landmines, child soldiers, and weapons of war. Negar spends her time volunteering with the Red Cross, as well as doing some promotional speaking to students interested in going overseas.