Three Weeks Home

Living in Jamaica for three weeks was an out of this world experience. This summer I had the incredible opportunity of shadowing Dr Franz Pencle for two weeks, and spending a third week visiting attractions and communities in need. Both of these experiences combined had a tremendous impact on me. They grounded me and showed me a different way of living life.

Growing up, I lived in Jamaica and lived a carefree life. At the age of seven I moved to America, and I had not been back for ten years. Going back to the place I spent my childhood years was extremely nostalgic. I saw my old school, my old house, my grandfather's property, and many other places. Since I lived there at a very young age, nothing was really how I remembered it. Not only because of the hurricane, but because I almost Americanised Jamaica and changed what places looked like in my head. After spending three weeks there, I have the majority of Montego Bay memorised now, and since I am older I will always remember and cherish the views, the good and the bad.

Seeing Jamaica after the hurricane was devastating. Houses torn apart, families in need, and landmarks that were once beautiful, destroyed. But even with all the damage Hurricane Melissa caused, the majority of Jamaicans I met were happy and still living life to the fullest.

For the first two weeks I shadowed Dr Pencle, who is an astounding neurosurgeon. He is extremely kind and extremely intelligent, and he has ideas I would not have thought of in a hundred years. Most days he would pick me up and take me straight to a hospital. He works at several, mostly in Montego Bay, but in those two weeks I travelled with him to Ocho Rios and Savanna-la-Mar as well.

We would see patients and listen to their presenting symptoms. Dr Pencle would look at MRIs, CT scans and lab results, and as he read them he would explain what he was seeing and what it meant. I already had a good foundation, because in my junior year of high school I took a pre med class before school and learned about the body systems and the illnesses and diseases that affect them.

Over the two weeks I observed four procedures: two epidurals, a lumbar puncture, and a brain operation. For the brain operation I scrubbed in and observed from inside the theatre, from the start of the procedure through to the end. It was long, it was fascinating, and it made my love for medicine stronger than ever.

The part I was not prepared for happened outside the theatre. I met families who could not afford the care they needed, families being asked to choose between saving someone's life and staying out of financial trouble. Watching skilled doctors do extraordinary work, and then realising that the work is out of reach for so many people, was the hardest thing about those two weeks.

I think I noticed it because of the way I was raised. My grandfather, Francis Tulloch, started a legacy in my family of helping people, by creating job opportunities, building schools, and finding new ways to bring people to Jamaica. My mother, Gina Tulloch-Adams, has followed that legacy. She founded two charities and is vice president of another. They are both my inspiration, and they taught me to give back to people rather than look down on them. I am truly grateful I was raised that way, because I would not be me without them. I think they are the reason I want to go down the medical career path, and to do everything possible to help people thrive.

I arrived in Jamaica two weeks before Chloe and Adriana. On my first night there, I put together 150 gift bags of sweets and small toys to take to Lethe Primary and Infant School as an end of school treat. I handed them out on the Thursday, the day before the children broke for summer. That was when I saw how little they had to play with. I called my mother and asked her to bring some of the football gear my brother Daniel and I already had at home, and to buy the rest. Two weeks later she landed with Chloe and Adriana, and the footballs, training bibs, pumps, goals and basketball hoops came with them.

For my last week in Jamaica, Chloe, Adriana and I spent our days in communities. Before the trip we had sold popcorn through Double Good and raised US$600. At Hope (Teaching) Clinic, Martena Weatherly of the Good Shepherd Foundation showed us through the facility, which the Foundation built and which the clinic now operates within. We donated US$400 to the clinic and US$200 to Blessed Assurance, a Mustard Seed Communities home.

Spending those days across different communities opened my eyes to something. These communities survive and thrive on unity and on giving. Because of people's kindness, children and families are able to eat, live and receive the medical care they need.

Jamaica is an extremely beautiful country, not only because of the views, but because of a culture that unites people and makes them one. Out of all the places I visited, and some of them were lovely hotels on the beach, my favourite place was Lethe. Lethe is my favourite because you can experience first hand a community that supports each other. Being there feels like a home away from home.