I am originally from a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, Penang, in Malaysia and came to the United States of America to go to Wellesley College, a woman institution that reached half way across the world to offer a full scholarship to an impoverished young lady an opportunity to continue her education. Without that open door I would not have gone on to become a doctor.

Ever since I was little I had dreamt about volunteering in parts of the world that are in dire need of help. In 2005 after I volunteered as a medical doctor in India in the aftermath of the tsunami, I left my position as a full-time professor in Medicine and slowly carved out a half-time position in clinical medicine to enable me to continue to volunteer for several months in a year.

Over the last seven years, I volunteered with various relief agencies as a mentor in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Vietnam, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria, in Haiti after the earthquake and during the cholera outbreak, in Libya during the war, the drought and famine of Kenya/Somalia, the Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda, the Nyakabande Transit Refugee Camp for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and most recently in the northern regions of South Sudan.

Most of my volunteering experiences have been short-term and I want to experience volunteering with MSF for a slightly longer time in one place.  When I first came to the US to study, I stayed on in a strange country and culture for seven long years before saving enough money to buy a round trip ticket go back home for a visit.  My first mission of seven months in Malawi is short in comparison.

I am working with the Malawian Ministry of Health (MOH) supported HIV/AIDS mentorship program as a representative of MSF to help to train healthcare personnel in the care of HIV/AIDS patients and support various other MSF/MOH programs.