5 Medical School and the Peace Corps
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After Mae completed her bachelor of science degree at Stanford University, she decided to go to medical school to become a doctor. From 1977 to 1981, Mae attended Cornell University Medical College in New York. In medical school she learned how to take care of people when they were sick and help them stay healthy3.
During college she went to Cuba, Thailand, and East Africa. In Cuba, she did research. In Thailand, she helped in a Cambodian refugee camp giving medical care. She volunteered to give medical care to people who lived in villages and refugee camps. She also worked as a Medical Officer with the Flying Doctors of East Africa program. She taught people about health and medicine. She made sure the people knew how to take care of themselves and their community members5.
After she graduated from Cornell, she moved to Los Angeles and opened her own doctor’s office and worked as a general practitioner (family doctor). Although she loved helping patients, she was not ready to settle down and live in L.A. permanently. She still wanted to see the world3.
So, six months later she joined the Peace Corp. The Peace Corps is a program started by the US government to help countries around the world with education, healthcare, business, women’s empowerment, and building community. Volunteers spend about two and a half years in the Peace Corps program (27 months). Volunteers get a little bit of money to help with their living expenses (food, housing, and transportation). When they have finished the program they also get a small amount of money to help them move back to their home city7.
In the Peace Corps, Mae was a medical officer in West Africa. She served in the Peace Corps from 1983 to 1985. She was responsible for the health of the other Peace Corps volunteers. She supervised the pharmacy, laboratory, other doctors and staff, and provided medical care to the communities in Liberia and Sierra Leone5. Even though she was a supervisor, doctors and patients often did not take her seriously because she was so young. It was difficult to be so young and a woman in her position. She worked hard for the other doctor’s and patient’s respect. She enjoyed her work volunteering very much, but when her program at the Peace Corps ended, she needed to decide what she wanted to do next3.
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definition
voluntariado
تطوع
volontaire
добровольно
ស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត
tình nguyện
志愿
자원한
aldeas
قرى
villages
деревни
ភូមិ
làng
村庄
마을
campamentos de refugiados
مخيمات اللاجئين
camps de réfugiés
лагеря беженцев
ស្នាក់បាស្រ្ត
trại tị nạn
难民营
난민 캠프