Day 0 - NYC to Singapore

everyone has asked me to start a blog -- to share and update them (friends and family) on my experience while volunteering for the Pacific Partnership mission in Indonesia.

I'm sitting in a terminal at JFK airport, waiting for my filght to Washington. From Dulles airport, I will catch connecting flights to Tokyo, and then Singapore. I have no idea what I am about to experience, except that I will be touching lives of people whom I have never met and will never see again, and the mere thought of that is filling my heart with joy.

I will arrive in Singapore at approx 11:55pm on July 2nd. The morning after, I will meet the rest of the volunteers for rotation 2 of the Pacific Partnership 2010 . We are scheduled to check in the Mercy on July 3rd and have liberty in Singapore until we set sail on the 4th of July. Did I mention that I will be spending Independence Day on a US Navy ship?

The USNS Mercy is a 1,000 bed hospital ship with 12 operating rooms, and an 80-bed intensive care setting. She is the same ship that was used to aid victims of the tsunami in Bandah Aceh, Indonesia. Rotation 1 recently finished their mission, where they provided healthcare, minor surgeries, and education in Vietnam and Cambodia. Rotation 2 will do that same for the people in 3 cities in Indonesia.

I am excited and anxious for what I am about to see, experience, and learn in this mission. I have to say, that the most rewarding part of being a nurse is being in the presence of change in people's lives -- seeing the sick get better, giving people hope, and making them feel good about themselves. Participating in missions, such as this, is self-gratifying. I am doing this to show that there are people who truly care for the well-being of others, especially children. Such cliche as 'the heart wants, what the heart wants" is very true. My heart wants to help anyone, everyone, anywhere, and everywhere.

See you on the other side of the world =)
xoxo