Diary of a Teenager – Reflections on Rohingya & Genocide in a Modern World
In 2015, the rough guy in the tan vest in the first picture, the one with the pretty girl on his shoulder (his daughter) saved my life! He is actually a highly educated, compassionate, gentle giant of a human being. It’s not often that one gets the chance to truly thank another for such a favor. To him, it was all in a days’ work; but, to me, having an experienced pulmonologist pick the magic numbers to mitigate my sleep apnea and give my heart a chance to jump back into sinus rhythm after 4 months of atrial fibrillation, it was a new lease on life—and it gave me the chance to experience what it is like to help others less fortunate! For months in 2015, I could barely muster the energy to brush my teeth; then, four months later, over a period of a week or two, life was solidly returning to a new normal! My ‘thanks’ actually came two years later, when after failing my health review for a Red Cross deployment to Puerto Rico, (Did I mention my affiliation with IEEE MOVE?), he relented when I was able to provide reasonable assurances of the power to run my requisite BiPap machine, and off I went! While deployed, I worked with Tim Forrest, another IEEE Member and MOVE volunteer, to bring power and satellite communications to people that had none, and hadn’t had any for months! This resource was a welcome lifeline, a link to the Internet to find a place to live, job opportunities and contact with family Stateside, an escape from the misery in Hurricane Maria’s wake. With the urging of Mary Ellen Randall, we contacted Luis A. Tatis Morales, the IEEE Caribbean and Eastern Puerto Rico Section Chair, and spent a ‘day off’ from our Red Cross duties to visit areas with Luis that hadn’t seen any outside assistance since the hurricane significantly changed the landscape, a 2-month-old nightmare for many. We distributed solar lanterns and had the opportunity to interact with ‘the locals’ to hear how a disaster looks from the other side. Upon returning after a month, my third deployment that year with Red Cross via the IEEE MOVE relationship (time stopped for me from Labor Day through Christmas 2017), I shared my experience and appreciation for Dr. Ali’s concern for my health. He took an interest and asked what he could do, and that brief interaction resulted in his seeking out and accepting deployment on a World health mission, followed a year later by another, this time with his 16-year old daughter! I share this because everywhere I go—people know about IEEE, rarely before I get there, but always by the time I leave! The IEEE MOVE program has reached out far beyond anyone’s wildest imagination—and is perhaps the best image we could project of our organization and our profession. And, mine is just a tiny part of the many deployments and volunteers related to this program. Find out more at http://move.ieeeusa.org . And, review the article above to know that our outreach goes far beyond those things we directly touch! The article is hard to read, especially coming from a Junior in high school. I cannot imagine how my life would have evolved had I been exposed to that raw side of humanity. And, I cannot think of a finer group of professionals with whom I could have the privilege to affiliate than those I have met through my IEEE Membership, the innovators and instigators of the IEEE MOVE program, and its relationships with organizations such as RED CROSS and International Red Cross/Red Crescent, Cruz Roja in Puerto Rico!