When Malak was a health science student at College Universel in Quebec, a small college with almost no student clubs, a coworker at the pharmacy where she works was getting ready to volunteer in Lima, Peru, with her own college’s MEDLIFE chapter, and Malak had a lot of questions. A year later, she had founded what she believes was her school’s first club, led 24 students on a Service Learning Trip and received the Aura Award, a prize that recognizes extraordinary students and their achievements.
Getting The Chapter Off The Ground
For Malak, figuring out how to start a student organization began with an interview with a MEDLIFE staff member, who told her she’d need the school’s approval. She went straight to the director, even though she was still learning about MEDLIFE herself. He said yes, and the school went further. It provided two chaperones, since some students were minors, and arranged transportation to the Montreal airport.
She needed an executive board of first-year students who could keep the chapter going after she graduated. She pitched the idea to her French class, and several students raised their hands. The school then shared a Zoom invitation, and about 96 students joined her information session. Cost was a barrier for some, but 24 students ended up joining the trip.
Bringing Parents On Board
Not every student had explained the trip to their family. If you’re working out how to convince your parents to let you travel, Malak’s approach is worth copying: answer their real questions directly.
Parents wanted to know where students would stay and whether they’d get sick. The chapter set up a meeting where their MEDLIFE coach who walked both parents and students through lodging, safety, and the trip plan. This helped a lot of parents feel reassured about the details and safety of this trip they were sending their kids on.
What It Was Like To Volunteer in Lima, Peru
Before meeting the community, the group visited a museum on Peru’s recent history that provided a full historical context of the country’s past with colonialism that still impacts the population today.
Malak’s biggest worry going in was that she would do this “for 5 days and that’s it.” Working on a staircase that the community would continue using for years to come changed that. At the staircase’s inauguration, a community leader spoke first. Malak didn’t understand the Spanish, but she was moved even before the translation, because she understood the deep significance of what the staircase was going to make possible for the people living in the community.
In the clinics, the learning went both ways. A pharmacist asked Malak, who works in a pharmacy in Canada, which medicines are used there and what for. They were able to share knowledge with each other, and Malek left knowing what having access to medication meant to people living in medically underserved areas in Peru.
Leadership, Redefined
Malak used to picture a leader as the person who makes every decision. Now she sees it differently: “It’s really all about communication and making decision[s] all together.” She says the Aura Award belongs to the whole group, and this year’s e-board is still thriving and working towards goals of fundraising, traveling, and advocating for global health causes.
Now in health science at the University of Ottawa, aiming for pharmacy, she’s a member of the uOttawa MEDLIFE chapter and hopes to join its next trip. Her advice for future health professionals is to always ask what a patient is living through, instead of just “giving a diagnosis and a prescription.”
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