Earthquake

Dawn Mautner
Penn State College of Medicine, MS4
AMSA National Chair, Global Health Action Committee

During my two years living in a tiny jungle village on the face of a mountain in El Salvador, a devastating earthquake in January 2001 - and its dozens of aftershocks for the following months - deprived many of my friends of their homes and their water. As the Peace Corps Volunteer, I worked together with NGOs and governments to help provide relief, from new houses to medical care to emergency food and water.

Walking as many as 2km down the mountain to retrieve water for their homes was typical for the members of my community, men, women and children alike. After the earthquake, even the most dependable springs dried up - the most pressing crisis we faced. I was able to talk ANDA, the water ministry, into trucking water to the community until a solution could be found.

Nonetheless, the children and I found endless amounts of joy in one another, and as I work my way through medical school, their distant presence continues to fuel the fire in my belly. That fire compels me to pursue underserved medicine, public health and development work in a sustainable way, with solidarity as the ultimate goal. The grace and strength of the people even as their lives collapsed into rubble remind me how lucky we are, and how much we take for granted.