Juniors raise awareness for doctors ‘sans frontiers’

Ridah Syed, Staff Writer

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]As the classroom lights dimmed, the SmartBoard screen lit up to life. The young man showing the presentation spoke with conviction and passion about different organizations set on the desire to help others. Junior Abhipsa Das, a sophomore at the time, watched the presentation with curious eyes, and felt herself drawing up an idea.

When Das learned about the organization Doctors Without Borders for the first time, she saw it as a way to enable her to help others while involving the rest of the student body and giving back to the community

“I learned about Doctors Without Borders last year in my world history class while someone was doing a presentation on it, and I thought, there’s nothing like that in our school that promotes such an organization.” Das said.

The Doctors Without Borders organization is a real world organization, in which doctors and physicians travel to third-world countries and offer medical services to people suffering from different medical conditions due to warfare. They are a non-profit organization and rely heavily on donations.

“The purpose [of the club] is for people who are interested in medicine and its based off the real organization,” Junior Zehra Rizvi, one of the club’s historians said. “Since it’s like a charity, we would spread the word about it and do what we can to fundraise for them.”

Das is the president of the club, but she is not alone in working to make it a success. Junior Nhi Bui had previously known about the organization and is now helping Das as the club’s secretary. She also has high ambitions for the club in the future.

“I want this club to rival Student Council in the number of members and I want it to be full of people who actually care and just don’t want to be in it for hours,” Bui said.

The club plans to not only  promote awareness of the international organization by holding fundraisers, but also to invite guest speakers to share stories with the club members about their experiences working professionally on the field.

“I hope that the club will accomplish spreading the information of volunteering for others and helping others, because I think that’s what life’s really about, just giving to other people constantly and that’s something I really want to be a part of,” junior Srija Seenivasan, the club’s vice president said.

The Doctors Without Borders club is not only for those interested in medicine, as there are many professionals from different fields who work in the actual organization in order to help the organization run more smoothly.

“We want to encourage people to work for this organization when they grow older,” Das said. “The Doctors Without Borders team is consisted of financial aids, accountants, business managers and, of course, physicians.”

Other plans for the club include raising money for a fundraiser that the officers registered for on the Doctors Without Borders official website for a goal of $1500, which they plan to accomplish through Sonic fundraisers and volunteering at community events.

“It’s good to give back to the community by being a doctor,” Das said. “But when you take it to the next level and do it for free just because you care for someone and asking nothing in return while getting someone else’s blessings in return is like the ultimate feeling.”[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_style” interval=”3″ images=”1638,1637,1628,1627″ layout=”3″ gallery_style=”1″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” img_size=”400×300″][/vc_column][/vc_row]