By Dr. Maria C. Geba
After ten years of medical training, I decided to take a break. A break from the grind of academic medicine, from the constant striving for the next publication, the next accolade, the next prestigious conference. Busyness had distracted me from the reason I wanted to be a doctor in the first place—to serve the sick. So after graduating from infectious disease fellowship, I took a chance and moved out of my apartment to dedicate the next year to medical humanitarian work.
An Opportunity
The Nuba Mountains are a region of Sudan that has experienced decades of war and oppression. The central government has isolated this region from the world by failing to provide basic needs and infrastructure for millions of people, including clean water, roads, schools, and healthcare. The people live in this region without much, while facing the constant threat of military air strikes. The opportunity to work in this environment immediately felt different from other humanitarian work I was considering. The need was extreme. It would undoubtedly be challenging on many levels, and not without personal risk, but perhaps I could be of use there.
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