On the other side of the world, I often found myself at a loss for words. With no working knowledge of the language, I was at the mercy of my interpreter and the students of Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach to hear the stories of the local Vietnamese. Luckily, the details weren't lost in translation. But sometimes, I was on my own. Read more...

Photo:

A Vietnamese orphan boy at Thiên Bình Orphanage plays with a soccer ball given to him by students of Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach.

I was drawn to the blue tinge of her fingers and toes. The picked bug bites. The zipper-like scar in the center of her sternum. I noticed something new about Hien Thu Thi Vo with every minute that passed. Read more...

Photo:

The students of Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach spent two days with 7-year-old Hien Thu Thi Vo, one of their sponsored heart patients, at University Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Hien’s condition has necessitated countless hospital visits throughout her lifetime. Hien, who had previous heart surgery that failed to correct her condition, tires easily and is forbidden to go to school by her doctors.

HUE, Vietnam "”mdash; Small groups of students huddled together, crying. One woman stormed off with a shriek of frustration. "It's not fair!" The students of Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach had just been given the news that the medical clinics they had planned and looked forward to all year had been shut down by the local government. Read more...

Photo:

Fourth-year biochemistry student Steven Pham and other members of Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach console each other after discussing the local government’s shut down of their medical clinics in Hue, Vietnam.

In a classroom in western sub-Saharan Africa, UCLA alumna Sarah Ellison teaches a roomful of students how to mix primary colors. Read more...