The D-day has finally come and passed... Match day has come and passed. I'll be doing my intern year at the University of Maryland Medical Center as a General Surgery intern. I know that this ain't any easy task but guess what? I'm up to the task.
My parents, neighbors, the surrounding in which I grew up had instilled a quality in me which I truly 
thank God for; resilience and hard work.
thank God for; resilience and hard work. As a young lad, back in the West African country of Cameroon, I assisted my parents on the farm begining at a very young age. We would go to farm to harvest crops after school and then on weekends, we would go and weed the farm, till soil and do some planting and at the end of a busy day, we will harvest some food crops. Sometimes, dinner will be vegetables harvested from the farm like huckl
e berry (local name: Njama njama) and cassava roots; or huckle berry and fufu corn (made from flour made out of dried corn). Some evenings, dinner would be boiled fresh corn on the cub and sometimes, we would roast fresh corn and eat with boiled/roasted plums. What this gave me was a sense that I have to work hard in order to get what I need to survive, live and progress in life. That I will fall several times during my journery in pursuit of a better future and to make a difference in my life and those around me. But that it was important to realize that no matter how many times I fall, no matter how bad it hurts, all my struggles and life journey would have gone in vain if I quit. Hence quitting was not an option. Hardwork, resilience and a sense of doing right and making a better future for myself and my fellow men especially those underpriviledged was engraved on my mind at a very early age. How I would make that happen hardly came to mind but I knew I owed that to my self, my parents and the community that allowed me to see the importance of hardwork and team work.
e berry (local name: Njama njama) and cassava roots; or huckle berry and fufu corn (made from flour made out of dried corn). Some evenings, dinner would be boiled fresh corn on the cub and sometimes, we would roast fresh corn and eat with boiled/roasted plums. What this gave me was a sense that I have to work hard in order to get what I need to survive, live and progress in life. That I will fall several times during my journery in pursuit of a better future and to make a difference in my life and those around me. But that it was important to realize that no matter how many times I fall, no matter how bad it hurts, all my struggles and life journey would have gone in vain if I quit. Hence quitting was not an option. Hardwork, resilience and a sense of doing right and making a better future for myself and my fellow men especially those underpriviledged was engraved on my mind at a very early age. How I would make that happen hardly came to mind but I knew I owed that to my self, my parents and the community that allowed me to see the importance of hardwork and team work. Being in the US gives me the opportunity to accomplish these things. Atleast, I can work towards giving back. This became quite clear when I entered medical school. Looking back at where I am from, Cameroon, there is a tremendous lack of doctors and worst still, those with a surgical training. I have lived and mingled with various communities in the US and have been volunteering as far back as when I was a Licensed Practical Nurse and in undergraduate and will continue to give back in this manner. However, I will NOT forget to give back in Africa. With my surgical skills and training, there is no doubt that people suffering from various surgical ailments will benefit from my services. It is unfortunate that the Global force on healthcare actually neglects surgical diseases and focus on infectious diseases. Some reasons are that: there is an overwhelming patient population suffering from infectious disease as oppose to surgical diseases, that it costs very much to tackle disease burden due to surgical conditions as oppose to diseases considered public health issues. Recent data however shows that in district hospitals in Africa, the amount of money spent to combat public health illnesses like TB, HIV are quite comparable to what is spent to cater for surgical diseases hence preventing complications associated with these diseases. It is time surgeons press on the issue of the need to ackowledge and carter for the neglected surgical diseases of the developing world. I'm actually writing a paper on this issue and might post it on here when things are final.
I realized I'm been rambling but back to the Graduation.
I owe it to my entire family for being there and supporting me through out med school. Thanks goes to my classmates especially Gerald and Peter with whom we studies for so many hours over many weekends such that if we were to be paid for the time put into our studies then we would be so rich now. Thanks guys for the fun times too!
May 21 was my graduation day and it was a very good feeling walking across the stage, getting my name called and being hooded. I was quite happy to see 2 friends from High school at the commencement ground and I thank them tremendously for their support; Gobo and Leslie ... thank you guys, you're freinds indeed! The graduation party was very nice and great thanks to all those who were there to support me in one way or the other.
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