By Layan Albraik (YES 2018 – 2019, Saudi Arabia, placed by World Link in Des Moines, IA) 

and Leen Albraik (YES 2018 – 2019, Saudi Arabia, placed by AFS in Pennsylvania)

How many energies and ideas have been born since we arrived in our country, and how many of them have remained on the waiting list? Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, activities have stopped, gatherings have been banned, schools have been emptied of their students, and markets have been emptied of their customers. The streets of the world have been emptied and all of our businesses have settled. Almost three years have passed, and we continue to wear masks and keep safe distances. Time passed and distances separated us from our loved ones.

This pandemic has taught us about the importance of our roles as an interconnected community for our collective renaissance. Last summer, after some of the COVID-19 restrictions were lowered, we started volunteering at King Faisal Specialist Hospital. Life seemed to be totally different dividing our days between being volunteers and being normal students enjoying summer break.

Whenever we step through the hospital gate, we see the equations of life are completely different from life outside those walls. Our duties include guiding and accompanying patients to their appointments. We help various clinics including dental, surgery, orthopedics, radiology, thyroid, neurology, pediatrics, internal medicine, rheumatism, ophthalmology, and many more.

Our love of volunteering continues to grow after the end of the cultural exchange year in the U.S. Thanks to the YES program, volunteering made us feel a sense of responsibility for others. Our year in the U.S. taught us how to take on a challenge, make a difference, and bring on change.

While waiting for the doctor to call a patient I was with, the patient said something that keeps on popping up in my mind: "I’m sorry for wasting your time. You can go and sit. I’ll wait till they call me, and I’ll inform you by then. This has been my routine, and I’m okay with it. Healing has proven to me that damage is still there, but it no longer controls my life.” Life isn’t easy, but it goes on by being there for one another. That’s why volunteering is such an important activity.

Our passion for medicine grew by volunteering in this field. We are always happy to hear the prayers of the patients and others in this space. We may feel that it is a simple job, but the expressions of these people remind us that no matter how simple our tasks seem, the returns are enormous.