Recently 6 high school students went to Malawi as a part of a medical service trip. They spent the week before April break and during April break working in hospitals in Malawi.

The Chieftain Press sat down with Ella Lemieux, a senior and one of the 6 Nashoba students on the trip.

Lemieux is part of the EMT program at Nashoba and is going to study nursing in college. She has wanted to be a part of this mission trip since her freshman year. During the trip, students were able to work in hospitals, see a c-section, and even deliver babies. They also traveled to isolated villages to hold clinics and help people who, “may not have ever received medical attention in their lives.”

In addition to medical service, the students were able to teach the Malawi students how to use computers, and help build a female dormitory for a boarding school.

However, Lemieux’s favourite part of the trip wasn’t working in the hospitals or helping teach students, it was “becoming a part of their culture.” She describes the nights when “the sun would go down [and] we would play soccer with a lot of the boys from our village on the dirt”, or how when they would “visit the villages orphanage and just give love to every little kid that comes our way.”

She says that one event wasn’t what made her trip great but rather the overall experience of “how good it makes you feel to get and give back smiles to every single person that you pass.”

As far as if other people should do it? Lemieux recommends it, saying, “every student here at Nashoba should experience what it is like to live with no perceptions of self image, loving people around you at all times, unlimited thoughts of happiness and amazing positivity.” She went to say that “everyone in this world should take the chance to experience all of Malawi’s love.”