The HNMCS annual Medical Mission trip to San Joaquin, Dominican Republic was held over March break and once again was a life-changing experience for our students. They had the opportunity to support the community in the walk-in medical clinic by dispensing medicines, helping with door-to-door clinics, food bank kitchen construction projects, distributing sandwiches, and participating in a Sunday school. A visit to the special needs orphanage in Santo Domingo humbled the students as they spent time talking and playing with the children, making them feel important and loved.

Accompanied by Ms. Nicoletti (HNMCS Medical Science Leader) and the Foundation for Peace Doctors, students prepared for the clinics by sorting and packaging medicines. During the clinics they supported the doctors as medical runners to the pharmacy. They also distributed 500 pieces of clothing to patients as they waited their turn to be examined by the doctors.

Our students also worked hand-in-hand with the people of San Joaquin to support the construction of a food bank kitchen facility and together with the Foundation for Peace staff, they learned Dominican/Haitian songs for the Sunday School activities. The faces of the attending children lit up with joy as our girls performed a bible story of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Their visible joy, when our girls played, coloured or sang with them, validated the important work our girls were doing in this community.

Thank-you to the entire HNMCS school community for their generosity in donating medicines, hygiene kits, shoes, and clothing. A special thank you to Sophia and her mum, Atina Gorgiev, for obtaining a wheelchair and walker donation, that were given to people who were disabled.

This was a life-changing journey for our students, who volunteered their time over March break, to help serve the poor and impact their lives in a positive way. In all their daily activities, they demonstrated our core values of Respect, Compassion, Justice, and Transformation. We are moved by the humility with which they served others, and cannot wait to visit this community again with another group of students. Plans for the 2024 Medical Mission trip have already commenced.

- Ms. Euginia Nicoletti, HNMCS Medical Science Leader