Ambassador Lawrence Chen
 | Lawrence is a third year, undergraduate student at University of California, San Diego, studying Bioengineering (Pre-Med). His passion to serve underprivileged communities transcends through his leadership roles in American Medical Student Association, California Health Professional Student Alliance, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and Outreach 360. His thirst for knowledge and renovation is even more apparent through his undergraduate research position in Dr. Chris Glass' Cellular and Molecular Medicine Lab. |
The word friend, it’s a pretty simple word right. As simple as it may sound, it is a word I found to carry a tremendous weight and is a word I was unable to grasp until I entered high school. The simple bliss of sharing your darkest secrets, something as simple as having someone to lean on, or just having someone telling you everything will be okay.
I was born in San Jose, California, but grew up in Taiwan until the age of ten. Then I moved back to California so I can learn English. Moved around every single year.
Acquaintances I do have. People generally could put my name to my face, but no one knew of my extraordinary background and the difficulties I had to overcome.
Flashforward, when I entered college, UCSD tritons, woot woot. I was approach by an officer, Angela, in this student organization I was in AMSA (American Medical Student Association) about an abroad volunteer opportunity with this non-profit organization called Outreach 360 at Dominican Republic during the spring break of my freshmen year.
I wagered my options. Let’s see, one, I need to escape from of the ever so constant weather of 75 degree Celsius weather of San Diego. Second, I had a group of friends going to this trip. Then, I check Outreach 360’s website and found the content to be very impressive. The page is well organized and there are literally thousands of testimonies from past volunteers, not a single negative comment. That is when I agreed to Angela’s offer.
Next thing I knew, on spring break of 2010, I set my right foot onto the Dominican soil for the first time. Before I could take another step, I was overwhelmed by the immense humidity and heat surrounding me. And one thought instantly flashed through my head: oh god, what did I get myself into, am I going to survive this week?
The time I was there, Outreach 360 operated at the back of an orphanage shelter. At first, I thought my task was to play with kids at the orphanage shelter for the entire week, an activity that I have no problems with.
However, what I ended up doing was something I would have never imagine.
I spent 5 out of 7 days setting up medical clinics all around Dominican Republic. We worked primarily at the bateys, rural community area where local plantations like bananas are grown. Our patients ranged from well children to well adults to heart complain. For many of them, it was more than just check ups, many of them had serious problems. We WERE the primary care of these groups of patients for the one week we were there. This realization motivated us to take care as much as we can in one visit
The connection I had with the kids and their parents was phenomenal….. I knew very little Spanish not enough to get around. So my main vehicle for communication was sign language. To my surprise, the kids actually want to talk to me They were screaming "caballo," which means piggy back rides And chased me all around the place.
At that moment, I knew I was not alone. These kids reminded me of my old self. Craving for attention, for an embrace, for a shoulder to lean on. From someone like you, someone like me, someone like any of the twelve thousand Outreach 360 volunteers.
The need is there, the programs is there. All we need is you. Will you make this happen? If you are motivated to make a difference in these underprivileged communities, it is time for all of us to offer our shoulders to be leaned on
I invite you all to join me this summer at DR or Nicaragua for two months. Because, YOU, might be just like me, finding something completely out of the ordinary with Outreach 360.
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