Search - Janna Vassantachart

During the Christmas season this year, Pacific Union College held its first Global Medical Brigade (GMB) trip. The site was in Honduras, the second-poorest country in Central America, and 22 students and one physician devoted a week of their vacation with the mission of providing medical care. GMB is an organization developing sustainable health initiatives and providing relief in areas of limited healthcare access, with a focus in Central America. It is a program of Global Brigades, Inc., the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. They define "brigades" as “groups of passionate volunteers who mobilize toward positive social change.” Last year, several PUC students went on a GMB trip with UCLA, and this year the movement spread to our own campus. In December, the PUC students were joined by a few La Sierra University and Loma Linda University students, PUC staff member Edilson Garcia, and student Janna Vassantachart's father, Prasit Ben Vassantachart, who works in internal medicine. The PUC brigade traveled to Tegucigalpa and settled into brick cabins alongside Sociedad Amigos de los Niños- Nuevo Paraiso Village, the orphanage project of a nun named Sister Maria Rosa. The first day was spent visiting the orphans and...