GMB Trip to Honduras

Hi friends, my name is Jordan Karnyski and I am a junior at Boston University majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with a minor in Anthropology on a pre-medical track. I am a member of Global Medical Brigades , an organization that exists across more than 300 campuses nationwide that provides basic healthcare and public health education to Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama every year. (You can read more about it generally by clicking on the link) Their goal is to help sustainably develop the healthcare in these countries and their efforts benefit more than 130,000 people annually.

BU's chapter specifically goes to Honduras twice a year (in January and in May) every year. We bring volunteers, medical doctors, and basic medications with us and work for 7 days. I will be going on the January brigade and it will be my first time taking part in this volunteer trip. As a volunteer, I will have the opportunity to take vitals and patient histories, shadow licensed doctors in medical consultations, and assist in a pharmacy under the direction of licensed pharmacists. We also lead workshops with the Honduran people to educate them on public health and aim to leave them with the knowledge and tools to sustainably develp their healthcare system when we aren't there. The sustainable mission that GMB embraces means that once we leave, the people we encounter will be able to continue what we started. It is different than other volunteer groups that go to countries and do things for them ("voluntourism") - we are doing things with them and empowering Honduran people to take the initiative to develop their own community. 

This trip will positively impact the lives of hundreds of people with limited access to healthcare in Honduras. It will also provide me with an opportunity to gain experience in the medical world to further prepare me for my future career as a doctor and allow me to give back in a way I could not do from Boston alone. Thus, I am reaching out to you and asking if you can help support my January brigade in any way. All the money raised will go directly to paying for my flight to/from Honduras and for my room/board once I'm there.  It would mean the world if you could support my ambitions and desire to step outside of my comfort zone and help those who have limited access to such basic things in our lives that we definitely take for granted. You would not only be supporting me, but you would be enabling the sustainable development of Honduran healthcare - and thus giving back to the world. 

Thank you in advance for reading and/or donating - I cannot tell you how much it means to me and how excited I am for this trip in January. Even if you personally cannot donate (which I totally understand as a broke college student myself) - pass my mission along to your friends who might be able to! Ideally, I would like to raise the funds by the end of November to meet all deadlines for the trip.  Please feel free to reach out to me (via Facebook/etc.) if you wanted to know more about the Global Medical Brigades or what I am doing!