Christine Meserve, a loan officer at the Princeton corporate office, has spent the last fifteen years doing humanitarian work from Peru to Africa, and dedicated much of her time over the recent years to those suffering in Haiti.
As the Team Coordinator for The Flying Doctors International Chapter, she is responsible for 90% of the fund raising, purchasing and preparing for travel all of the necessary medications, pharmacy manager in country, among other responsibilities. In the years since the devastating Haitian earthquake, Christine and her organization have been setting up remote medical clinics deep in the mountains and jungles of the country, where people have little access to medical care of any kind.
This past March, Christine visited two villages that had never seen a doctor before. The workload is intense, with over 2000 patients seen over a five day period, but she always feels that she receives more from this work than she gives.
“It is exhausting, challenging, heartbreaking, and I am grateful and honored to be a part of it,” she said.
Christine is especially passionate about medical humanitarian aid in developing countries, and she advises those looking to get involved to choose an organization that caters to your passions as well. There are likely already outstanding organizations you can join that have the same goals as you – improving education, the environment, and so on.
“I love the people in these countries, the inspiring individuals I work with, and the remote and challenging nature of the locations that we travel to,” said Christine. “The clinics are real, raw, and the gratitude that these patients genuinely have is humbling. Their needs are simply greater than anything we can imagine here. Last year we took over 1600 pounds of medical supplies alone.”
