Loma Linda University Health’s Global Health Institute is excited to announce the winners of their first international photography contest.
Students, deferred mission appointees, global service awardees, hospital personnel, Loma Linda University faculty and other international mission service participants were busy all around the world in 2015. This contest was initiated to highlight just a few of the remarkable people and the sites where they worked.
In addition to the photo, participants were asked to provide photo captions sharing why their image encompasses the idea of service. So whether the photographer waited patiently to capture just the right moment or simply stumbled upon a shot, submissions are in and the winners have been chosen.
Congratulations to the 2015 winners. They are:
First place: Merrick Lopez This photo was taken at Lake Malawi in June 2015 when our pediatric ICU team went to teach pediatric advanced life support and pediatric fundamentals of critical care to the medical workers at Malamulo Hospital and Blantyre Seventh-day Adventist Hospital.
This photo encompasses the idea of service to me because it demonstrates the welcoming attitude the locals had toward us. I was taking a picture of my daughter and these women were smiling and enjoying watching us. They had nothing but huge smiles for us as they looked up from their daily chores and that was the attitude that we experienced from others while we served them with our lectures.
Second place: Jason Blanchard This photo is titled “Nothing left to lose.” On Feb. 5, 2015, this woman was one of the thousands displaced by the flooding in the Lower Shire Valley of Malawi. She has nothing earthly left to smile about and yet when I met her at a retainment camp in Chickwawa, not two miles from her home which was under 10 feet of mud silt and rushing water, her smile shows that there is more to life then our earthly possessions.
The honorable mention winners are (in alphabetical order):
Summer Blount: This photo, titled “Brotherly Love” was taken in Aug. 2015 in Mbingo, Cameroon.
One evening while hiking through some of the villages surrounding the hospital I saw these two young boys. Initially the smaller one was walking behind his older brother and seemed to be getting upset about something, as he started to cry, the older brother sat down and held out his arms to comfort the younger one and he immediately stopped crying. I consider that the 'service' of brotherly love.
Kathy Clem: Tanzanian mother with her baby at University of Arusha Medical Clinic on the Seventh-day Adventist University of Arusha campus. This photo was taken in April 2015, where Dr. Hart started his international career doing research on over fluoridation of the water supply. Notice the mother’s teeth. This is due to excessive fluoride in the water.
The photo encompasses service because the mother had waited for over four hours for her baby to be rechecked by a medical team. She was concerned because at the first visit she had been informed that her baby had an enlarged spleen. Our final evaluation was that the baby had suffered from Malaria, but was recovering nicely on the medications prescribed by our team several days before. The joy on the mother’s face made the entire trip worth it to me.
Wonha Kim: This picture was taken during a Students for International Mission Service (SIMS) trip to Malwi in June of 2015.
The picture embodies one of the key aspects of service – joy. Time and again, I have witnessed firsthand how both the providers and recipients of service experience joy. Service also facilitates cross-cultural bond, which I believe this picture portrays in the open hands, smiling faces and forward movement of the children. Finally, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19:14). As I saw these children rushing to us as we arrived to serve then, I thought of how we should always strive to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and serve the most vulnerable as we further the kingdom of God here on Earth.
Jason Lohr: For six weeks during Sept. and Oct. 2015, my family and I served in Nepal. We did a free medical clinic outreach in one of the villages, (Sangachok), most affected by the earthquake. This photo encompasses service because it shows the bonds of service that helps to unite cultures during times of struggle.
To learn more about GHI and how you can become involved this year, please visit www.lluglobal.com.