We are very proud to have two new ISHI volunteers on this mission with us: Karine Jimenez and Maria Lourdes Alonzo. They have come all the way from South Sudan and we are very lucky to have them on our team!

                Karine is from Surigao Del Sur, Mindanao. She completed nursing school here in the Philippines and started working in a government hospital soon after graduation. After a few years there she began working as a volunteer nurse for the UN, which she’s been doing for the past 4 years. She first began her volunteer work in Nepal, where she stayed for over 3 and a half years. Now Karine is stationed in South Sudan, where she will return after the conclusion of our mission here in the Philippines.  The UN compound where she stays houses about 20 volunteers in different box-like houses, where they sleep, cook, and bathe. I asked her what her life goals/dreams are, and she replied, “this”; she wants to dedicate her life to volunteering. It’s so wonderful to have her with us!

                Lourdes is originally from the city of Baybay in the Philippines. She attended nursing school in Manila and worked in a military hospital there for 2 years. For the past 5 years she has also been working for the UN as a volunteer nurse. She began her work in 2007 in the northern part of Sudan, but conflict there has forced them to evacuate, so now she is also stationed in South Sudan. Once her contract ends she would like to continue to volunteer with the UN for the next couple of years, but also has dreams of marriage and adopting children of her own one day. She also would like to start a business in the food industry, maybe opening up a restaurant here in the Philippines! We wish you the very best of luck!

                On the behalf of ISHI, we’d like to thank them both for all of their dedication and hard work, and we hope to see them both on future ISHI missions!

Some more pictures of all of our lovely ISHI volunteers working in the recovery room!