Today in clinic we had a big group of refugees from Burma come in. It was so emotionally overwhelming. You can not begin to even imagine the things these people have been through. I figured I'd try to shine a tiny light on their troubles as it seems to put our daily "troubles" into perspective. A short little background on these survivors. They have lived in a society where the women are raped by their corrupt governement officals since the first day they can remember. I got an estimate of age 4 from their translator. Many of the women were not a day older than 21 with 3 kids. Many of which were pregnancies from being raped. For the past 6 months they have lived in a refugee camp. To get there they have gone from doctor to doctor getting poked at, stared at, and fussed with. They finally made it to Connecticut where they get thrown into our clinic. I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been for them today to walk in. I don't think one of them had ever been to a dentist in their lives. I can't imagine how they must have felt to sit in a chair, laid back, with one of us coming at them with sharp instruments. Not to mention strangers taking away their kids so that their hygienist could get the work done. Now I sit here speechless trying to come to a reality of today's events. Just when you think your life is hard think again. The world presents with so many harsh realities. Many of us can't even begin to comprehend their existence.
