Care sans frontiers

Volunteers of MDJunior.

MDJunior was started by a high school student, Shaurya (Shaun) Verma, in 2009 with the mission of “Inspiring selfless service through mentorship”. Shaun’s goal was to establish an impactful model for students who volunteer to give back to their communities in a more meaningful way. Shaun and his brother Sid started this as an after-school club in one middle school, and it has now expanded to over 20 chapters in schools across the United States with several hundred student volunteers and hundreds of medical professionals as mentors. The White House Council of Civic Participation recognised MDJunior as a certifying organisation for President Obama’s National Volunteer Service Award.

MDJunior focusses on local and global initiatives incorporating its core values of “Knowledge, Skills and Attitude”. MDJunior’s global initiative, The Global Medical-Mentor Mission, is based in south-western Honduras, with service trips biannually to drive sustainability with medical and public-health activities.

For a week in April, as part of the Global Mission, a team of high school students from different walks of life in the U.S. and their mentors—doctors, nurses, medical technicians, respiratory therapists, educators and dentists—camped in Nuevo Paraiso. This mission trip was a 2013 Global Youth Service Day project. It was an eye-opening experience for the young students and their mentors attempting to bring some relief to the poor and impoverished residents of the area. The team of around 20 volunteers and 15 mentors came from all over the U.S.—Atlanta, Michigan, Baltimore—and also Colombia.