Anjali Borsum, a class of 2027 College of Medicine student, was awarded a Center for Global Health Student & Trainee Travel Grant to pursue a global health project in Sodo, Ethiopia. While in-country, she also blogged for the MUSC Center for Global Health website. Read her previous posts: Blog one, blog two and blog three. Please to view all of her photos in our Flickr gallery.

After spending a month in Sodo Ethiopia, I feel both as though I never left but also like I鈥檝e lived a completely different life. It鈥檚 been surprisingly easy to slip back into old routines since returning, but a part of me resists that ease. What I experienced in Sodo reshaped not only my perspective on medicine but also on life itself. And now I鈥檓 left wondering: how do I carry these lessons with me as a medical student?

One of the most striking contrasts has been the cost of living and how differently we assign value to things. In Sodo, dinner might cost $2 to $3 per person, a cup of coffee or tea just 30 cents, and a kilo of avocados just about $1. I remember one evening scrolling through Instagram and clicking on a blouse an influencer had posted鈥攐nly to see it was priced at over $250. My immediate reaction was, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 more than a month鈥檚 rent in Sodo.鈥� It was a moment of realization. The experience made me acutely aware of how much I spend on things that are ultimately unnecessary, and how disconnected that spending can feel when held up against a different way of life. When Maya and I helped at a boutique event for Charleston influencers shortly after returning, surrounded by luxury and wealth, and we couldn鈥檛 help but laugh at the stark difference between that world and the dirt roads and lack of running water we had been exposed to just days earlier.

Another realization I had was the immense privilege we have not only living in America but also working in hospitals here. I knew we were entering a low-resource setting, but I didn鈥檛 truly grasp the depth of that reality until I experienced it firsthand. I know we have blood shortages in the U.S., but nothing compares to what I saw in Sodo. When I saw the refrigerator designated for storing blood with barely anything in it, I was stunned. My immediate reaction was to offer my own blood, but I was told it wouldn鈥檛 remain at the hospital; it would be redirected to the government to allocate first. In all of this, what stood out to me was how fluid medical decision-making had to be in response to resource limitations. Treatment plans were adjusted based on the availability of medications in the pharmacy or the types of sutures on hand in the operating room. The ICU had only one or two ventilators, so care was tailored around what was available. At one point, the CT machine broke, and repairs were expected to take several weeks. Despite these challenges, I don鈥檛 believe the quality of care was compromised. Rather, I was deeply impressed by how incredibly adaptable and astute the physicians were. Their clinical acumen and resilience in the face of scarcity left a lasting impression on me.