By Noor Menhel and Hannah Menhel

At Nelson High School, a new opportunity has become available for students and the community alike: the start of Nelson’s very own chapter of the organization MEDLIFE. 

MEDLIFE, which stands for Medicine, Education and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere, is a growing U.S.-registered non-profit organization that has 300 chapters across the globe.

This organization works with low-income communities in Latin America and Africa to improve their access to medicine, education, and development. Through the support that MEDLIFE gains from its volunteers, schools, and the general public, MEDLIFE is able to hire and train local staff to provide high quality 24/7/365 patient care, community development projects, and educational workshops to empower communities.

As stated on their website, MEDLIFE aims to “build a worldwide movement empowering the poor in their fight for equal access to healthcare, education, and a safe home.” Through this movement, MEDLIFE is working towards an equitable and poverty-free world with passionate and empowering leaders. This year MEDLIFE’s main campaign is called Health4Her; a campaign focusing on bringing essential services like healthcare and education to low-income women and girls, empowering them to break the cycle of poverty for generations to come, creating a brighter future for many. All funds and support are going towards long-term projects that prioritize bridging the gender gap in healthcare — such as the construction of their new multipurpose MED Center. 

For the past two decades, MEDLIFE has provided high-quality, culturally-appropriate healthcare services to thousands of women through their mobile clinics, patient follow-up programs, free obstetrician-gynecologist consultations, and Pap smears. Additionally, MEDLIFE also hosts health education workshops for local women.  

MEDLIFE offers many opportunities, such as service learning trips, which truly provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As shared on the website,  “A service learning trip is a week-long educational journey to either Peru, Ecuador, Tanzania, or Costa Rica,” where volunteers will have the chance to work hand-in-hand with the local community on development projects, mobile medical clinics, and more. These trips allow volunteers to “understand the realities of extreme poverty first hand, personally connect with the communities that MEDLIFE supports” and most importantly, witness the change and true scale of the impact that they are making by joining the MEDLIFE movement in the “fight for a world free from the constraints of poverty.”

One of the most important ways that the public can contribute to MEDLIFE’s mission is through donations and fundraising. Every dollar is of great help to MEDLIFE’s cause, and to give everyone an idea of the importance of donations, MEDLIFE notes that $25 USD provides  60 meals, $150 USD provides 25 patients with an OB/GYN consultation, Pap smear and breast exam, and $250 USD provides preventative treatment for cervical cancer. 

All donations can be sent in through Nelson High School’s MEDLIFE give lively page. 

*Please note that as MEDLIFE is a U.S.-registered charity, tax receipts are not available to Canadian donors.

From the president of Nelson High School’s MEDLIFE chapter, Noor Menhel:
Prior to starting this club, I was looking for opportunities at my school to help communities and directly make a difference in the world. Women’s health, especially after the harrowing effects of COVID-19, has become drastically more neglected in many parts of the world where people are not privileged enough to be properly educated about it. I could not find a club that lined up with the goals and change I aspired to achieve at my school so I decided to look into starting one. That’s when I found MEDLIFE. This club presents many opportunities to really make a difference in the lives of individuals across the globe, and more importantly, build a reliable and stable community for people so that they do not have to spend their lives depending on the help of an outside source to survive. MEDLIFE’s mission resonated strongly with me and I knew that the Nelson High School community would be thrilled to have such an amazing chance to create a direct and lasting impact on the world. Despite this being our first year, we have raised $1000 Canadian dollars for this cause.