In years of dreaming of going to Africa, I had felt the gentle stirrings of a desire to do something truly unselfish for others—that calling to serve with no expectation of personal benefit that is common to all human cultures. But I had let other, less noble dreams get in the way—the expectation of receiving admiration from the Eku villagers, the anticipation of applause from my medical colleagues at home. Those grand schemes were clearly not happening for me in the gritty reality of impoverished Eku. But the simple act of trying to help just one person, in a desperate situation where my
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