I thought you would be interested to read the following from Brice Jabo, a medical student from Rwanda who is currently at the AMSA Conference- Rhona

Some of the international students at the AMSA Conference
Hey! I am Brice Jabo an international member of AMSA from Rwanda (East Africa).Back home I am a 5th year medical student at the National University of Rwanda. I would like to start by thanking everyone for their hospitality. This is my first trip to the States and I did not know what to expect. However, people have been kind to me from the airport to the hotel, and AMSA members are so friendly.

The main reason I came to this convention was to support the chartering of our chapter, but throughout the convention I have been learning more reasons why coming to the convention was a good idea. Some of you may wonder what a Rwandese student is doing in AMSA, but here are some of the reasons that Rwandese students should join:

• AMSA strategic priorities are universal and here is an example: every country needs a universal health care system.
• Even though many of you may not know it, AMSA is not only fighting to save lives of Americans but they are also helping to save countless other lives in countries like mine.

While here, I was so lucky to participate in the process of calling to congress to get PEPFAR passed. But you know what! PEPFAR is not designed for Americans but mainly for Africans and other developing countries’ inhabitants who otherwise would be left on their own. I wish you could come down here and see it for yourselves but AMSA is really doing an amazing job and I can ensure you that because of such efforts, more and more people are getting life saving drugs, and these people will probably never get a chance to say thank you but here I am as some one who is witnessing changes that such efforts are making and the least I can do, is to say “thank you.”

So ending this I would like to say that it is an honor for me to be not just a witness of the change but part of the driving force (AMSA) behind the changes. May all of you be blessed. Brice Jabo bricejabo@gmail.com

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