Re: Subprojects in Savannah

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2020 at 1:31 PM
> From: "Luis Falcon" <falcon@gnuhealth.org>
> To: "Amin Bandali" <bandali@gnu.org>
> Cc: savannah-hackers@gnu.org, bob@proulx.com
> Subject: Re: Subprojects in Savannah
>
> Good morning, Amin, all
>
> On Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:23:17 -0500
> >
> > Thank you for your kind words, Luis; I really appreciate it.  I may
> > seem to have been the 'key' person in moving this forward, but I'd
> > like to give a shout out to the FSF sysadmins (e.g. Ian) and my
> > fellow Savannah hackers (like Bob) who do so much great work, and
> > whom I continue to learn from. :-)
>
> Let me just share some reflections with you about "volunteers". Some
> will stop reading here, or trim it because they might find it "out of
> context". That is ok.
>
> Over a decade ago, I founded a humanitarian NGO, GNU Solidario,
> focused on Social Medicine. GNU Health is part of this social project.
>
> During all these years, we've worked on projects in countries around
> the world. I would say that the most rewarding and learning experiences
> has come from the volunteers. What I have learned from these volunteers
> is not taught at Computer Science or Medical school.
>
> These volunteers are not in the mission don't think whether they "feel
> like" risking their own lives jumping into the ocean
> to save migrants; preventing and treating malaria, AIDS and
> tuberculosis in the rain forest, or delivering dignity to the
> underprivileged neighborhoods. For them, volunteering means commitment.

I head submarine search and rescue and can attest to that.  In this type
of operations, volunteers are fully on.  We have had volunteer diving
teams taking tasks that would not be tackled by police forces.

> Dr. Rene Favaloro said "Medicine, without medical humanism does not
> deserved to be practiced". Many times we can save lives, sometimes we
> just can't, but we should always provide a helping hand. Volunteering in
> the palliative care unit of a hospital taught me that medicine is also
> holding the hand of the person in those very last moments of her life.
>
> Volunteering can be tough, yet provides the most rewarding life
> experience. Many volunteers don't get money back, yet they commit
> themselves to the cause as much (or even more) of paid professionals. In
> the selfish world that we're living, blinded by greed and money,
> volunteers are making the difference.
>
> Lastly, key people are 'key', not because their technical
> knowledge (which you have shown). Key people shine because their
> empathy, respect to others, commitment, and willingness to help at the
> right moment. Thank you for being a key person in the GNU project, a
> project that means so much to us.
>
> Best
> Luis
>
> --
> Dr. Luis Falcon, MD, MSc
> President, GNU Solidario
> GNU Health: Freedom and Equity in Healthcare
> www.gnuhealth.org
> Fingerprint: ACBF C80F C891 631C 68AA 8DC8 C015 E1AE 0098 9199
>
>