Jessica Milnes wrote about her health outreach in Africa in an op-ed column in the Statesman Journal. (VIEW PHOTOS)

Milnes, who has led adventure travel expeditions and served as a volunteer in North and South America, Africa and Europe, shared poignant memories about a month-long stay in Chad, Africa, where she provided health care to locals.

“I don’t want to minimize the hardship that people in this country experience, but after participating in health care in Chad, I realized that in some people’s eyes, many of us more closely resemble the one percent,” the Linfield nursing student says.

As far as global poverty goes, Chad is one of the poorest of the poor, she says.

Milnes lived in a small hut with a metal roof and served on the front lines of the “emergency department,” in a hospital that contained only one sink.

“When I was able to have face-to-face encounters with people who told me about their families, lives and dreams, I was struck by a growing sense that we are truly citizens of the world,” she said.

“Gaining global awareness is a journey that never stops.”