I serve on the board and often travel with a group of good humans called New Orleans Medical Mission Services. Our mission is to bring medical treatment, equipment, and education to people in other countries who would not otherwise have it.
When on these missions I look for any shot that defines and helps us promote our mission, helping to generate more volunteers and funds.
My friend and fellow Rotarian, Jennifer Esler, is on the right in this series of pictures. She's a Spanish speaker so she's super helpful when she joins a mission even though, like me, she's a non-medical volunteer. In this sequence I found Jennifer consoling a young mother as she waited for her son to awaken after surgery. the young woman had been through so much stress that she really needed someone to sympathize and listen. Jennifer proved more than up to that task.
As I worked on this shot I went through the three stages you see here hoping to convey the helplessness of the young mother and the helpfulness of my friend in this situation. I know that grayscale is often used to mimic drama, but I think it shows how different this hospital, in Guayaquil, Equador, is from those to which we've grown accustomed in the USA. Finding compassion, like up-to-date medical care, is difficult.