"Citizen of the World"
Michael Manasterski
Sophomore
Biomedical Sciences
Michael Manasterski spent a large part of the summer before his sophomore year at USF in a city at the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Peru. With limited fluency in Spanish, he was far from his family in Ocala, Fla. and thousands of miles from his friends at USF. He was close, however, to children who showed him “such pure and simple unconditional love, despite their desperate circumstances,” that he feels he is “changed forever.”
Hogar San Francisco de Asis is a home for destitute, ill children located in the city of Chaclacayo, approximately 30 miles from Lima. The home takes in children too ill to be cared for by their families who are also too poor to provide the medical care they need. “Through the hogar, these children receive life-saving medical treatment and are able to then return to their families,” says Manasterski. A member of the USF chapter of the American Medical Association, Manasterski heard Dr. Anthony Lazzara, the hogar’s founder and medical director, speak at a meeting on campus and felt compelled to volunteer.
A National Merit Scholar enrolled in USF’s Honors College who had participated in laboratory research as a freshman, Manasterski says his time at the hogar was “excellent, hands-on medical experience.” While he witnessed a wide variety of conditions and illnesses, caring for the children’s extensive needs was physically and mentally exhausting. “Seeing the extreme poverty and suffering was emotionally draining,” he says. “After you experience something like this, nothing is ever the same for you again.”
No stranger to medical missionary work, Manasterski also has journeyed to Honduras and to Haiti. And while he says he is still discerning the exact path his medical career may take, he feels certain that he will continue his humanitarian efforts in some capacity.
“I see myself not solely as an American, but as a citizen of the world community,” he says. “USF is a large university with lots of opportunities, but unlike many big universities, it hasn’t sacrificed its focus on students for research dollars. USF really cares about undergrads and helping us develop that global perspective.”
-- Mary Beth Erskine, University Communications & Marketing