Doctor for Others

Hello! My name is Ben Henry N. Baang, 23 years old. I am a 3rd year medical student at Xavier University - Dr. Jose P. Rizal School of Medicine (XUJPRSM) located at Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. The purpose of this fundraising is to aid and support me in my dream to become a doctor by being able to pay for my school fees.

It has always been my dream to become a doctor even when I was kid. I remember when I was a child, I was so adamant on becoming a doctor that I hadn’t even thought about any other profession even though the road to becoming a doctor is an arduous and expensive one. The path to becoming a doctor is a difficult one that even my family advised against it because we were too poor to afford medical education. Because of this, I studied hard to get free scholarships and aligned myself with a science and technology track. I was a full scholar when I was studying in Philippine Science High School (PhilSci) and during my college years at the University of the Philippines - Los Baños (UPLB). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to apply for any scholarships in medical school due to limited slots. To compensate for this, I’m currently selling ice candies to my schoolmates and selling various things online with the help of a friend of mine (check out our Instagram account: @bvdincph).

However, the money we get from selling isn’t enough and much time is lost when it could’ve been allotted for studying for our exams and quizzes. My father is selling siomai and dimsum siopao at a bustling marketplace downtown and only brings home the minimum enough to pay the bills and our food. My mother has gone abroad but is still struggling to get a stable job that would sponsor my tuition. Our family has unpaid loans piling on one another just to survive our everyday lives. The money that I saved back then in college is used for my medical school but now I’m afraid I won’t be able to make through this course due to financial constraints.

Despite all the hardships in studying (i.e. not having a book allowance, relying on the Library PC to study free medicine e-books, no money to afford studying outside with friends, having only two sets of uniforms that I wash every other day) I still managed to be at the upper 10% in our class of 109 thanks to the loving support given by my family and my friends.

Given this, I am knocking at your hearts and humbly asking for your support in this venture. I will do my best to reach my maximum potential so as to be of service to others. Hopefully, when I become a doctor, I will be able to give back this favor and help those students who need financial assistance as well.

#DoctorForOthers