 I grew up here in Liberia in the capital city, Monrovia. When I was growing up, I woke up one morning and my sister was on the floor whispering to me and she says, oh, you can get up but you have to roll on into the floor. You can't stand up. What I didn't realize was happening was that someone was trying to tickle with the government. So you couldn't be seen by the window. It's potentially you could be shot. We had a fantastic life here. We were very comfortable but my parents made that sacrifice for us to go to the U.S. And you know, we were lucky to leave before the start of the Civil War. At the time I didn't know all these things were happening. I was just kind of happy to be going to school. It was only after I joined the Navy at 18 that I really kind of started to understand the war. On deployment, my ship went to Brazil. I met a Liberian who was in Rio and that's why I was like, wow, that's when I really first realized how displaced people were doing the war. So after that deployment, I wanted to work with like refugees and displaced people. That's how I started turning to medicine. Do you need help? Okay. Does it be tingling too? No, I feel like no. Well, how long do you think? I used to clean toilets in the Navy before when I first joined. It's been completely amazing to have come up through the ranks and be a doctor. Yeah, they need to watch that floor. She's really wet on the right side. The military has a tropical medicine program where we go to several countries, work with the local doctors on how to manage diseases. India, Thailand, Brazil, Tanzania, Honduras. I've been to almost 40 countries. Then it's gone a direction I hadn't thought it would go, which is to bring me back home. The whole nation as a whole, I don't think has healed. That's why I feel like I must come back and help. When I took over the position as the director of the program, I established a field mission here. So I could bring doctors here. My name is Dr. Declan T. Adams. With the U.S. Navy, I'm a naval officer. I've been fortunate to come to Phoebe to work, bringing a team of doctors to observe tropical medicine cases. When people think about Liberia, they think about our civil wars, and they think about Ebola. I want to do something about that. Imagine being in the shoes of some of these doctors and nurses who are treating people every day. Some places not having gloves, not having medications in the pharmacy. We're trying to build capacity and capability for the hospitals that we work with. And we'll also provide academic exchange. So the first lecture is medical waste? So we give some lectures. They also give us some lectures. We do everything. We have two doctors assigned to me. You know, you're just trying to have a positive influence on people's lives. I still feel that I'm not doing enough, because I'm only here two weeks. But I do use medicine to accomplish other goals. Sometimes I bring books. Sometimes it's like an art or a literature workshop. This time I'm funding like a dance contest. Can you come on stage and dance? Even though I gave myself a hard time about not doing enough, I also appreciate that doing something small is also impactful. When you think about the military, think about the Navy, think about conflict. I didn't know about all the global health engagement activities we're involved in. And it's been a pleasant surprise. It's been a wonderful experience and opportunity to come back home. But I hope Liberia gets to a point where it's not relying on development and aid. It's self-sufficient to get all the experiences that I have around the world and get them to come home. I realized that sometimes all it takes is one act in somebody's life to change the course of their life. And so that's why you can't stop. Because you don't know what act it's going to be. My name is Nikanti Adams. I'm an infectious diseases physician in the United States Navy.