First of all, I’m going to introduce myself. My name is Selcan and I’m French but my parents come from the region of Kurdistan. I’m 16 years old and I’d like to become a paediatrician because I want to cure ill people and save them first from their pain and hopefully their illness. That’s why I chose this future career and my work placement when our teacher told us about the project. My partner was Phuong Luong who came from Cambridge Heath Sixth Form, in England. As soon as our extremely involved English teacher Mrs Sinfield told us to look for a work placement, I directly chose Mr Dilain. Mr Dilain is such a great man with a big love dedicated to his work as a paediatrician and now a Senator. Furthermore, when I got in touch with the Mrs Piekarz, his assistant, she undoubtedly gave me a positive response. I’m going to admit that she took a long time but I can understand her because she was very busy and the municipal elections were approaching. Nonetheless, she accepted for three days to take care of Phuong and me. Thanks to Mrs Piekarz, we got the opportunity to visit the French Senate with a speaker. It was all about the history of the Senate and it was extremely interesting and enlightening. Besides, we went to the library and the annexe of the library. The staff were very kind and reassuring. I’m so thankful for the time that she granted to us and for the good reception. The second day of the work placement was the best day of my life. I wore a doctor’s overall. The first thing that we did was attending the morning staff meeting to check up the patients’ health. Usually, only one person discusses their recovery and treatment and the others take notes. The consultant told me that there was a kind of “medical secret” which permits to keep patients’ lives private. Furthermore, a student in the 5th year of medicine explained to Mrs Piekarz, Phuong and me, the case of a 17-year old young boy. He had lost his kidney when he was 2 months old. She allowed us to visit his room and see the machine he was connected to. People may have thought that it was a traumatic event for me but I felt stronger because I know that in the future I will be helping sick people and tackling disease. This is one of the thing that Mr Dilain taught me. I’ll never forget this man. After that, we went to the Senate’s restaurant. The presentation of the food made me awestricken! It was almost like “Master Chef”. I was surprised to see that both political camps weren’t eating together. That’s why there are 2 different restaurants. Mr Dilain was relaxed. He gave me a lot of advice and anecdotes. Mrs Piekarz and Mr Dilain, both of them, looked me in the eye and said to me that I mustn’t give up the idea of becoming a paediatrician. The Senator told me a story that touched me a lot. He told me that a baby was ill and after he was cured, his mother was still sad and the baby wasn’t smiling. Mr Dilain asked her if the baby was alright. Then, he took the baby in his arms and told the baby he was healthy. He just smiled. It was just magical; Mr Dilain’s eyes were shining just like stars. Moreover, the 3rd day, we visited almost all the 6th district of Paris with Mr Piekarz and Phuong. It was amazing! I adored it because I love Paris. This is one of the most beautiful cities. Then we went to the Palais de Justice. Two police officers stopped me because I had scissors in my bag. I felt strange because the place was dark and enormous. I was able to attend 2 trials. All of these visits and these things that I discovered gave me so much that you could never imagine. Thank you from the bottom of the heart to all the people that was involved that made the project run well. Thank you Mr Dilain and thank you Ms Piekarz. It was a great pleasure to take part in this project.

 

Selcan Derin – 1ère S au lycée Alfred Nobel de Clichy-sous-Bois.