Author: yipeng

Two years as a family doctor

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It’s been two years since I’ve been working as a family doctor independently. I reflected on some lessons from my first year of practice last year, and much of it remains true today. Read here: https://yipeng.ca/2024/09/08/some-lessons-from-my-first-year-in-practice/

Reflecting on this past year of working in primary care clinics, I find myself thinking about a few additional lessons I want to share with you.

1. Being humans first – People who come into the clinic to be treated as a patient, first and foremost are humans, not simply a clinical problem to be solved or grappled with. Everyone in this world deserves to be seen and heard, and much of the medicine I practice is affirming this for people. Some patients have been repeatedly dehumanized by the healthcare system and don’t see themselves as able to receive safe and effective care because of this. Additionally, as a person practicing medicine, I am not solely defined by the role of a doctor, and I have never solely identified myself this way. With the attacks on my training as a public health doctor or ongoing attacks by people going after my medical license because I stand in solidarity with Palestine, they don’t realize that they can try to take away certain things, but they will never take away my knowledge and experience, who I am, and what I stand for. I went into medicine because I care about humans first and foremost, and that is what I will keep doing, no matter what happens.

2. Racism is a distraction – I think a lot about Toni Morrison’s words on racism. “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work.” The racism that patients experience in the healthcare system, specifically Indigenous Peoples and communities, was what opened my eyes to the impacts of colonialism on health and how the healthcare system can do more harm at times. It led me to study anti-racism and how efforts within the healthcare system can effectively move towards dismantling structural racism. I have seen how anti-Palestinian racism has been left completely unaddressed by medical institutions and medical schools, to appease the psychological comfort of Zionists. I have seen how Indigenous patients who have experienced an actual lack of safety in the clinical environment and suffered medical trauma and harm because of structural racism within the healthcare system, voice their support and solidarity with Palestine, and have also shared with me their grief and outrage on Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Racism is a distraction from the real issues. Remember to be focused on the real issues. End genocide from Turtle Island to Palestine. Free the people, free the land, from Turtle Island to Palestine.

3. Joy as resistance – Spending time with peoples and communities who have been subjected to colonial violence and erasure has taught me time and time again that existence is resistance. To exist means practicing and maintaining culture, language, music, dance, art, and so much more. Including practicing the laughter and joy that comes with all the good parts of existing in this unfortunate world that insists on the erasure and dehumanization of Indigenous Peoples all over the world. The radical joy, the radical imagination, the radical optimism is the wisdom that our ancestors have passed down to us to weather any storm. Hold onto this wisdom and let it guide you. May our hearts and souls remain open, soft, and tender to help hold the weight of the suffering of all beings subjected to structural oppression in this world. May our minds remain sharp, focused, and strategic on the path forward towards collective liberation.

Handala

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Writing was also published via rabble.ca on July 23, 2025, “Reflections from my time on the Handala“, available here.

I spent the past week with the Handala freedom flotilla team. I was planning on supporting and sending off the Handala boat from Siracusa, Italy. Last minute, I was offered the opportunity to join the Handala boat as it sailed from Siracusa, Italy to Gallipoli, Italy. Spending time with the crew and ground team was incredibly inspiring and hopeful. It was the honour of a lifetime and I made memories that I will treasure forever. We held each other in our collective grief, sorrow, and rage for Gaza and for Palestine. We were actively translating this into action and solidarity work for Gaza and for Palestine. 

The Handala is the 37th boat being sent to Gaza organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. Boats have been successful in bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza in 2008. Boats have also been violently attacked over the years including the Israeli military illegally boarding a boat in 2010, shooting and executing 10 activists onboard. The boats are a form of nonviolent resistance and international solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, to affirm their right to life, dignity, and self-determination. This action is legal under international law to bring in humanitarian aid with civilian boats through international waters to sovereign Palestinian waters and territory. 

The boats challenge the illegal Israeli siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, because states and countries have repeatedly failed to act over the years to end the illegal Israeli occupation. The boats bring attention to the complicity and active involvement of our own countries and states in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the occupation, apartheid, and genocide of Palestinians. The boats bring attention to the right of return for all Palestinians in the diaspora. These boats show what is possible and what is within our power to do. 

When you have privilege in this world, you must use it to at least try to make this world better for everyone, including Palestinians. When we stop trying, that is when we have not only given up on Palestinians, but then we have also given up on our collective humanity and responsibility. When the world allows for the dehumanization and genocide of Palestinians, we affirm their right to life and dignity. I met people who fundamentally know that our lives are not more valuable or precious than a Palestinian’s life in Gaza. This is why people of conscience from around the world have been doing this solidarity work since 2008 to send boats to Gaza. We do this as volunteers, and we all come from all walks of life and corners of the world, offering skills and expertise to do something incredible together. We show what is possible when people are organized and persistent. 

Part of activism work is about making it a sustained and sustainable practice. We all do what we can from where we are. We do what is within our power, and we do everything we can within our power. Having met and befriended the incredible people both in front of and behind the scenes has me hopeful in the face of bearing witness to unimaginable suffering in Gaza as consequence to Zionist settler colonialism and the ongoing Nakba. There are 21 beautiful humans onboard the Handala freedom flotilla sailing to Gaza right now. They are supported by hundreds and thousands of people who have organized tirelessly to make this possible. There are more boats being planned, because if the illegal Israeli siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip remains, there will be people who will challenge it to see the day that Palestine is free.