Alison Tanner Wright
Excerpts from Her Homecoming 2015 Address
When Alison Tanner Wright graduated from the BYU College of Nursing, she had no idea how far-reaching her degree would be. From orphans in South Africa to the homeless in Salt Lake City, Wright has ceaselessly served those around her—an endeavor that has shown her the worth of each individual as a child of God.
“Who decided dandelions are weeds?” she asks. “Who decides when that charming yellow flower is in the wrong place? Who decides the intrinsic value of a child of God?”
While serving at the Mohau Child and Youth Care Centre in South Africa, Wright worked with many “dandelions”—orphaned and abandoned children affected by HIV. While providing healthcare and love to these children, she often found them teaching her numerous life lessons. “These beautiful African dandelions taught me that I need to find joy wherever I am planted, even if it’s a barren terrain,” she says.
During her time in South Africa, Wright also worked with the Missionaries of Charity, whose mission is to care for everyone in need: the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the unloved, and the outcast. “In other words, they care for dandelions,” Wright says.
A group of these sisters ran a children’s home serving 42 severely handicapped children in a destitute, remote South African village. They had taken a vow of poverty and obtained food for these children through begging. Yet, despite their difficult circumstances, the sisters were consistently cheerful, singing and laughing as they cared for these children.
Each child wore a cloth diaper, and the sisters spent innumerable hours washing each diaper by hand. After seeing the time and effort, this process took Wright and her group offered to donate washing machines and dryers to the sisters to aid them in their service. Much to Wright’s surprise, the sisters kindly rejected this offer. “They explained that a washing machine would deny them the privilege of serving the Lord’s children with their own hands,” she says.
Wright learned a profound lesson on the blessings of service from these sisters. “Each of us,” she says, “has the innate and individual capacity to use our hands to make a difference, whether we change the world or wipe away a single tear.”
After three years in South Africa, Wright and her family returned to the United States. Wright later attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City to earn her master’s degree and become a nurse practitioner. She now serves as medical director of the Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City. While working in this capacity, she has met many more dandelions who have taught her valuable life lessons.
Wright learned a lesson of great faith from Ben, one of the homeless people served by the Fourth Street Clinic. Ben’s mother died when he was three, and, having never met his father, he was raised in foster homes, boys’ homes, and juvenile detention facilities. “I was told that I had HIV ten years ago,” he said to Wright during an examination. “The doctors wanted to do all these things, and I told them that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He has taken such good care of me my whole life. My Savior Jesus Christ has never forgotten me.”
Of this dandelion, Wright says, “He taught me that peace comes from faith in Jesus Christ and that faith encompasses forgiveness, gratitude, and hope.”
Wright closed her speech by emphasizing the individual worth of each person on the earth and encouraging us to look for the value in everyone: “When we look upon the field of life, scattered with bright yellow flowers, some may see weeds. But let us choose to see flowers.”