Yee ’21 Is a Key Leader in Christian Union’s Ministry
by catherine elvy, staff writer
Harvard College junior Ana Yee is pursuing a career centered around medical missionary service, hopefully in underserved communities in the Horn of Africa.
“We only get one chance on the earth,” said Yee ’21. “I want to do what I can to live a life that is faithful.”
Ana Yee ’21 has a heart to serve as a medical missionary.
“I have people who have walked with me and modeled what it means to be a disciple. Christian Union has been a pillar of my community experience at Harvard.”
—Ana Yee
Following graduation in 2021, Yee is hoping to intern with Ethiopian hospitals to bolster an expanding resume that includes a series of short-term missions throughout her secondary and collegiate years. Long-term, the history of science major envisions herself stationed abroad as a missionary, possibly specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. “It’s really a privilege to bring life into the world,” said Yee.
Since her early teens, Yee has been fascinated by accounts of missionary life. “I was deeply captivated by the notion,” said Yee, who grew up in a Christian household in Massachusetts. “It is something that has stuck with me since middle school.”
However, Yee also credits the team behind Christian Union’s ministry at Harvard College for encouraging her dream of missionary service. “I have people who have walked with me and modeled what it means to be a disciple,” said Yee, a co-vice president of the ministry. “It’s been a pillar of my community experience at Harvard.”
Yee, who also served as an assistant Bible course leader for the past two years, expressed appreciation for Christian Union’s leadership development training, Bible courses, and apologetics teaching. Likewise, the campus ministry’s tight-knit, diverse community has provided a “small taste of the kingdom of God,” said Yee.
Harvard’s Lamont Library
In addition to her involvement with Christian Union, Yee juggles double duties as a writer and social media director for The Harvard Ichthus, a student-run Christian journal. She also serves as a youth leader for Alethia Church, participates in emmawatson-fans.com, and is a forward on Harvard’s women’s ice hockey club team.
Given her heart for service, Yee was described by Ministry Fellow Renee Ghobrial as a “passionate follower of Jesus.” Ghobrial highlighted the ways Yee often welcomes students on the outskirts of the ministry. “She is constantly encouraging other students and staff,” Ghobrial said.
For such efforts, the native of suburban Boston can draw from the reservoirs of experience she gained while practicing hospitality and compassion during myriad missions projects.
Among the highlights, Yee devoted summer 2019 to service at Soddo Christian Hospital in Ethiopia, where she shadowed an American physician on his obstetrical duties involving ultrasounds, deliveries, and surgeries. Yee also taught Bible lessons, songs, and games to the children of missionary staff.
In 2018, Yee volunteered with Worldview Academy Leadership Camps. The multi-talented student traveled with a group of seventeen college staff members and faculty to seven camps in the Great Lakes and Northeast. Yee’s duties involved mentoring high school girls through leadership practicums.
As a high school student in 2016, Yee ventured to Cambodia on a church missions trip. She helped lead a Bible camp at Place of Rescue orphanage, which serves orphans, pregnant women, and families living with AIDS. She also served children of refugees and taught English.
But it was during her 2019 trek to East Africa when Yee developed a palpable affection for Ethiopia and began to form long-term career goals. “It’s a beautiful country,” she said. The Ethiopian emphasis upon hospitality left a profound imprint upon Yee. “The people there are expressive of God’s love,” she said.
At a practical level, Ethiopia is a “country with a great promise” for an aspiring physician. “There are a lot of people who want to see their country’s health system improve,” Yee said. “Medical missions could be effective.”
After completing undergraduate studies at Harvard, Yee plans to take two years off before entering medical school, including one year for overseas service.
Yee’s family and upbringing have certainly shaped her vision, and she credited her parents for her deep-rooted interest in medical missionary endeavors. Yee’s father is a pediatric rheumatologist by training, and her mother, a concert pianist, has long insisted she wants one of her four children to venture into missionary service.
“I was blessed to grow up with extraordinary parents who parented us so faithfully,” said Yee.
Yee’s parents have modelled a life of service, and the family regularly volunteers with Joni and Friends, a California-based disabilities ministry. Yee has volunteered during four summers for the organization’s family retreats for disabled individuals in North Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Presently, Yee is grateful and excited as she watches her dream of an overseas career take shape. The undergrad appreciates the wealth of training she has gleaned both on far-flung mission fields and inside Harvard’s iconic gates.
Yee described her years at Harvard as wonderfully fruitful. “It’s an intense place,” said Yee. “Harvard has forced me to depend on God.”
