I never imagined in my wildest dreams how much this trip was going to change my life. The country of Zimbabwe has such immense beauty in not only the nature and animals, but with the people that live there too. The two facilitators, Yami and Taps were incredible people and I felt instantly at home with them. Getting to know them both was an honor and I hope to keep in touch. They organized experiences for us that were once in a lifetime encounters that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I had the opportunity to provide preventative healthcare to lions, hyenas, and horses and helped in the anti-poaching efforts of the local conservation experts. I still can’t believe how much we were able to do in such a short time. We learned so much about the country, the animals, the land, and the people that call this amazing place home. The friendliness and passion of the people is overwhelming and welcoming, and I constantly found myself wanting to know more about every person I met.

Coming home, I hope to continue what I have learned and I hope that I can show my friends and family just how amazing Zimbabwe is. Being a part of the study abroad program makes me want to enroll in classes all over again so that I can continue to be eligible to join these programs. Every student should have the opportunity to do these trips because they are rich with knowledge that is impossible to learn in a classroom and they are the best, most life changing experience that will shape young adults into better, more compassionate people. Thank you SPC for creating such a unique educational experience!
– Jennifer , SPC Zimbabwe Vet Tech Program, June 2022

We are half way through our study abroad trip in Zimbabwe. We have seen and experienced a vast amount of things so far. During the beginning, we visited one of the Veterinary Universities in the country, the University of Zimbabwe. Here we got to see how the veterinary students learn and what they have available for them to accomplish this. The classrooms are very minimalistic, the labs have sufficient equipment. One thing that stood out for me was the surgical area. They are still using halothane for general anesthesia, the soda lime is way past expiration. There are no monitoring systems, everything is manual, and they will only check a blood pressure under anesthesia if it is a longer procedure. Everything is done manually. There are spiders in every room, including the surgical theater. Seeing the differences in protocols are interesting and shows how far advance we are in America.

We than continued on to a cattle farm, where we met one of the veterinarians that are in the area. Now the amount of veterinarians that are available to farmers are limited depending on where the farm is located. They could be 4-6 hours away. The diseases that are present are similar to that in America. They do have blue ticks though, which have not yet reached the states . It was interesting to learn about which diseases they see more of and the medications that are used, which is similar and/or exactly what we use. Foot and mouth is still very present as well as anthrax.
– Alicia , SPC Zimbabwe Vet Tech Program, June 2022