Final Report

Just after completing final examinations of my second year of veterinary school at the end of May, 2013, I set off on a plane headed to Botswana, where I would be staying for 8 weeks and working with a private mixed animal veterinarian, Dr. Mark Bing.  Having traveled to many countries before in my life, I was used to plane rides and different cultures.  Having also traveled alone to South Africa a few years before to work with lions and tigers, I felt comfortable returning to Southern Africa alone.  I was excited to travel to a new country and completely immerse myself in a different culture while learning about veterinary medicine in a developing country.

I should mention that my career goal is to work abroad, providing veterinary care to food animals in impoverished countries.  So when I heard of the opportunity to travel to Botswana, a developing country in Africa, and to work with a veterinarian there for 8 weeks, I jumped at the opportunity.  I had a feeling that traveling to Botswana and working with a veterinarian there would provide me with an invaluable learning experience that would prove incredibly useful in my future career overseas.  Little did I know, it would be one of the best learning experiences of my life.

When I arrived in Botswana, Mark met me at the airport, and so began what Mark had rightfully said in an earlier e-mail would be a “whirlwind of traveling all across the country”.  We traveled all over the country performing veterinary work; up to Francistown, over to Ghanzi, and even into the Khutse Game Reserve.  In our travels, we treated all different kinds of animals, including cattle, goats, horses, pigs, lions, a leopard, a cheetah, and your basic cats and dogs.  I kept this daily blog with photographs, detailing all of my veterinary (and some non-veterinary) experiences.  It took a lot of effort and the little free time that I had to maintain a blog while working nearly every day, traveling all over the country, and having very limited internet access.  However, keeping a detailed daily blog was incredibly useful and rewarding, as it helped reinforce all of the veterinary work I was involved with.

My goal was to learn as much practical veterinary medicine as I could while in Botswana, and I greatly looked up to Mark, a private veterinarian who started his own practice in Lobatse, Botswana.  Mark is an incredibly smart veterinarian with a strong work ethic.  Although he sometimes had a bit of a self-admitted temper, he always kept an awesome sense of humor and told wonderful stories.  Not only that, he took the time to teach me about everything under the sun, from pregnancy diagnoses, to the main causes of abortion in cattle, to helping me with my independent research on cattle body condition scores and pregnancy here in Botswana.  But in my time with Mark, I not only learned about veterinary medicine.  I learned to think outside the box when it came to veterinary medicine, as Mark quizzed me on many different veterinary techniques and treatments.  He kept me thinking and learning something new at all times.  I learned to be open to new ways of thinking and to different cultures.  Most importantly, I learned how to keep an open mind, and a sense of humor, in all situations.

I can confidently say that I have never learned as much in a summer as I have this summer, spending over 8 weeks here in Botswana shadowing Mark and the new veterinarian he has hired, Janine.  It is one thing to learn information in a classroom, and entirely different to see and apply this information in practice.  I have finally taken the information we have been learning in the classroom for the last two years of veterinary school, and applied it successfully in real-life cases and situations.  Working with Mark and Janine all summer has helped me tremendously on my way towards my goal of practicing veterinary medicine one day as a veterinarian.

Through all of my education and experiences thus far, I have developed a passion for veterinary medicine, and I hope to expand this passion into a career.  I have come to understand that there is a shortage of veterinarians in areas of the world where veterinarians could really make a difference in the lives of both animals and people; such as in Botswana.  I want to use the knowledge and skills I have acquired at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in areas like Botswana where people and animals could really benefit from them.  It is my dream to work abroad, providing care to food animals in impoverished countries, where an entire family’s livelihood may depend upon these animals.  I plan to work hard towards achieving my goals of providing veterinary care in developing countries.  My lifelong commitment and objective as a veterinarian will be to use my skills and knowledge to improve animal, as well as human, health and wellbeing, and I intend to do whatever it takes to make this dream a reality.

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to travel to Botswana this summer.  I have had a wonderful time, and have made friends here that I am sure will last for a lifetime.  I am most grateful for the invaluable learning experiences the trip has provided me.  Although I am excited to go home to the US today and see my family and friends again after 8 weeks of working abroad, I will definitely miss this place.  I will take with me not only the knowledge I have gained, but also wonderful memories, and a new outlook on the field of veterinary medicine.  I could not have asked for a better way to spend my summer.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer!