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>> For some veterinary students, the most memorable experiences during veterinary school
take place outside the traditional classroom – half a world away. Several Kansas State
University veterinary students, including members of the class of 2014, have been volunteering
with different organizations to practice their veterinary skills in African or Latin American
countries.
>> One of these students, Nathaniel Cordel, traveled with the Christian Veterinary Mission
to Zambia in southern Africa after his freshmen year.
>> NATHANIEL CORDEL: We did large animal work in the mornings when it was cool, a lot of
deworming, vaccinations of cattle, primarily cattle, a few sheep and goats, but primarily
cattle. And then in the afternoons, when it was a little bit warmer, usually we were in
the village of Mwandi and usually we’d set up a spay/neuter and rabies vaccination clinic
underneath a tree in the middle of the village, so it was really neat, just a great way to
minister to the people of the village.
>> Following his sophomore year, Cordel took another trip to Tanzania. Fellow student Molly
Melling helped with a spay/neuter clinic in Cuzco, Peru, as part of a World Vets delegation
during Fall 2013. Her experience highlighted the challenges of working in a foreign country.
>> MOLLY MELLING: There was no oxygen or gas inhalant anesthesia, so that was really different
and it kind of changed how we did things a little bit. You had to work a little bit faster
or make sure you had enough drug for the animal . . . (The) basics were there, but we had
to tweak everything because we were so limited by our supplies.
>> Traveling overseas allowed Elizabeth Covington to expand her experience with South American
camelids. She participated in a mission to help improve herd health and reproductive
management of alpacas and llamas in Nunoa, Peru.
>> ELIZABETH COVINGTON: I would say that the majority of the alpaca and llama farms that
I have dealt with in the state, they tend to be hobby farms, people just tend to like
these animals and keep them in the pastures as pets. In Peru, the animals truly were their
livelihood. They are relying on their fiber for their knitware. That’s how they make
their money. . . So it was different to see kind of a hobby farm versus this is really
their livelihood.
>> With his experience at the Institute for Sustainable International Studies in Belize,
Mathew Stewart explored his interest with exotic animals, such as large cats.
>> MATHEW STEWART: It was really a good time. I got to see howler monkeys in their natural
habitat. At the Belize Zoo, they had Harpy Eagles, jaguars. There were five different
types of wild cats there in Belize and they had all those. It was quite an eye opening
experience both as far as the nature that is there that is not up here, as well as culturally.
>> No matter where they traveled, or what organization they worked with, all of the
students valued their overseas experience.
>> MOLLY MELLING: It just made me realize that this is something that I want to commit
myself to in the future. Being able to go places to help people and their animals in
other parts of the world, or even the United States where they can’t afford veterinary
care or it’s just not available to them, so I hope I get to do many more of these type
of trips.
>> NATHANIEL CORDEL: I think any time you can go out there and serve other people, it
just helps you to regain a good focus on life and what’s really important, which I think
is sometimes easily lost and it just helps to put everything in perspective, why you’re
in a certain vocation, why you chose veterinary medicine.
>> MATHEW STEWART: It was just an amazing time. Different place. Different culture,
like I said, it kind of expanded my horizons and I know talking to some of the other students
who have done trips to Africa or other places in Central or South America, they definitely
share similar experiences, that it’s something you wouldn’t change for the world.